Dear Republican Candidate for Office (incumbent or otherwise) –

We hope and trust that you are celebrating with us the results of the election Tuesday night. There may be a lot of work to do, but we have to celebrate baby steps these days, and seeing Republicans overwhelmingly elected in states that voted so dramatically the other way just one year ago can only be taken as a huge positive.  Well, it is a huge positive if one’s agenda is reversing the trend into “socialism lite” that has been in full effect this last year.

We are not just happy with Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie’s victories; we are happy with the unmistakable message behind the victories.  Exit poll after exit poll reinforces this basic fact: voters are fed up with the direction of the country into Euro-style socialism, where no government program is big enough, and no deficit projection is large enough to cause any sort of concern.  We celebrate these victories, and hope against hope that they represent a new paradigm for the conservative center-right country that is the United States of America

And that brings us to the point of this letter.  

As we prepare to launch this weekend a significant enhancement to this Red County website--and the two of us ready the launch of a blog within it dedicated to correcting the recent narrative that capitalism failed--we thought it important to help you understand the ideological imprint which will always lie behind this website: we are going to support you if you act like a conservative Republican, and we will actively oppose you if you do not.

How can this be any simpler a message?  When you stick to the principles that define conservatism, you will win elections; when you abandon those principles, you will lose.  And we feel that we owe it to you to warn you in advance that we intend to do everything in our power to reinforce this commitment with firm actions.  The mood of our website, the persuasive efforts of our writings, the direction of our financial contributions, and every ounce of influence we can muster with the resources we have are going to be firmly devoted to candidates that support these principles, and on the flipside of this, we are going to devote equal energy and resources to opposing candidates that do not support these principles.

This applies to incumbent Republicans.  It applies to candidates in “liberal” districts.  It applies to candidates who have often voted conservatively in the past, but have lately decided to test the waters of “moderation”.  We care for this country so much, and believe so passionately in reversing the path down which the Left is taking us, that we cannot afford to compromise certani core values.  If we lose a couple primaries here, or even general election races there, we will live.

But we will not lose any more because we backed a RINO, only to find out that the voters preferred their liberalism of the authentic variety.  We believe that as tax-paying citizens of this great country, we have a right to expect honesty and principle from our elected officials.  Don’t get us wrong – we understand that in some issues there exists room for honest disagreement. But when it comes to the core foundational issues that define us as conservatives, and define us as Republicans, there is no room for compromise.  The stakes are too high.  And 2010 is going to be the year that leaves in the ash heap of history the political idiocy that says Republicans can only win if they back off of their Republicanism.  Now is the time to accelerate your commitment to personal responsibility, to limited government, to fiscal discipline, and to liberty.  We want to support you, but what we want more than that is for you to be worthy of our support.

So to assist in this process, we are asking every single Republican candidate for office in any Congressional or Senatorial race in the 2010 mid-term elections to understand our position on the following five topics which are so critically important today:

     (1)   You will not support any version of “cap and trade” whatsoever

(2)   You will not support any version of nationalized health care, socialized health care, or a so-called “public option”

(3)   You will not support any attempt to weaken the U.S. dollar in any long-term or meaningful way, or to see it replaced as the world’s reserve currency

(4)   You will not support any increase in marginal income tax rates, corporate tax rates, or capital gain/dividend tax rates, and in fact, will fight for reductions where appropriate

(5)   You will not support any additional so-called “stimulus” spending, or obnoxious government programs that are indebting our children and their children with deficits that cannot possibly be sustained

You will note that we did not bring up issues of national defense, and we did not bring up any of the “social” issues.  This is not to suggest that we do not find grave importance in much of these realms as well, but it is to say that right here, right now, the basic ideas we are focused on are of a singular theme and focus: the economic liberty of our people.

We cannot hope for any meaningful change in government without a dramatic re-discovery of these elementary principles.  The present administration, led by an ideological President and an extremist Speaker of the House, is looking to re-define the relationship between the citizen and the state forever.  

We do not believe that RINO’s can help us stave off their efforts.  We need people to run for office that are “all-in." We believe that your voting constituency is on our side here, and we are prepared to go the distance with you.  Affirm these principles, and let’s get down to the nitty-gritty work of protecting the Republic.  God help us all if we do not.

With regards,

Chip Hanlon and David L. Bahnsen