Carlos Todd Wants His Republican Party Back: The strings that move John Boehner’s mouth
When I was a kid a lot of adults told me that I needed to grow up and get realistic about things—that my view of the world would either get me killed, or I’d kill myself in frustration over my unrealistic expectations. Young people with the world in front of them, but little experience to discourage their results think they can conquer the world—singlehandedly if needed. Adults then and now have the all-knowing vantage point of having been there and done it—and their advice is almost always that the idealism about life requires young people to “grow up,” to get, “realistic.” What they really mean when they say such things is that being a grown up requires the compromising of beliefs. Being a “grown up” requires yielding to the forces of existence instead of challenging them. Well, I never listened. I have been challenging things for almost half a century, and I’m not going to stop now—and many of those people who used to tell me to grow up, are now wondering how I have made it so far without bending to the will of the world of compromise that those adults always spoke of. The anger is no longer a muffled breath—“someday he’ll grow up,” it is now serious concern—because it reflects back on them that they have cheapened their lives unnecessarily to rules that they can now see delivered them to an abyss.
Needless to say I do not get invited to the Alderson Christmas party in my town—a place where all the movers and shakers gather to be seen—and is the crux of local politics. Mostly Republicans go to such things, some Democrats, freedom fighting libertarians and even some non-political spirits—but what most of them all have in common is that they are “grown ups,” under the definitions established by the mysticism of establishment culture—formulated by compromises over many years. What makes this year different is that the adults of that world are now telling those of us heavy in the freedom movement that it’s time to grow up and get serious about the future and to validate their point—they often look to the invite list of events like the mentioned Christmas Parties. If you want to become invited, then you must grow up and accept certain things. The payoff for growing up is that you can associate with the wealthy and powerful, and establish networking connections that will benefit your life. If you are not at these kinds of parties then you are on your own—but otherwise cast out of the social circle that controls everything—thus meaning that you will suffer. The people who control these party invite lists are the actual people who shape the tone of a culture for better or worse—because they gain control of the adults and their goals, and can thus steer them into the proper direction.
Some of the people on said invite lists are my old No Lakota Levy friends. When I served as a spokesman for that group which I started, former rivals such as the all-powerful developer Carlos Todd and less so Mark Sennett showed an interest in joining forces with me—so we put our differences aside to fight against a common enemy—the Lakota school system. However, along the way, the threat of not being invited to such high-profile social engagements constantly threatened them—so they chose to stay in the shadows letting me do all the talking. I didn’t care to be on the invite list to any parties, or charity events, so they got in behind me nicely and kept their mouths shut. Yet when the heat got to be too much, people like Mark decided to break away from my ranks and do their own thing, claiming No Lakota Levy as their own. CLICK TO REVIEW. But it didn’t work out very well, and Mark ended up castigating himself from our group by the next election. Again a year later when I called some of the levy rivals “latte sipping prostitutes with asses the size of car tires,” some of the big names in politics in No Lakota Levy wanted to distance themselves from me as I had proven to be too reckless for their “adult” sensibilities. Everyone knew who I was really talking about, and it wasn’t the general mothers of West Chester—but the kind of people who make out the yearly Christmas Party list of such notable concern. By associating with me, many people were afraid they wouldn’t be on such lists in the future—so they allowed themselves to be steered by establishment orthodoxy. That establishment was made up of the classic “adult” types—people who have compromised themselves and their beliefs of youth to secure good livings for themselves and social connections that would take them there. Since I didn’t function by those rules, nobody really knew what to do with me. People of some level of prominence are supposed to care about things like that—but I never have—and I never will. So this has left those people to whisper behind my back—“he needs to grow up.” What they really mean……….under their breath is…………”I can’t compete.”
