Former Sheriff Richard Mack is launching a Republican primary challenge against Lamar Smith. He cites SOPA as his primary reason for running against Smith. (He has a website, but it’s currently 404.)
Mr. Mack seems to be a Ron Paul enthusiast, which is not my favorite flavor of conservatism, but even knowing nothing else about him, I would still regard him as a significant improvement over Lamar Smith at this point. His bio suggests he supports the Second Amendment, legalization of drugs, and the Tea Party, all of which I approve of. He has a personal website, and I sent him a query asking about his campaign. I’ll let you know more about when I hear back. As Matt Drudge is wont to say: Developing…
Tags: 2012 Election, Lamar Smith, PIPA, Republicans, Richard Mack, Ron Paul, SOPA, Texas, Texas 21st Congressional District
[…] UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive. […]
I think the House could use a few more in the Ron Paul mold and a few less in the John (lets make a deal) Boehner model. I expect to follow sheriff Mack’s primary bid, and wish him the best. After I bone up on his policy preferences, I may contribute.
Don’t wait too long John. Chris Dodd has already contacted all of Hollywood to instructing their people to send Lamar a big fat check.
Just follow the money!
While I dont want Ron Paul for prez, because of his foreign policy, I would not mind a bit if we had more Ron Paul compatriots in congress. Ron Paul is actually better than most on fiscal policy issues, and since the main function of congress is to determine fiscal policy, having more Ron Paul types there could be a very good thing.
I also dont want to get too down on Boehner though. In the end he is right that at present we only control one of the 3 places that determine fiscal policy (house, senate, and prez), and therefore to govern we cant get everything we want. As it is he managed to get more spending cuts out of the dems than they had ever given before, however paltry and short of the needed mark it actuallly is. If you want really big spending cuts, then do the work needed to get them, win the prez and the senate. Now if we subsequently win the prez and the senate, and Boehner continues to be the great compromiser, that would be a different story. At that point there is no point to coompromise unless it is needed to stop a filibuster, or it is something where the people are not on our side (like Obama refusing to compromising on health care when the country was obviously against him on the issue).