Greg Brannon Speaks at Meck Young Republicans Liberty Night
Greg and Jody Brannon
Hat’s off to the Mecklenburg County Young Republicans.
Last night, September 23, the organization conducted its second annual “Liberty Night”…an opportunity for the more small “l” libertarian crowd within its ranks to set the agenda and have a discussion on issues important to them.
The speaker at last night’s event was former Senate candidate Dr. Greg Brannon.
This is a somewhat surprising move considering the former GOP candidate has not officially endorsed the Party’s current nominee. This author can only imagine the push back the YRs received from local GOP leadership. That said, the talk was on point to the focus of the night. Brannon’s message continues to be that we are in a fight not of Republican vs Democrat, but of progressive statists vs the people.
History and the Constitution continue to be the backbone of Dr. Brannon’s discussions, but he is definitely learning to make the talks more approachable. His opening and closing remarks referencing the “Superman” story and his beliefs that we are all “Supermen and women” are indeed inspiring. It is nice to have an unwavering believer in my values still actively involved in spreading the message of liberty. Far too many candidates lose and disappear forever.
Here is the video of last night’s talk.
3 things killed Brannon’s campaign 1) bragging about not voting for Romney and helping reelect Obama 2) his court case 3) tossing his wife Jody under the bus for not paying taxes.
1) It wasn’t bragging, it was a statement of fact when asked the question. I didn’t vote for Romney either.
2) Yes, agreed, the court case was coming to fruition at the worst possible time. After reading all the evidence in the case, the affidavits, etc, I remain convinced that Brannon did absolutely nothing wrong. The negative publicity can’t be ignored though.
3) He didn’t “toss his wife under the bus”. Quite the contrary. When he was told about the minor infraction, while in the middle of running a campaign, a business, and the zillion other things the man does, the quote was a jovial, “Really? I didn’t pay my taxes? LOL. Better ask my wife!”. She’s the one that handles the regular bills and would naturally be the one to ask. They are a team and work together in their marriage to handle all the things life throws at them. It wasn’t a “throw under the bus”, it was a “let’s ask the partner that handles these things”.
i think his quote was a vote for Romney was a vote for tyranny. You can’t ask for the GOP senate nom, and brag about not voting for the GOP nom for POTUS in the latest election.
I never saw any bragging. I saw an honest man truthfully answer a question. The piece in which the “tyranny” quote came from was actually co-written primarily by the second author. Greg merely signed off on it and allowed it to go on his website. When read in totality, the position makes sense in context.
I would challenge the position that you can’t criticize a nominee from a party while simultaneously seeking the party nomination. Parties are but tools necessary under current rules to be a viable candidate. Both Republicans and Democrats are so disjointed in their decision making that the party label means next to nothing. There are some Republicans I support 99% of the time. There are others I can barely stand. The question is whether a candidate individually is worthy of support. We need to stop looking at government as this mashup of just Rs and Ds. The bigger question is how we can make Party membership more irrelevant. That’s the goal.
Heck…what is “party membership”. You sign up at the freaking DMV by checking a box. Not exactly an exclusive club to begin with!! LOL!
Simpleton platitudes and reducing governance to a fight between good and evil may resonate in wing nut echo-chambers, but nowhere else. I heard the same speech at John Birch camp with different characters. It was nonsense then and it’s nonsense now.
Responsible government IS simple. It’s been made into a monstrosity by Liberals and moderate Republicans who love to increase it’s power, despite that being bad for the country.
I have to disagree. Responsible government is anything but simple. It’s only easy when it’s an autocracy or oligarchy. Things conservatives claim they must have to be effective.
Simple and easy are not the same things. There are many simple answers but that fact does not make them easy. So Christian is correct – responsible government is simple, but not always easy.
The constitution is a fairly simple document; a few pages long. Some of the laws we have had thrust upon us recently are complicated, being thousands of pages long. The first makes for good responsible government. The second lends itself to abuse by bureaucrats and thus to irresponsible government.
Simple and easy are synonymous, try reading a thesaurus, Lewis. Democratic governance is anything but simple because to be successful it has to consider all points of view, and that’s what makes it successful and lasting.
The Conservative viewpoint, however, does not care for other points of view. It’s “Our way, or no way” approach only functions when it can achieve absolute power. Which is what it obsesses over. Look no farther than that do-nothing Congress in comparison to the one from 2008 to 2010 for overwhelming evidence of that assessment.
But I’ll bite, just what laws are so oppressive for y’all? ObamaCare? Oh, the tyranny…healthcare. The CFPB? The Clean Air Act? The Civil Rights act? Before you answer, you need more than those nonsensical platitudes listed above if you’re going to argue with me.
The left wing view tends to project it’s failings onto the Right. The Left seems to walk around trying to remove a mote from anothers eye while ignoring the Log in their own.
Zon, it’s the left that doesn’t care about other points of view. With a limited government, diversity is naturally encouraged. People will do their own thing and form communities behind the shared values held by that community. The left…wow…the left wants one mind, one way. No choice in healthcare. No choice in education. No choice in how much taxation is too much. On and on and on.
There are thousands and thousands of regulations which make compliance all but impossible…and add excessively to the cost of doing business.
This SBA.gov report came out in 2010. It’s only gotten worse since then.
