Coming out of the Closet

Ladies and gents, I'm about to make an announcement. Some of you already know, but many of you do not; I have been working on a project for the last several months in conjunction with a good friend of mine, Charlie Domino. That project is The American Conservative Party. I am one of the board members of the Texas Chapter and a member of the Leadership Committee. Some of you may know that I am a precinct chair and executive committee member of the Harris County Republican party. I want it known that, at least at this juncture, I do not see those two as being in conflict with each other. The ACP exists because the national GOP, and to a lesser extent, the state GOP has abandoned it's core beliefs and has become "Democrat lite" in many instances. We have not left the party, it has left us! And if the party no longer wishes to represent the will of the people, then the people will replace it with a party that will. Our hope is that the ACP will be that party. We have not embarked on this task lightly, nor do we hold any illusions that it will be easy. I would hope that my fellow rank and file Republicans will support us, at least in spirit, if not in deed, for we really want the same things that the rank and file Republican does. We have simply come to the realization that our party infrastructure has been hijacked by those who would undermine conservatism. I took this step knowing that I may at some point be burning bridges. I would hope that is not the case and that my Republican brethren would see it from my point of view, but I know, and you know, that there will be those who will see this as a betrayal. I am saddened by that because I know I am working for the same true cause that they are, the furthering of conservative ideals. Does it really matter if the person espousing the ideal has an R or an ACP behind their name? I would hope not, but I'm sure that for some that will be an important detail. I can only beg their forgiveness, because I cannot abandon conservative ideals at the feet of party loyalty.

My goal is simple. Promote conservatism, regardless of what hat I may be wearing at the time. I personally do not care whether it is a Republican or a Libertarian, or a Constitution Party member, or an ACP member that does it, only that it gets done. If a truly conservative Republican gains office, I will be as ecstatic as I would be if an ACP member did. I am not a party fanatic, the name of the party means nothing, it is the goals and ideals that the politician espouses that are important. Our party platforms are quite similar, with only a few notable exceptions, those exceptions being mainly ones of silence. There are some issues that we as a party have decided to not take a position on, for or against. Not because we have no opinion, but that we have too many opinions, not all of them are in agreement, so on those issues we have agreed to disagree. We may revisit those issues at a later date, or leave them for the individual to decide on their own. But the agreement far outweighs the disagreement.

The Creed of the ACP is a belief system of how we feel a just government and its citizens should interact.

The ACP Creed

We Believe:

• the legitimacy of government exists only as long as it defends human liberty.
• the origin of human liberty predates government, and therefore liberty cannot be repealed by government.
• the existence of human liberty presupposes the right to defend it, and the basic right to live begets the rights of self-defense and free expression.
• the self-ownership evident in human liberty begets basic rights over one’s self and time, and that the right to pursue happiness and self-fulfillment originate here.
• the boundary of human liberty ends where it transgresses the rights of another. Jurisprudence exists to mediate disputes where the boundaries of more than one individual intersect.
• the armed forces and law enforcement exist to bolster private defense, not to supplant it.
• that the American Experiment was born out of these beliefs and that it has resulted in a bountiful gain for the human condition.

Our organization, especially here in Texas is still nacient. We are not, to a man, party hacks. We are regular people with jobs and families and mortgages and car payments. It has been a long and bumpy road, but the American Experiment is too important to let it die by a thousand papercuts. I would hope that my readers would take a moment out of their day and think long and hard about whether the current two party structure is serving the American people well. If you come to the conclusion, as I have, that somehow, somewhere, we, the American people, have lost our way, that our party is no longer OUR party, but is instead bought and paid for by those with enough money and influence to command allegiance by the party leadership, despite the wishes of the people, then I would encourage you to consider joining me in my endeavor.

I and my fellow ACP members harbor no illusions, we are, at least at this juncture, a small third party, trying to make our way in a world that has not historically been kind to third parties. The powers arrayed against us are powerful indeed. We will somehow soldier on. Because freedom and liberty are too important to let die. Remember, at one time the Republican party was a weak and disorganized third party too. Now it is merely weak, abandoned by the people because it's leadership stopped listening to them. Our goal is to be the flag around which those who have been abandoned by the GOP rally around. Conservatism is not dead, far from it. There just has not been a political entity actually espousing conservatism for a long time. That has now changed.

What? You thought I was going to say I was gay or something? Puhleeze! Everybody is gay these days. What is so unique about that?