Well, one of those old No Lakota Levy guys came out this past week on the heels of John Boehner’s rant against the Tea Party and revealed where the Speaker of the House suddenly found courage against those who had been calling him a RINO. Butler County, Ohio for as long as I’ve been alive is a staunch Republican area—but of late people like me have supported the Tea Party and people like the former head of the Republican Party in Southern Ohio Carlos Todd supported traditional machine politics. For many years if a Republican wanted to get elected to office in Butler County, they had to go though Carlos Todd—including John Boehner. But in 2010, to capitalize off the rise of the Tea Party movement, people like Todd helped put Tea Party supporter David Kern into his former seat to curry favor of this new demographic of Constitutional purists. The move was equivalent to an adult pretending to be a cool, hip teenager by coming down to their level to ease social awkwardness. The memo had gone out to all party Republicans instructing them to treat the Tea Party with respect and ride their wave. Boehner did as he was told and once Nancy Pelosi was knocked out of the speaker seat, and Boehner took over—they actually pretended to read from The Constitution, so to make the Tea Party believe that Boehner was on their side.
But after the talk of making Ohio a right-to-work state which would harm governor Kasich’s chances for re-election in Ohio, and the Republican Party’s desire to cozy up with the sitting President in Obama—they have sought to distance themselves from the Tea Party. In Butler County this has led to an influx of infighting among Republicans in virtually every seat held by an elected official. Behind the scenes people like Carlos Todd, who have had their hands in just about everything political so to pave the way for profitable business relationships cut off the money to the Republican machine which brought harm to the party under Kern’s leadership causing the infighting to be much greater than it otherwise would. This past week as Boehner denounced the Tea Party after a budget compromise and a tongue lashing during the press conference announcement—David Kern stepped down from his job as head of the Republican Party in Butler County. On the heels of that announcement Carlos Todd circulated a memo through the Republican network to the effect, “it’s time to grow up.”
What Todd means by his statements is that the grownups in politics need to be able to generate revenue for the party and that all responsible participants need to drop these immature notions about The American Constitution for the good of all Republicans. Yet the source of the infighting all along are those who only pretended to support the Tea Party when it benefited them, and now that the national conservative talking points are “immigration reform,” “compromise,” and improving their image with women, the puritan views of American foundation principles are supposed to be rejected. John Boehner did not come out suddenly against the Tea Party out of genuine concern about their opinion of his budget compromise. Boehner’s people were at the straw poll where it was revealed that no reasonable challenger could be agreed to pushing Boehner out of office during the upcoming primary. But the fact that four people were considering challenging Boehner was enough to scare the Republican establishment and convince movers and shakers like Carlos Todd that it was time to retake control of the party again in Butler County.
Carlos and I have had words in the distant past. During the No Lakota Levy days, we were polite to each other, and when his kind of people wanted to take control of the movement away from me he didn’t change my behavior to their frustration—as I didn’t care about invites to Christmas Parties and charity events. Like the Tea Party they wanted to use me for as long as it was convenient, and when they were ready for a change, they’d make it. Our parting was not some issue over an Enquirer article as much as the people behind the scenes stoking the fires to provoke the situation—people from both political sides—mine and the enemy. Our relationship worked so long as we were working for the same goals–lower taxes in the Lakota district. But at a point, the endeavor began to cost money, so they wished to change direction and distance themselves from the radical Rich Hoffman. People like Karen Mantia know this about the Carlos Todd types, and they exploit them routinely. So long as the motivation is purely money, people can be easily controlled, which is why the Republican Party has been demolished over a long-span of time under the leadership of the Carlos Todd types. They stand for very little philosophically allowing them to be controlled by a minority of the population in progressives. Some of those people I genuinely like, some of them I considered my enemies even as they sat one foot from my face. But if I could use their money to accomplish a tactical objective that we mutually benefited from– I did. But I would not yield to the ideal driving their strategy. I had my own objectives. In the case of Carlos, those types of convictions are not present. With him, it’s all about the money, money for the party’s war chest, and money regarding personal finance.
