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Maryland Establishment Republicans remain eagerly engaged in the controversy they have generated surrounding state party chairman Jim Pelura.  One measure is the coverage that comments from such Republican sources receive in the Old Maryland Media — coverage these sources would be unlikely to receive were they speaking on some substantive matter. 

Meanwhile supporters of the Republic fought for their way of life and their historic freedoms last Friday at Congressional offices across the nation.

In Virginia,  as we have written here, citizen groups gathered to protest directly at the offices of their Congressional delegation.

“See WTVR Coverage of last Friday’s protests from Richmond Tea Party

In Virginia, the Northern Virginia Tea Party here organized a protest against ‘Government-Run Health Care’ at senator Jim Webb’s Arlington Office. 

Here, here and here are accounts of planned or recent Virginia protests.”

Contrast Maryland with another deeply blue state, Washington.  Sound Politics from the Pacific Northwest reports - -

“Hand delivery of our message for Congress against health care takeover

‘Don’t give the government control of our health care.’

I joined a group at the entrance to the building housing Congressman Jim McDermott’s office in downtown Seattle. Steve Beren, who has run against McDermott, was there and about 10 total. This was part of the Tea Party movement. People gathered at every congressional office in the state.”

A Bright Exception

As we have noted here, the over-one hundred protestors (including delegate Michael Smigiel and former House of Delegates Republican Leader Al Redmer) in Centreville, Maryland at Representative Frank Kratovil’s district office last Friday were a bright exception to the Silence of Maryland Voices.

On that morning, Mr. Kratovil and only three other Democrats voted against their leadership and, in effect, for a Republican privileged motion brought by Greg Walden here and here decrying the House leadership for preventing a vote to protect talk radio. Cosmetic as this vote may have been for Mr. Kratovil, the fact of the Centreville meeting likely got his attention.

Republican “leaders” in the General Assembly have been quick to criticize party chairman Pelura for daring to find fault with Republican state lawmakers. As we have shown again and again with Republican votes ranging from Green Statism to the future of Maryland higher education (dangerous “diversity programs”) to votes for pork (the capital budget), the leaders won’t lead.  And while they can quickly speak against those who criticize them, they seem to choke up when it comes to rallying Maryland voices across the state to demonstrate against cap-and-tax and Obamacare at Congressional offices — to say nothing of protesting the expansion of Federal “hate crimes” power.  Be assured: they will keep on doing nothing substantive until they are challenged by their constituents.

Some sources indicate that the House will vote on Obamacare next week so the time for Maryland action is right now. The best of our own Congressional sources “guesses” the House vote will be on Saturday August 1.

Congress will — nonetheless — recess throughout most of August giving Maryland conservatives (and independents) an important chance to do more — an opportunity to begin and continue throughout the month protests at the district offices and public appearances of U.S. House and Senate members who support cap-and-tax and Obamacare.

John Fund passes on some words of warning from a seasoned veteran:

“Republican Ralph Hall knows a lot about politics, having been first elected a county judge when Harry Truman was president. Now the 86-year-old is a member of Congress from east Texas, a job he’s held the past 29 years. Yesterday, he stood up at a conference of GOP House members to issue some words of warning about the health care bill they’re now debating.

He reminded them that he had served for nearly a quarter century in the House as a Democrat before switching parties in 2004, so he knows the mindset on the other side of the aisle. He warned fellow Republicans not to pay too much attention to the opposition to radical health care reform from moderate Blue Dog Democrats. ‘In the end, Speaker Pelosi will break them,’ he told his colleagues. She will use every tactic available, he said, to force wayward Democrats to vote for ‘her bill,’ much as she did on cap-and-trade legislation.” — Extract from WSJ’s “Political Diary” (Subscription only.)

Thus the immediate job of Maryland conservatives and independents is to persuade errant Maryland members of the U. S. House to be more responsive to constituents than to Mrs. Pelosi. We can’t get started too soon. No one said keeping our liberty would be easy.

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