By:  Ryan
Kennedy, Co-Founder North Central WV Tea Party


Early voting has begun in West Virginia and Election Day is May 8th.  As many of you already know, the votes that actually help to determine who the presidential nominee of each party is are the votes cast by each state’s delegates to that party’s national conventions.  Also, these
delegates write the official national party platform which will define what each party stands for over the next four years.  Each party in each state decides how they want to select these delegates. 


The Democratic Party in West Virginia decided to have a series of county conventions which select delegates to a state convention and then that state convention will select delegates to the Democratic National Convention.  This process is already underway.


The Republican Party in West Virginia decided, however, to put
all the people who want to be delegates to its national convention on the
primary ballot and let the voters of West Virginia decide who their delegates will be.  This process is going to be the focus of this blog, as it can be somewhat confusing. 



Although we are selecting delegates to the Republican national
convention, independents (no party choice) can choose to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries. You have to ask for the ballot you want, however.  The poll worker is not allowed to ask you which one you want.  You just have to tell them.  Therefore, independents can have an effect on who the Republican convention delegates are from West Virginia if they vote in the Republican primary.    


The first point of confusion is what those little names in parentheses mean.  If you look at a sample Republican primary ballot, you will see that there are a lot of people running for convention delegate and that each of them either has the name of a presidential candidate after their name (Paul, Romney, etc.) or the word “uncommitted.”  This tells you what this person will do at the convention if they are elected. 



Those delegate candidates with a candidate name in parenthesis  after their name, known as “committed delegates,” have committed to vote for that candidate at the convention on the first ballot.  In recent history, there has not been more than one ballot at the convention, so by voting for a committed delegate you are essentially casting a vote for the candidate they support. 



The other “uncommitted” delegate candidates have not made any
promises up front as to who they will vote for at the convention. 
If you vote for an uncommitted delegate, you are essentially saying that
you trust that person’s judgment and you want them to go down to the convention and vote for whoever they think is the best potential nominee at the time. 


The second point of confusion is that there are actually four separate races for Republican National Convention delegate on the
ballot this year.  The first is the “at large”race where people are running statewide. So any one voting in the Republican primary anywhere in West Virginia will have the chance to vote for these same candidates. 
You can vote for up to 19 of these candidates, although you are not
required to vote for 19.  You can vote for fewer which can give your vote more power.  


Local conservatives John Hartsoch, my wife Laura and myself are all
running to become at large delegates.  Other tea party groups from around the state are also supporting the following candidates:  Thorney
Lieberman, Edward Burgess, Patrick Morrisey (also a candidate for attorney general), Patricia Rucker, Lucas Bolyard, Charles Peck, Donna Holstine, Sandy Staats, David Huffman, and Joel Davis III.


The other three races are in West Virginia’s three congressional
districts.  In each district, people will be running as delegates to the convention from that district only.  You can vote for up to 3 of these candidates running in your district, although, again, you can vote for fewer.  Local conservatives Diana Bartley (who is also a tea party endorsed WV House of Delegates candidate), Stephen McElroy, and Russ Snyder are running to become delegates from the First Congressional District.  Andrew Sabak, who is a member of the Marion County Tea Party, is also running. 


I hope that this explanation has helped to clear up some confusion and misconceptions about the process. Many states have not yet selected their convention delegates which means that the selection of good delegates from West Virginia is still very important.  So let’s go out there and send some conservatives to the convention!

There are other people suggested by Tea Parties around the state. Here is a more complete list:

At large: 17 names – (Vote for 19)
Craig Blair (Uncommitted)
Lucas Bolyard (Paul)
Edward Burgess
(Uncommitted)
Joel Davis III (Uncommitted)
Anne Dungan (Uncommitted)
Gary Dungan (Uncommitted)
Cindy Frich (Santorum)
John Hartsoch
(Uncommitted)
Donna Holstine (Santorum)
David Huffman (Gingrich)
 Ryan Kennedy (Uncommitted)
Laura Kennedy (Uncommitted)
Thorney Lieberman (Gingrich)
Patrick Morrisey (Uncommitted)
Bob Murto (Gingrich)
 Charles Peck (Paul)
Patricia Rucker (Uncommitted)
Sandy Staats (Gingrich)

First Congressional District (Vote for 3)
Diana Bartley (Uncommitted)
Steve McElroy (Paul)
Andrew Sabak (Santorum)
Russ Snyder (Uncommitted)

Second Congressional District: (Vote for 3)
Donna Holstine (Santorum)
Robert Egtvedt (Uncommitted)

Third
Congressional District (Vote for 3)
Mike Baisden (Uncommitted)

Greetings Patriots,

Early voting for the primary has begun here in West Virginia. This is when we can really take a stand that matters. It is important that freedom minded people of all parties make their voice heard in every election. Here are few things I would like for you to keep in mind as you vote in the primary.

Independent Voters


Anyone who is registered as an independent
(no party choice) can vote in either the Republican primary or the Democratic primary. Tell the poll clerk which ballot you would like, as they are not supposed to ask.  If you don't tell them, they will hand you the non-partisan ballot which doesn't the primary candidates from either party on it. 


