http://www.chrissaxman.com/all-politics-is/

If you are interested in party unity (and I’m not because I vote the person, not the party…I have supported candidates from both camps like Sarah Palin and Jeannemarie Davis), party unity works both ways. If the Tea Party expects the so-called “Establishment” to lend their support to victorious Tea Party candidates in primaries, the Tea Party should likewise lend their support to “Establishment” Republicans when they defeat Tea Party candidates. It is only a fair and consistent standard.

I don’t identify with the Tea Party or the “Establishment” Republicans. Yes, I have supported both Sarah Palin and Jeannemarie Davis. Marinate on that for awhile.

Two of the patrons of this bill are currently in Congress with no serious threat to their job security from the left or the right. These people are Morgan Griffith and Robert Hurt.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?071+mbr+HB3202

I have heard nothing but praise for the work of these two Representatives. I have little to no opinion on HB 3202 myself. It is not my thing.

HB 2527 (2011)

Please read the list of Republicans who voted for this measure which I support and tell me which one of them would you like to defeat in a primary. Tim Hugo? Terry Kilgore? Scott Lingamfelter? Bob Marshall?

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?111+vot+HV1545+HB2527

Inquiring minds would like to know how far some in the Tea Party and Liberty Movement are willing to cut their nose off to spite their face. Whatever happened to Ronald Reagan’s adage about supporting those who agree with you 80% of the time instead of seeing them as the enemy and not speaking ill of such a fellow Republican?

HB 2313 (2012)

I support the transportation solution. For more, read this.

http://chesapeakeliaison.com/2013/02/25/true-leadership-and-courage-from-governor-bob-mcdonnell/

Virginia Health Insurance Exchange

There is a valid argument that says you got to get your tax dollars back somehow even though the process sucks and that you are just feeding the beast. Is withholding the services due to your taxpayers and letting other states get your tax dollars because you want to starve the beast and make a political statement prudent?

I can make a compelling argument for this too. In fact, there are tons of other beasts I would like to starve like the education bureaucracy that eats up 50%-75% of county budgets but shows large diminishing marginal returns with very extra dollar spent and the defense bureaucracy and military-industrial complex at the national level that makes a cadre of defense contractors rich while engaging in pointless and endless nation building abroad. Bring the troops home now. The vicious cycle needs to end at some point. In the end, I am as passionate about this as a dispassionate, non-ideological, academic observer and I can see both sides of this complex issue. More often than not, I want to starve the beast, but if the beast is not starved to my liking, life goes on. I have other political issues that inspire me to advocacy which I feel is more important than this.

Outlawing Conventions as a Method to Nominate Candidates for Public Office

I am a primary guy. Primaries were a Progressive Era reform to take the nomination process out of the hands of party bosses and party hacks and allow the people to have a say on their options. If Democratic and Republican officials in public office only represented their own party members like an elected party chair only represents party members, I am okay with this. Let everyone have at it in a closed convention.

However, elected Democrats in public office don’t represent Democrats only. If elected, the Democrat or Republican has to represent everyone including many who are not their own party members. Therefore, the people have a vested interest in voting in primaries as unaffiliated voters so that they can have good choices for the general election.

http://chesapeakeliaison.com/2012/01/30/support-open-primaries-do-not-support-party-registration/

Red Light Cameras

Red light cameras are annoying, but I see this as law enforcement, not a tax. The courts have ruled time and again that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place so there is no violation of civil liberties here.

I’m a Ron Paul supporter. Really?

Yes. Ron Paul is a big tent guy and is willing to welcome and work with anyone with whom he can find common ground. If Ron Paul (R-TX) can work with Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) who only agrees with him 15% of the time, I would hope that Ron Paul’s supporters can welcome someone like me who agrees with them 85% of the time and find their participation valuable in the public discourse.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/ron-paul-dennis-kucinich-wont-soon-be-forgotten/2012/05/15/gIQAgJbzRU_blog.html

Did I miss something here? John Cosgrove is a social conservative and I give him high marks there but when it comes to fiscal issues, he is looking like a democrat. He voted yes for Obamacare health insurance exchange in Virginia, Phil! He also proposed legislation making it illegal to have nomination conventions as our party nominating method. You want primaries? You were a Ron Paul supporter.. Really?

John proposed & voted in favor of red light cameras.. Ask yourself what is wrong with this.

In the most recent two year NFIB report that scored Virginia General Assembly members on 12 votes, Cosgrove scored an 82% like most of the House GOP Caucus. A Governor’s amendment setting the expiration of mandated health insurance for autism if the annual maximum benefit is invalidated in court was supported by the NFIB, but defeated by a large margin along bipartisan lines because there was a compelling viewpoint on the other side. Therefore, an 82% is as good as 100%.

http://www.nfib.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=wIMSfMVzYeQ%3D&tabid=1066

As for me personally only, I will answer your one question. You asked, “why be a Republican if you are going to vote Democratic on fiscal matters?” This is my view and my view alone.

Fiscal matters do not wake me up in the morning and while I lean libertarian to pretty darn libertarian on many of these issues, I can be quite moderate in a few areas fiscally. What wakes me up in the morning and keeps me involved is defending and expanding civil rights for all Americans regardless of gender, race, color, creed, age (including life in the womb), etc.

I believe Virginia Republicans have had a better record than Virginia Democrats on these civil rights issues in recent years especially when it comes to expanding civil rights to all Americans regardless of age and stage of development in life. If fiscal conservatives do not welcome me into the Republican Party because I am not a hardline anti-tax fiscal conservative like they are and because I prioritize a different set of non-fiscal, but indelibly important life issues, I may have to reconsider my involvement in the party.