“The annual cost of federal regulations in the United States increased to more than $1.75 trillion in 2008. Had every U.S. household paid an equal share of the federal regulatory burden, each would have owed $15,586 in 2008. By comparison, the federal regulatory burden exceeds by 50 percent private spending on health care, which equaled $10,500 per household in 2008. While all citizens and businesses pay some portion of these costs, the distribution of the burden of regulations is quite uneven. The portion of regulatory costs that falls initially on businesses was $8,086 per employee in 2008. Small businesses, defined as firms employing fewer than 20 employees, bear the largest burden of federal regulations. As of 2008, small businesses face an annual regulatory cost of $10,585 per employee, which is 36 percent higher than the regulatory cost facing large firms (defined as firms with 500 or more employees). ”
I’m sorry that you have such little faith in humanity that you would instead entrust the bulk of our existence to the whims of bureaucrats and politicians. You can’t wake up and go about your life for an hour without encountering dozens of government influences in your life. You may not notice them, especially if it’s not you directly paying for them in a line item fashion, but trust me…we would all be better off if government just left us the Hell alone. Our economy would be better, we’d have more personal resources and spending power, we’d have more choice in how we live our day to day lives. For crying out loud, why should the government seek to prevent you from visiting a non licensed tooth whitening company?! How about a non-licensed hair braiding center? Get rid of government over control, and you’ll have more options at lower cost. That’s the truth.
Zon,
Simple is a different word from easy. They have some similar definitions but mean different things. Look them up. Try reading past the first definition. ie Cutting the yard is a simple thing to do. It is not always easy. (let the grass grow too high or the yard be steep) And it is leftists, of which you are an example, who are always demeaning those you disagree with or, more exactly, those who don’t toe your line.
The fight has long been between those who would use the power of government to their own ends. The reason we have a constitution which, by the way, is always a document restricting the power of government, is because there are always people who seek to advance themselves through the abuse of the legitimate power of government.
You are exactly correct. I love the quote in your newest piece from the Supreme Court decision Trist vs Child of 1874 “If any of the great corporations of the country were to hire adventurers who make market of themselves in this way, to procure passage of a general law with a view to promotion of their self-interests, the moral sense of every right-minded man would instinctively denounce the employer and the employed as steeped in corruption, and the employment as infamous.”
The abuse and corruption of government by power mongers has destroyed our once great country.
Funny, I thought we were the largest economy on the planet. I thought the US is the one place every immigrant wants to go to. I thought that when there’s a hot-spot of tyranny, everyone else looks for the US to go kick some backside, and we do.
If fact, it’s those countries with no regulations that everyone wants to get out of. Why? Because they are shitholes, that’s why. America is the greatest country that has ever been and will stay that way because a majority have always, and will always, reject those simpleton, baseless small government platitudes.
I asked Lewis and all he could come back with is more platitudes. Just what laws and regulations are so onerous? Name them. If your system of government is so superior, what exactly does it look like? See, I heard this bunk at Birch camp. It sounded great then, but I was 15. Then I grew up, now it’s garbage. Conservatives are real big on Hate The Government catch-phrases, but silent on actual solutions that work.
So enough with the feel-good Good vs. Evil nonsense. What does wing nut fantasy land look like? With actual proposals. Until then, y’all are nothing but rebels without a cause.
Platitudes?
DOT – CSA regulations, hours of service, Dodd Frank, IRS regulations, EPA, OSHA, regulations of competition and entry, age limits on drinking, marijuana laws, home brewing laws, seat belts and the list goes on –
Countries without regulations have different problems than lack of regulation. Regulation here has led to government abuse of the citizenry and we slowly degrade ourselves into the oligarchies you decry. But there is no real reason to list and explain to you.
But, if you want an example of what it would look like, go back to 1800 through 1855 in the United States. Except for slavery, it would be like that. There is your example.
Very good, Lewis. Thanks. We can work with this list. And I agree with some of them. Drug laws..ineffective and a waste of time and money, and used to discriminate. I can appreciate the dislike of the IRS, but what’s the solution to collect taxes? Collect at the state level and the states pay Uncle Sam? Honestly, I think that could work in theory.
But you lose me on Dodd-Frank and the EPA. As a banker, I’m very aware of the crooked things bankers are capable of without strict oversight. And they usually mean bad things for the rest of y’all. Same with the EPA, I’d prefer the Catawba or South Fork remain non-flammable. So we’ll have have to agree to disagree on those.
Relative to going backwards 200 years I’ll say this, the Good Old Days were not so good. And, society has advanced 200 years. With respect to how it’s governed there is no going back.
But thanks for the comment, I sincerely appreciate the debate. Regards.
So Zon,
Do I meet your approval? How nice. Does this mean we can be friends?
Backwards is not the idea, the idea is of a limited amount of government. The country thrived with limited government because the people can best decide how to allocate scarce resources. Government, as it becomes involved, distorts allocation and we end up where we are now, with slow growth, too few jobs and a bloated bureaucracy which is self serving. See locally, CMS, Charlotte and Meck. county.
So far as Dodd Frank – no industry should be so heavily regulated it can’t make decisions for itself. Let the bankers make bad decisions, then let the banks go bust.
But if you think the EPA is not doing things to hurt the economy, you’re not paying attention.
It is curious to see you commenting without the ad hominem attacks. Are you on different meds?