Guest Post: Why I Support Treasurer Mourdock in the GOP Senate Primary

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is one of several guest posts where voters express their support of candidates in tomorrow's primary. Brent Smith, an Indianapolis based food blogger, has chosen to vote for Treasurer Richard Mourdock in tomorrow's GOP primary. Mourdock is running against incumbent US Senator Richard Lugar. 



Conservative. Republican. Some people use the two terms almost interchangeably. However, the truth is the vast majority of us that consider ourselves the latter only do so because we are first and foremost the former. Conservatism is the philosophy that informs the choice of political party. However, as time wears on more and more of us are realizing that an elected official having an R beside their name doesn't necessarily mean they buy into our philosophy of constitutionally limited governance any more than they buy into tabloid headlines declaring JFK to be a space alien or the profitability of a Rosie O’Donnell swimsuit calendar. The only thing they really buy into is their own desperate need to cling to power, and any attempt at being principled is derided as somehow “extreme”. What nonsense.

Richard Mourdock appeals to me and other conservatives because he is one of us. A principled conservative? Yes, but absolutely mainstream in terms of conservative thought. He’s pro-life. He supports an individual right to own and use firearms. He opposes the wasting of taxpayer money on bailouts. He believes in the crazy idea that government shouldn’t spend more money than it generates in revenue. He believes that the “advice and consent” provision of the Constitution isn’t just another phrase that means rubber-stamping the President’s leftist Supreme Court nominees. These are agenda items on which every Republican should be able to agree. However, the campaign of Richard Lugar would want you to believe something entirely different.

According to the Lugar campaign such positions listed above are that of a “right wing extremist”. Are those your positions? Do you consider yourself an extremist? I know I certainly don’t. What are some positions I would describe as out of the mainstream of political thought? I’m glad you asked. Let’s list a few: Supporting a bailout for Wall Street, supporting Supreme Court justices that believe it’s perfectly constitutional for the Federal Government to make you buy a product, supporting amnesty for illegal aliens,
supporting taxpayer funded abortion, supporting restrictions on gun ownership, support for the disastrous Law of the Sea Treaty that would sacrifice American sovereignty, support for the auto industry bailout that Richard Mourdock opposed in court in order to protect secured bondholders. These are all things that Richard Lugar has supported. Do these seem like standard conservative positions to you? The Lugar campaign is right. There is one out-of-the-mainstream republican in this race. It’s their candidate.

I hate to say it, but I believe our country is in trouble. Our debt is soaring, people are dropping from the workforce like flies, our bureaucracy runs roughshod over job creators, and Dick Lugar has had 35 years to try to stop it. Unfortunately it has done nothing but get progressively worse. We have to make a change. It’s time to elect Richard Mourdock.