Tag: The Chambers Compact

Announcing the Chambers Compact

On the heels of its official release yesterday at Red Maryland, I present this guide for the Maryland Repubican Party. We haven’t seen any of the Chair candidates sign this yet – why not?

The Chambers Compact

You can also check out existing signatories (including me) here.

While I certainly agree with the intent of the Compact, it’s sort of a shame we couldn’t add a little more context to it by making a larger-scale event at the unveiling (as with, say, the Mount Vernon Statement earlier this year.) Then again, by and large we’re just a renegade band of concerned citizens who happen to be conservative Republicans, far away from the bright lights inside the Beltway.

An original idea was to unveil it at Whittaker Chambers’ Carroll County farm but that soon proved impractical. (History buffs may recall that Chambers evolved during his life from communist to conservative, briefly working at National Review during its infancy and credited by Ronald Reagan as an influence in his political seachange from New Deal Democrat to conservative Republican.) Instead, the document got a soft launch through its own website.

However, that transformation Chambers (and Reagan) underwent during their early lives is similar to the one Maryland needs to make in order to succeed and prosper, so the comparison is reasonably apt.

So I’d like to see more people climb on board with these principles and a plan of action. After next week the hard work will begin.

And then one dropped out…

There is one less name in the field for the GOP Chair’s race.

Citing the need to keep his independence in his position as president of the nonpartisan Institute for Liberty, Andrew Langer told supporters that he’d not pursue the position of Maryland GOP Chair. His withdrawal narrows the possible field to around seven names, five of whom have already announced their intention to run. (Update: Mark Newgent has Langer’s official statement at Red Maryland.)

Despite the fact he’s not in the field, though, his set of principles still may influence the race and the direction the party takes over the next four years. Last month he and Mark Newgent (with a little help from yours truly) wrote the Chambers Compact. This document lays out a platform for the party to follow over the next four years, including a call to:

…take a cue from the grassroots and the blogosphere and become (an effective) opposition.  To do the research, to oppose, to poke, to prod, to hold its own hearings if necessary—all of this in order to demonstrate that Emperor O’Malley has no clothes!

We all know this emperor has no clothes; unfortunately enough people didn’t see it the last time we had an election.

While Langer’s withdrawal from the race leaves a void (and several disillusioned supporters) there’s no reason a good conservative voice can’t become the leader of a revitalized Maryland Republican Party. Our job as voting members of the MDGOP is to make sure that happens.

Postscript: Since people had so much fun with the concept, I’ll rework the MDGOP Chair odds later this afternoon to reflect Andrew’s absence. (4:45 p.m. – finished.)