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“Folks, we need to take the Republican Party back.  The Democrat Party was co-opted, has been co-opted by a bunch of communists, socialist, fascists, what have you from the sixties and the seventies and that’s what we’re up against now.  We have allowed our party to be co-opted by a slate of Ivy League elitists and country club, blue-blood Republicans who want to be thought of as enlightened and compassionate and so forth, they want to be thought of as liberal light, Democrat light.” - - Rush Limbaugh

The jaw-dropping part of the campaign to force party chairman Jim Pelura out of office here was how wholly self-referential it was in the midst of a national crisis: a kind of high-school campaign almost entirely about the narrow concerns of the anti-Pelura leaders.

The key actors — the so-called Republican Floor Leaders in the state Senate here, and the Minority Leader and Minority Whip here among the rump collection of Republicans in the General Assembly — have apparently little to contribute to the ongoing national conversation on the proper role of government. 

Perhaps they fear a “Recess Rally” targeted at the Annapolis Establishment. More likely, their imaginations do not extend that far.  Back in 2007, they seemed wholly deaf to the challenges of that time. Today, one wonders whether they even take in the larger concerns about the size and reach of government, evident in the great events (see Demos Chrissos’ 9/12 video here) now taking place around us.

The Republic is at a kind of historic crossroads and hundreds of thousands of Americans spent their own money to come to Washington, D. C. to protest ever-growing government, government-run health care proposals, and unprecedented levels of spending.

Yet these Maryland Republican legislative leaders can only suggest that the state party must do more to meet their campaign needs to protect their incumbencies.  Of course, after chairman Pelura’s departure, we expect that former governor Ehrlich will steer money to the state party which will help his own campaign for reelection.

If current Maryland Republican trends continue (and it is always somewhat risky to make such projections), Bob Ehrlich will likely be the Republican candidate for governor in 2010.  The current nominal leaders of the Republicans in the General Assembly would then become part of Mr. Ehrlich’s team.

Bob Ehrlich, as we have written here, is a centrist — whose organizing cause in his first term was slots.  Three members of the Republican anti-Pelura gang are are no-new-tax pledge signers who broke their promises here to the people of Maryland - - delegate Tony O’Donnell three times, delegate Christopher Shank two times, and state senator Nancy Jacobs once. (State senator Allan Kittleman, arriving later in then-governor Ehrlich’s tenure, did not sign the no-new-taxes pledge.)

Apparently the pledge-breakers believed that voting for Democratic tax hikes was wicked, but voting for Republican tax hikes was virtuous. That is part of their definition of being a “team player.”

Former governor Ehrlich, wisely, in view of what must have been his planned program, did not sign the gubernatorial no-new-taxes pledge. Having deeply worried fiscal conservatives, he then vexed the leadership of a major group of Maryland Second Amendment defenders, and demoralized Maryland values voters.

The prudent Maryland conservative can only expect more of the same from Mr. Ehrlich and his friends.

We would be delighted, of course, if the former governor would say “I get it now . . . I’ve been listening to Rush for these years of exile and now I see where I went wrong.” 

We are great believers in redemption.

But from pork spending to green statism to dangerous diversity programs, Maryland conservatives should be reviewing the records of incumbent Republican state legislators.

The choice is not the false one between the very heavy statism of the Maryland Democratic Party and the lighter statism of what, if elected, would likely be an Ehrlich Machine.  There is another way.

Conservatives need to organize statewide, to decide on a few essential publicly defensible positions, and to make it clear to the likely Republican gubernatorial nominee and his “team” that they expect his public commitment to these essential positions.  As we have seen this summer, there is nothing like continuing public protests to command the attention of a candidate or an incumbent.

Here is a test:  first listen to the thoughtfulness of this Glenn Beck message “Turn This Thing Around,” then decide whether former governor Bob Ehrlich has vision and perspective enough to speak for you today.  If the answer is no, then Mr. Ehrlich will need a great deal of guidance from Maryland conservatives.

It will be up to Maryland conservatives statewide, however, to come together to be sure that their guidance is heard and accepted.
 

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