I had a union supporter send me an email a few weeks back calling me Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life, which is one of my favorite all time films. The guy was speaking with a level of naïveté that is innocently limited in its scope and world view. I replied to him that I identified with the Baileys in that film, not Mr. Potter. As a union trained mind, he thinks all people who support business, wealth, and productivity makes them greedy—like Mr. Potter. But the breakdown is more complicated than that. Because of Carlos Todd, my childhood home is now a sports bar. Where I grew up and slept every day, is now a pissing post for drunks who park on the side lot of what used to be my vast front yard. My mother has never been the same since that property was sold under an extensive zoning battle in Liberty Township that involved trustee Bob Shelly, Mark Sennett, Carlos Todd and a few others. That was the home where my mom raised her family and the money didn’t take away the pain of surrendering those memories to the business interests aligned with politics to crush individual will. I know who the Mr. Potter is in Butler County, and he wants his Republican Party back, and is making the move to secure that intention.
I’m not anti-business by any stretch of the imagination. I respect people who create and make things from nothing—and being a developer does that—more so than the union loser who is just a parasite off existence. So Carlos and his type were able to work with me on No Lakota Levy because we agreed on at least that much. But when people make the assumption that I was fired from a group that I started in No Lakota Levy, the truth is far from their beliefs. There were attempts to reel me in the same as what is going on now with the Republican Party and the Tea Party. For most, the party invites are enough to keep alliances directed toward the party objectives—in spite of what personal beliefs may entail. But, as I’ve pointed out many times, I’d rather play video games with my wife and kids all weekend than attend a formal at the Alderson’s house celebrating Christmas and being a member of the “elite.” To me that kind of thing is worthless, and has no philosophical merit. It also puts you at a tactical disadvantage because today’s friend may be tomorrow’s enemy—and it is best not to break too much bread with those types—because you may have to crush them at some point. And it is not good to have friendships that may cause a hesitation when a good crushing is required.
However, the memo is out by those who want control of the Republican Party once again that it is time to grow up—do the adult thing—and serve the collective needs of the party. It is coming out of John Boehner, it is coming out of John Kasich, it is coming out of Mitch McConnell, but the origin of all those opinions do not come from the politicians themselves, but the network of people attending the Alderson Christmas Party and people like Carlos Todd who work the strings of politics behind the scenes. The memo these days say “How about initiating a ‘draft a grown up’ campaign,” to get the party together for the 2014 elections, and a push for president in 2016. For those types of people, their eyes are always on politics and how they can make it profit them with crony capitalism—instead of the type I support in laissez-faire capitalism, which requires the best idea—instead of the connections one has built. But when the guilt of living a life under such premises becomes too great, and the crony capitalist is forced to compete with the laissez-faire capitalist the crony is at a loss and cannot stand on the same ethical ground—so they do what the guilty adult says to the vibrant teenager—you need to grow up. What they really mean is that you need to surrender your principles for the greater good of party politics and stop thinking so idealistically, and start thinking how you’re going to make a living for yourself. For Carlos Todd, he has made a good living in aligning politics to his business needs. And he wants to take the party away from the Tea Party which is largely philosophical, and ideological, and return it to back-room deals at Christmas Parties where people like John Boehner eat out of his hand like a begging dog.
When it is said that the Republicans are infighting—this is what is essentially happening. There are those who think like Carlos Todd, and then there are those who think the way I do. David Kern is one of those types—who thinks the way I do. They have attempted to do to him what they wanted to do to No Lakota Levy when they felt they were losing control of the message—and they always use the “grown up” argument to make their point. But for me, there is too much Peter Pan in my character. Living life a compromised adult has never been appealing. What you end up with is a former home that is now a pissing palace, or a pathetic politician lacking firm convictions, or a person who will sell their own mother for ten years of financial security. Compromise is not good—and so long as people attempt to impose compromise over philosophic merit—there will be infighting. It might not get you invited to the big Christmas Parties, but it sure does help a person sleep at night without a pantry full of drugs to make the adult demons of compromise shut up long enough to carry a mind away into blissful slumber.
David Kern, as always did a good job. But most of the time when the issue is over crony capitalism, the job has nothing to do with being good, but in who you know, and how you can use them to achieve fiscal goals. I am proud to say that David Kern is far too sincere of a person to be good at that game—and that is something to be proud of.
Rich Hoffman