Tea Party Candidates

Our local Tea
Party as a group vetted candidates and decided to support two. These candidates are Diana Bartley, Republican for House of Delegates, and Joe Galan, Democrat for Harrison County Assessor.

There other good conservatives on the ballot and many spots to fill. If you have not decided for whom to vote, I urge you to do some research and decide for yourself who the best candidates are. Do your research quickly because the last chance to vote will be on May 8.


Delegates to the National Convention


As many of you may know, the votes that really choose the parties' nominees for president are the votes cast by the delegates to the national convention.

State parties make the decision as to how the delegates are selected. In West Virginia, the Republican Party puts those wanting to be a delegate on the ballot. Not only is the nominee chosen at the convention, but the party platform is also formed. Let's get conservatives to the convention. One way to take this nation back is to get conservatives in positions where they can make a difference in the parties. Please take the time to look at the list of candidates for delegate to the national convention. 

There are actually two separate races for delegate to the Republican National Convention.  One race is for the "at large" delegates and you can vote for up to 19 candidates in that race.  The other race is for Congressional district delegates.  You can vote for up to 3 of these candidates.  

Whether you vote early or on election day, in the Republican primary or in the Democratic primary, whoever you support, go out and make your voice heard. Together we will take our nation
back.

Standing with you,

Laura Kennedy
Co-Founder of North
Central WV Tea Party

by Tim Fullerton 


I see separate long-term policies converging:


1. Gold Standard.  Under a gold standard, the country can only have as
many dollars in circulation as it has solid assets.  The currency
represents those assets.
FDR took our country off the gold standard (for
internal purposes) in the 1930's so he wouldn't be constrained in his effort to
spend our way out of the great depression.


Nixon took us off the gold standard for international trading in the
1970's.  So he could fund LBJ's war on poverty, the brand new EPA, and the
Viet Nam war all at the same time.


Since then, our money has been backed by nothing except the "Full faith and
credit of the United States."  Faith?  That means our money is now
physically not even worth the paper it's printed on.


2. Related to #1.  Quantitative Easing.  Since even before the
recession or crash or whatever it was back in September of 2008, the Federal
Reserve has been printing money at an extraordinary rate.  Like any asset,
the more rare something is, the more valuable it is.


Simple law of supply and demand; if the supply of something grows and the
demand stays the same or drops, the price (inherent value) must fall.


3. Related to #2.  The American dollar is the "global reserve
currency." 
This means, that when Brazil wants to buy something from
South Korea, the Brazilians must convert the purchase funds into dollars to make
the purchase.  Then the South Koreans convert those dollars into whatever
their money is called.  This is supposed to keep all international
transactions fair (level the playing field).


Lately, Russia, China and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have all
called for a switch from the dollar for international trading.  If this
happens, the worldwide demand for dollars will go down by a LOT.  (I read
one estimate of a 25% drop).  This may cause havoc here -- since this
demand is what has been propping our (paper only) dollar up for so long.


4. American government debt.  (You knew this one was coming, didn't
you?)  There's been some talk that the government actually wants to inflate
the dollar so they can pay off foreign bond holders with worthless money. 
That's the Full Faith and Credit of the United States?!??!


How is this advantageous?  I recall that during the inflationary 1970's,
this same strategy was employed by average citizens; they bought everything (and
I mean EVERYTHING) on their credit cards assuming the money sent to pay off the
cards would be worth less than “today's” dollars.  Admittedly, I'm no math
wiz, but I fail to see any advantage here; you still have to pay off your debts
and the accumulated interest besides.


I foresee a convergence of these policies into a PERFECT STORM.  Savings
accounts: worthless.  Paychecks: worthless. Prices rising faster than the
money can depreciate.  $100,000 bills becoming commonplace – one of them
might cover a single month's worth of electricity.

SB 1813 MAP-21 Another have to pass it to find out what is in it.
Mandatory ‘Big Brother’ Black Boxes In All New Cars From 2015
http://www.infowars.com/mandatory-big-brother-black-boxes-in-all-new-cars-from-2015/

This is disturbing. It is just a small portion of the Obamacare-esque 1200+ page Bill:

Senate Bill 1813 (SB 1813) “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act” or “MAP-21”

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1813/text 

This is another bill that you have to pass to find out what is in it.

It creates as many new agencies, studies, government jobs and additional government spending as Obamacare. It authorizes future spending just as Obamacare does that is beyond the control of future legislatures to reduce. It authorizes the Czars virtually unlimited discression in doing whatever they deem necessary in the future to change the initial authorizations with new regulations and requirements.

Another wonderful sounding name: "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act"
Like Obamacare's "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act"
Or "The Food Safety And Modernization Act"

A Boondoggle of epic proportions. Besides the massive government spending on everything outlined in the bill and the increased costs to businesses and consumers that saps the money that would otherwise drive the economy to create jobs, massive bigger federal government, ALSO requiring massive new bigger State Governments. More overspending to further erode the dollar and usher in additional inflation to topple the US as the world's #1 power.

The deceptive spin from the progressives on both sides of the isle will have the people Ooooing and Ahhhhing to say please spend more of our money for such a good thing. The continued downfall of America.