The visual I found on the official website of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) at 9:42 a.m. Central today seems an appropriate metaphor for the way the longtime congressman-turned freshman senator and members of his staff have rushed to the aide of Nixa, Mo., resident John Dollarhite.

Two months ago, Dollarhite contacted Senator Blunt for help in fighting USDA fines of up to $4 million in fines for selling too many bunnies. The senator replied with an electronic letter in which he said, among other things, that “Eliminating the option of humanely reducing the horse population may lead to even greater suffering on the part of these horses.” In other words, Dollarhite said, the senator’s staffers weren’t much help and his interaction with them left him “pissed off.”

Now, fast forward to the present day, and things aren’t looking much better.

On the Facebook group page, USDA Bunny Tyranny of the Dollarhite Family, the head of the Dollarhite household posted the following status update early this morning:

Roy Blunt is for BIG Goverment….. I called Roy’s office in Springfield & Jefferson City today. They are supportive of the USDA and I should NOT have the right to own any animals of any kind because I did not have a license…… Please protest Roy’s Offices.

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I am very excited to announce this news…
Ambassador, Proven Republican Leader, Visionary, and “West Point Mom” — Ann Wagner is running for RNC Chair.

Ann Wagner stands with the troops.

Who is Ann Wagner?
Ann Wagner, former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, announced in a video message this month that she is running for Chairman of the RNC.

From her website…

Ann Wagner is one of the most successful political professionals working in Republican politics today. Her career is rich in service to her community, state and nation.

Following nomination by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Ann Wagner was sworn in as the 19th U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on August 1st, 2005, in Washington, D.C. She served as U.S. Ambassador for four years until July, 2009.

For her service as U.S. Ambassador, Ann Wagner received The Grand Cross, Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The highest Order awarded for professional achievements or meritorious services.

Most recently, Ann Wagner served as the Chairman of Roy Blunt’s successful U.S. Senate campaign in Missouri where she focused on campaign strategy, fundraising, message development and bringing old and new elements of the grassroots together for an historic victory. POLITICO named Blunt’s campaign one of the top 10 best campaigns in the nation in the 2010 election cycle.

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No matter what happens on November 2^nd, 2010 will be the year that conservatives won.  Patriotic conservatives of all flavors, have risen up in extraordinary ways, in every corner of the country.  It appears all but certain that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be dethroned. Dick Morris even predicts as many as 100 new Republican Congressmen giving many people really high expectations for the new Congress.

Others fear that for all their trouble from organizing, holding rallies and knocking on doors, they will only replace the leftist Democrats with RINO Republicans who will squander the victory.  Will we get Speaker Boehner, or a fresh new conservative leader who will truly take a big stick to big government.   A closer look at the numbers should give conservatives reason to be really excited and also a cause for continued resolve.

If you want a conservative Congress, you have to ask yourself just what kind of conservative are you after.  Drew Kurlowski, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Missouri who studies voting behavior and partisanship, referred me to a dataset popular with political science academics called DW-Nominate.  It is a tremendous resource that meticulously compiles the voting records of the Congress going back to the 1st Congress.  If you want to know who George Washington’s favorite conservative was, this is your site.  Moreover, they settled on a definition of “conservative” that is tremendously useful.  Move over “fiscal conservative” and “social conservative” and make room for (limited) “government intervention in the economy”.  Let’s call it L’GIE.  So who are the liggies?

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If you love the Constitution, Robin Carnahan thinks you are sheep to be led to political slaughter. If you listen to Glenn Beck, she believes she can use that against you to get herself elected.

In this leaked tape made at a fancy, high dollar campaign fundraiser in Santa Fe (a real woman of the people in Missouri, huh?), she explains her cynical election strategy. She espouses an elitist notion that there are enough rubes in Missouri who will vote for anything that says the word “Constitution” such as a Constitution Party candidate.

Another embarassing revelation is the notion that she can help leverage Glenn Beck followers to go along and be part of the 6% she needs. She is clever enough to know that getting 50% of the popular vote is nearly impossible for a hard leftist, especially in a red or swing state heartland state like Missouri. So her path to victory actually relies on 6% of Missourians from Beck supporters to strict Constitutional adherents to vote third party, for her, or not at all so that she can sneak away with the anti-Constitutional remainder of the vote. She elaborates in the tapes that her strategy is to invite debates with the third party candidates to build momentum for their followers to vote for them and chip away at Roy Blunt’s wide margins.

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I’m mad as hell, and I’m going to do something about it.

I’ve been to Missouri quite a few times since becoming “Joe the Plumber”: Rolling hills, farmland, beautiful rivers, vibrant cities, honest people. So I’m not in the least surprised that the rural town of Caulfield has produced a true statesman. A statesman that all freedom-loving Americans have searched for since the Reagan years.

I AM surprised and disgusted that these same “conservatives” who have been shouting fiscal conservatism from the mountain tops are now throwing a true statesman under the bus instead of rallying to his side.

Chuck Purgason is a State Senator for a portion of southern Missouri. He’s worked his way up from the House to the Senate ever since his “Tea Party” moment in 1996. He has proven the hard way that you actually can be a man of integrity in a government full of wolves. When liberal U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R) decided to retire, he anointed RINO Congressman Roy Blunt (R) to be his heir apparent. After Roy Blunt’s votes for the TARP Bailout, Cash for Clunkers, No Child Left Behind, taking the most lobbyist money, etc. (I really could go on and on and on . . . ) Chuck said there was no way he was going to let Blunt represent Missouri in the US Senate.

State Senator Chuck Purgason threw his hat into the race for US Senate against mega power broker Roy Blunt.

Now this is where the story begins to get interesting. Just a week or so ago, Democratic Governor Jay Nixon ($170,000+ donations from unions) called for a special session to pass a $150M “tax cut” to Ford Motor Company. Every Republican started lining up like good little bees because tax cuts are good – right? Besides, Missouri has a lot of unions – they wouldn’t win their re-elections if they didn’t vote for this bill.

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No, not because this is the day that the 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was sworn into office; although the words of “Silent Cal” lend credence to the modern movement in opposition to progressive-statism.  Take a gander:

Civilization and profit go hand in hand.

Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.

There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means.

Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.

Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business.

To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.

President Coolidge may be the most under-rated president in American history, but his words do little to roll back the progressive machine now.  The beginning of that roll-back does not occur on November 2, but much earlier.  On August 3, 2010, Missouri voters will be tasked with the responsibility of taking the first stand against Obamacare, the progressive panacea, by voting for the Missouri Health Care Freedom Act (MHCFA) in a public referendum.

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The 17th Amendment is stupid:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years….

But let me start at the beginning.  Article I § 3 cl. 1 of the Constitution originally established the election of Senators through the state legislatures.  The Federalist #62 laid out numerous arguments for the Constitutional framework of the Senate and its method of selection.

The senatorial trust, which, requiring greater extent of information and stability of character, requires at the same time that the senator should have reached a period of life most likely to supply these advantages….

Years later, Alexis de Tocqueville made some observations about the Senate in “Democracy in America.”

The Senate is composed of eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise magistrates, and statesmen of note, whose arguments would do honor to the most remarkable parliamentary debates of Europe.

We went from great statesmen like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John Calhoun prior to the 17th Amendment, to that of Al Franken.

This man would never have been elected to the Senate prior to the 17th Amendment.  (more…)