Our long-awaited primary race is over. I am so proud of all of you! We did what no one ever expected, and what no other group of people could do! The ramifications of our primary challenge to Bob Goodlatte’s ten-term reign of timidity have not gone unnoticed in Washington, in Richmond, or in Roanoke. In coming days, we will be reading and hearing a lot of chatter, and even wisdom, about what happened here on June 12th, 2012.
Today, I invite each of you, and all of the Sixth District, to think about a few of the amazing things that we have accomplished in the last year.
1) First and foremost, we have built a new liberty machine in the 6th District of Virginia — and are not going anywhere! Yesterday, I listened in delight to a radio ad Mr. Goodlatte ran just this week. In it, Bob Goodlatte said he would cut spending, that less government leads to more prosperity, and he claimed to be a Constitutional conservative. This sounded very familiar to me, as it must to you. In any other situation, in any other district, we might say that this is just a politician saying what he needs to say to get elected. But no other district has our brand-new machine of experienced, ingenious and passionate liberty activists. No other district has our army of young and older small-r “republicans” who have experienced real political combat, and won so many battles, on so many fronts.
2) With great power comes great responsibility! We had four objectives in the campaign, and we achieved three and a half. We intended to push Goodlatte to the constitutional right. Check! We intended to spread a bold and courageous message about the power of liberty and the need for real republican change now. Check! We intended to strengthen and solidify the constitutional conservative and liberty wing of the GOP in the 6th District. Our campaign helped show the door to entrenched political operatives and welcomed into GOP leadership positions dozens of people just like us. Check! Lastly, we intended to retire Bob Goodlatte. Goodlatte is still standing politically on June 13th. But our million manhour effort has forced him to sit, roll over and beg. His campaign account is decimated, and he revealed himself to be both politically vulnerable and personally out of touch. For our part, we have created a new and more obedient Mr. Goodlatte; his victory was pyrrhic, and I don’t believe he will run for a 12th term in 2014.
3) Lastly — we have spent time and money, sacrificed many hours and foregone other duties and joys of life in order to work hard to restore the Republic, for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren. We did this because we believe in the possibility of self-government, because we love our children, we love each other and we love this country. We took spears in the chest, and we fought on. It is in this recognition that we shed a tear, or even two. But let any blood and tears we have shed water the tree of liberty, and fuel our continued fight. The moral exercise of a political race is exactly what we all needed. The hard work of a campaign, the mental, economic, social and spiritual activity that was demanded of all of us made us all better, stronger, wiser and faster. All of us are today even more dedicated to our cause, and we have a confidence that is both unshakeable, and irresistable. You did this!
In coming days, we will reflect and rest, learn and grow, and celebrate our new strength and our expanded knowledge. Our commitment to less government, more properity, to liberty and economic freedom is powerful, and our liberty machine in the 6th District grows even as we sleep. I’ll leave you with a bit of historical insight. Plutarch related the victory of the Pyrrhus against the Romans in 279 B.C.:
“The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one more such victory would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits, and he found the confederates in Italy backward. On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the loss they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war.”
May we not at all abate in courage for the loss we have sustained, but gain new force and resolution to go on with the war for liberty and our republic.
Karen Kwiatkowski was a candidate for the Sixth District Republican congressional nomination.
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