Today, MDGOP chairwoman Audrey Scott begins her 5 day “Take Back Annapolis and Washington Town Hall Tour” with stops in Annapolis (noon, Conte-Lubrano) and Salisbury (6:30 PM, Wicomico Youth and Civic Center).  The tour criss-crosses Maryland and finishes up Friday in Bowie.

Scott is to be commended for her efforts.  If the MDGOP were a functioning party, I have no doubt that Scott would be an excellent chair.  Sadly, the MDGOP is not a functioning party and has little sign of becoming one in the near future.  Check out successful, conservative, state Republican parties.  They’re NOTHING like the MDGOP.

Why?  Grassroots conservatives have no say in how the party is governed and aren’t particularly welcome.  The party deliberately separates itself from the grassroots by promoting a layered, “big fish in a little pond” approach to governance.  At a recent county central committee meeting one member went so far as to claim that, “They (Tea Party activists) need us more than we need them.”  This fool obviously has never had any real experience in WINNING campaigns.  My money is on the folks that seem to be willing to knock on doors, make phone calls, and write letters.  That ain’t the folks who think that the Republican Party elects candidates in this state.

We don’t need to be pandered to.  We will support candidates who have earned our respect.  We won’t be supporting candidates simply because they appear on the GOP line.

Hopefully, grassroots conservatives will attend these “town halls” and let Scott know that their support must be EARNED.  Sure, we’ll be supporting GOP candidates, particularly those committed to free markets, limited government, and fiscal restraint.  However, that doesn’t mean that we support the Republican Party.

Why?  Simply look around.  Michael Steele’s RNC is spending money on private jets and bondage clubs when they should be working to elect right of center candidates.  Other self-identified conservatives are possibly more dangerous to the cause of liberty than Steele.  A new 527 group dubbed “American Crossroads” has decided to make hay out of Steele’s ineptitude.  Do conservatives actually believe that the answer to our current problems is to return to the days of “big government conservatism” (one of the greatest oxymorons ever) with the likes of Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie?  Sure these guys are excellent political operatives.  They would also sell their mothers for the right number of votes.  As for principles, these guys never had any TO sell.

So what should grassroots conservatives do?

First and foremost, we should work at the grassroots level to elect fiscally solid, right of center candidates.  In the case of Maryland, that also means helping to elect fiscally solid, center – right candidates.  For every Andy Harris, there are several Allan Kittlemans.  You may not agree with him on 90%+ of the issues, but he’s honest, straight, and definitely worth electing.  That means knocking on doors, making phone calls, writing letters, or just talking to a few of our neighbors.

Second, our money should go directly to good candidates; not to the RNC, the NRSC, the RNCC, or the MDGOP.  We need to elect the Marco Rubios and Andy Harris’s.  We need to re-elect the Tom Coburns, Jim DeMints, and Mike Pences.  We don’t need the Charlie Crists or the Roy Blunts.  While candidates like Blunt or Crist are definitely better than their Democrat alternatives, these “faux cons” also make many moderate GOP incumbents feel safe in continuing their profligate ways.

Third, we need to educate ourselves.  I’m not talking about educating ourselves just on the issues; I mean educating ourselves on the integrity and records of those candidates asking for our support.  In Maryland we have an excellent example in the GOP Senate primary.  Because Queen Anne’s County Commissioner Eric Wargotz has plenty of money to throw around, he’s convincing people that he’s actually a conservative.  My wife’s mutt holds more conservative ideals than Wargotz.  Jim Rutledge is the real conservative alternative to Barbara Mikulski.

Last, we need to organize.  This means changing your party registration to the GOP for starters.  Conservatives can’t have an impact on the MDGOP if we are registered as “non-affiliated” or Libertarian.  We cannot affect policy if we don’t win elections.  Whether you like it or not, we don’t have a prayer of winning elections without access to that GOP ballot line.  If you have time, join your local Republican club, but you’ll learn (and accomplish) more by joining your local AFP chapter and attending Tea Party events.  Just remember that groups like the AFP are “non-partisan”, so you need to network with like-minded members and then work for the right candidates outside of the formal AFP structure.  Then volunteer directly for candidates you support.  Make sure they know that you are not part of the formal GOP structure.  When candidates are elected AND know that grassroots conservative activists made the difference, THAT is how you affect positive change.

