It is quite a unique political phenomenon when 11 candidates are running for the Republican nomination for Senate in the deep blue state of Maryland. It is even more special when one of those candidates is a passionate and articulate conservative, who has the gravitas and the energy to mount a serious challenge to arch-socialist, Senator Barbara Mikulski. Jim Rutledge is the candidate running for Senate who has all those vital qualities that are essential to running a successful campaign against the governing class. The unique thing about Jim is that he is, and will always remain, a member of the citizen class.
Jim Rutledge grew up on a family farm in Harford County and has lived within that jurisdiction for most of his life. He has led a successful legal career in constitutional law, criminal law, and all aspects of administrative law. This last aspect of his legal career is essential in that he has indispensable knowledge in combating the draconian regulatory state that is metastasizing on a daily basis. As we have argued many times in this column, the regulatory state poses the most severe and imminent threat to our liberty, prosperity, and way of life, of any facet of the statist agenda. Jim Rutledge would serve as a representative of the citizen class who would be able to “play ball” with the best of the governing class, while exposing and defeating their agenda. The image of Rutledge debating Mikulski on matters concerning constitutional and administrative law is one we look forward to with great anticipation.
The task of defeating Barbara Mikulski is quite a daunting undertaking. However, we cannot continue to afford her a free pass every six years with only token Republican opposition. According to the Washington Post, Barbara Mikulski has the most liberal voting record in the Senate! That is an astounding achievement considering the number of extremists in the Senate who jockey for this distinction. The election of any Republican Senator in her place would therefore serve as a drastic improvement from her anti-constitution misrepresentation of Marylanders. However when provided with a choice between a candidate who is a consistent, articulate, comprehensive red meat conservative, and one who is just an “improvement” over the status quo, we must not ignore that vital decision.
There are only two candidates out of the 11 who have filed to run for Senate, who have a realistic chance of winning the primary and mounting a credible challenge to Mikulski; Jim Rutledge and Eric Wargotz. Jim Rutledge has impeccable conservative credentials, while we (as red meat conservatives) have serious concerns with Wargotz. In an attempt to highlight the fact that he is the only candidate who is an elected official, Wargotz has repeatedly implied that he is still the President of the Queen Anne’s County Board of Commissioners, despite the fact that his term ended in 2008. As concerned as we are about his credibility, his positions on several key issues are cringe worthy.
The two most important issues that we focus on here are illegal immigration and climate fascism. We have long argued that those two issues represent the most serious threat to our liberty, prosperity, and security. Wargotz is a disaster on both of them.
Eric Wargotz’s has an extensive record of peddling climate fascism as a county commissioner. Wargotz signed onto a radical global warming agenda and pledged to cut greenhouse gas admissions in Queen Anne’s County. Furthermore, Wargotz, as an official of the board, was a willing member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. This is a globalist organization dedicated to the infringement of property rights, destruction of free market capitalism, and undermining of American sovereignty under false pretenses of dealing with the climate fraud. Let us be clear here. There is no room in the conservative movement for anyone who supports Eco-Marxism.
When it comes to illegal immigration, Wargotz’s statements are as bad as his record concerning statism. As Maryland conservative blogger Mathew Newman thoroughly reported, Wargotz told the Baltimore Jewish Times, “I was very disappointed that President Obama stated that he wouldn’t pay health care for illegal immigrants.” “My ultra-right friends hate this, but I’m not ultra-right. Take the illegal aliens and give them IDs and have small businesses who hire them pay for health care.” What? This is not the voice and heart of a conservative; this is the agenda of Barbara Mikulski and the ultra-left! Eric Wargotz likes to tout his record as an elected official, but he has shown us that being in elected office transforms him into a member of the governing class of statists. We are sick of electing Republicans to positions of power only to discover that they echo the most extreme sentiments of the left.
Jim Rutledge is a liberty loving constitutionalist who has conservatism running through his veins. He has made illegal immigration a top issue and has pledged to fight against the soft tyranny of climate statism. He will have an uphill fight against Mikulski, but recent polls have shown a sharp decline in her support. She is no longer invincible. The political pundits still rate this race as uncontested, but we have pointed out that they were wrong on their predictions in West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington. With few exceptions, there are no safe Democrat seats this year. Jim has everything going for him. All he needs is the grassroots support to stay on the airwaves until November and fight against Mikulski’s multi million dollar war chest. Let’s do what we can to help propel this campaign and make this race competitive.
Cross-posted to Red Meat Conservative
