Okay, that’s a lot to mashup in one post, but they’re all tied together so bear with me. First, I am a now a board member for the Orange County Lincoln Club and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to take a more active role in political activism that advances conservative principles. This is a great group of increasingly diverse people, and for those who think the Lincoln Club is some type of exclusive, monochromatic club for people of means, then you haven’t taken a serious look at the Lincoln Club of today. At heart, we are a group of activists and the Lincoln Club is taking a leading role in bringing a group of diverse experiences and backgrounds so that we can expand the principles established by our Founding Fathers that were continued, of course, by our sixteenth President Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln Club is actively reaching out to the diverse communities of Orange County not only fully supported by leadership but a leadership that is active on the ground as well. The Lincoln Club will be a vanguard to keep Orange County a red county, bringing time-honored, transcendent, and tested principles that will appeal to people of all races, backgrounds, and creeds.

Larry Kudlow of CNBC was the headliner at the 53rd Annual Dinner last night, and he didn’t disappoint. Having been on Ronald Reagan’s executive staff, Kudlow was on hand for one of the greatest periods of economic growth our country has seen. The particular point he wanted to make was that if the United States is an economic powerhouse, then everyone in the world respects us. Being an economic power allowed us to defeat the former Soviet Union without firing a single shot. We were able to negotiate from a position of strength. Now, under the current president, we negotiate from a position of weakness with anemic 2% GDP growth, a shrinking military, and crushing regulations as well as taxes on successful American businesses that are the engines of economic growth. In short, Obama doesn’t get it and as long as he continues down his current path, we will never achieve robust economic growth, will never be strong in foreign policy negotiations, and the people who are hurting the most who can’t find jobs or have dropped out of the workforce entirely are being hurt by a president who is stuck on “income equality.” As Kudlow said beautifully, the best welfare is a job, and a rising tide lifts all boats. When America is strong, then people are working and prospering. Very simple.

Pivoting to Tim Donnelly, I am a supporter and love his libertarian leanings as a conservative who prides himself on being a “patriot, not politician.” That is Donnelly’s brand and one I hope he will stay true to in a world where people who become politicians seem to lose the very values they profess over a period of time. I have a couple of people in mind, but I won’t mention them here. What has bothered some quarters in the Republican Party are some of the polarizing (or rather perceived as polarizing) statements Donnelly has made, or votes he has taken as an Assemblyman. Most recently it has come out that he has tied his opponent Neel Kashkari to Islamic sharia law. That was not a good idea and certainly not the best of Donnelly. As well, there was also the recent legislation banning the sale of Confederate flags on state property, where the vote was 72-1 with Donnelly being the only vote against. I see Donnelly’s heart on this matter, but the ban was on state property and did not affect the sale on private property. So this was not a hill I think Donnelly should die on because it did not affect anyone’s liberty to sell away from public property, and the Confederate flag is a deeply offensive flag anyway. But on private property, I absolutely would defend the right for someone to display or sell it if that’s what they want.

The other larger issue with Donnelly is his stance on illegal immigration, and I think this is what has rankled many a Republican, as Donnelly has been noted as saying we have a war at our border with Mexico, and is seen as an “immigration hardliner” due to his comments about criminal activity by illegal immigrants as well as them not integrating into the community by bringing a Hispanic first mentality to America. The truth is more nuanced than this when you talk with Donnelly one on one, but the fact is perception is reality and the party will not attract Hispanics that way. If Donnelly wants to be successful in California, he needs to be, as Rand Paul has argued generally about the Republican Party, about addition instead of subtraction. Yes, Donnelly has the grassroots conservatives and Tea Party folks, but he also needs the establishment Republicans, independents, and Reagan Democrats as well. Being polarizing, or being perceived as polarizing, will not help him or the Republican Party to advance. Clearly, as Reagan has done, there is a way in which one can communicate staying true to conservative principles, but doing so in a winsome, attractive manner that grows the party and improves the perception of a party badly in need of good communicators. This is not an easy task and the vast majority of people don’t possess the necessary attributes, so we look for these attributes in principled elected (or would be elected) leaders. The media, the entertainment industry, and the academy are against every principle we hold dear, so we’re not getting any help from them as they actively work against us. My hope is that Donnelly, who is a very good man that I respect highly because I know his heart, will take this message to heart.