Perhaps then, the MDGOP will take an interest in the views of grassroots conservatives other than merely hoping we turn out for their slate.

I often read with amusement that the GOP is dead.  I’ve heard all of this before, only to see the GOP come back bigger and stronger than ever.  Given that Barack Obama is fast becoming a younger, more charming version of Jimmy Carter I’m not too worried.   However …every so often we do something so completely stupid that I question whether we deserve to win or not.

Case in point – former House Minority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-MO) candidacy to succeed Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO).  If Blunt is the type of candidate we’ll be running in 2010 I fully expect the Dems to trounce us again.

How can we expect the average voter to take us seriously if we are running guys who personify the reasons that the voters threw us out to begin with.  In his video Blunt says that we can’t “borrow and spend our way to prosperity”.  Guess what guys, Blunt was part of the leadership that turned the Congressional Republican majority from a bunch of fiscally responsible conservatives to a bunch of mealy-mouthed spendthrifts.

What’s next?  Tom DeLay for Senate?  How about John Boehner for President?  How about a new party?

If the Missouri GOP can’t find some young DA or state legislator to run, give the seat up before putting someone like Blunt into the Senate.  I know that Blunt comes from a politically powerful family, and is powerful in his own right.  However, if the NRSC or RNC is willing to throw conservative principles so far down a well then the wishful thinking of the left could just become a reality.

Where was the leadership during yesterday’s bailout debacle in the Congress?  It surely wasn’t wasn’t coming from either the Democrat or GOP camps.  Unfortunately, hypocrisy – the life’s blood of Washington – seemed to be in ample supply on both sides of the aisle.  With claims that the world economy will collapse without action by the US Congress, it’s been politics as usual – except the players are getting more air time.

It’s the Democrats fault.  No, all of the blame lies with Republicans.  Let’s blame it all on President Bush.  Your head will literally spin watching the players pass the buck.

While everyone spoke prior to yesterday’s vote, if you were a Democrat you seemed to parrot the same speech:

We need to all come together because this is the nation’s problem.  It’s the world’s problem.  And of course we all know that this is due to the failed economic policies of the Republicans.

Republicans used a similar tack; simply claiming that this debacle lays at the feet of Dems.

You’ll seldom here me say this, but the truth is somewhere in the middle.  It is absolutely true that we can trace the root of SOME of these problems to the Clinton administration … even the administration of Jimmy Carter.  It is equally true that too many Republicans approved of a system bereft of reasonable regulation and allowing institutions to merge to the point that they were too big too fail.

Leading up to yesterday’s vote I actually thought that the GOP was actually showing some leadership.  While Democrats such as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer attacked Republicans and their standard bear, John McCain, the GOP congressional leadership actually sounded like they were going to act like leaders.  Rather than snipe back, the rhetoric remained cool.

While my fellow conservatives organized a battle to defeat a federal bailout, the GOP leadership stuck to their guns and tried to explain the necessity of saddling us with even more debt.  While I understand the argument, I simply don’t agree.

Yet, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood in the well of the House and spewed bile at Bush and the GOP, not only did the rhetoric change – all semblance of intelligence left the room.  Upon completion of the vote, we heard from the House GOP leadership that the vote was lost because of Pelosi’s speech.  House Minority Leader John Boehner seemed to be telling us that he had the votes to get the bailout through, but Pelosi hurt the feelings of twelve GOP House members.

Let’s assume for a moment that what Boehner said is true.  I’m sure that we would all love to know who those members are.  If they would actually switch their vote – particularly on such a huge piece of legislation – because they were “pissed off” I can only hope that their constituents show them the door in November.

While I am no fan of either Boehner or House Whip Roy Blunt, I was seriously dismayed to see Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) join in this debate of the bizarre.  Cantor is considered a leader and a conservative.  He certainly wasn’t showing it on TV yesterday.

Of course foolishness and hypocrisy weren’t limited to the GOP after yesterday’s vote.  After her disgraceful performance prior to the vote, Pelosi immediately laid all blame at the feet of the Republicans AND called for bi-partisanship – all in the same set of remarks.

While I firmly believe that a bailout is not the answer, it would be nice to actually see some leadership on the part of both parties.  I’m not holding my breath.

Should we worry?  Probably.  However if things were really as bad as portrayed, would we really continue seeing this sad version of politics as usual.