Observations of local political power.

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This election cycle, I've been noticing some truly bizarre displays of what the practitioners would like to think equates to political power.

I dunno. I'm just not impressed.

I can't say why, exactly. Maybe it's because of my time in the military. Maybe it's because I make my living out of politics. Maybe it's because I served at the throne of political power in this state and discovered that most people who try and wield it are simpletons who I wouldn't let run an elevator for me.

Some believe themselves powerful for a variety of reasons. The trouble is that the phrase "power" in the political world has only two definitions: "real" and "perceived."

REAL power is the ability to impact me and others directly.

PERCEIVED power is that power where those who practice it believe they actually have it; and those whom are targeted by that power to some extent or another allow some level of control to be vested in that person or group of people.

To that end, I really don't give a damn if someone has 200,000 followers on twitter or 200,000,000. I just don't care if you make up some nonexistent title or position as if you think you really are somebody.

I don't care who you know. I don't care what office you hold, or held, or ran for. I don't need your approval or support to do what I do.

I will speak the truth as I understand it, and thankfully, there is nothing anyone can do about it.

And man, that is liberating.

Some of the most allegedly powerful people in GOP Politics want me dead; if not literally, then politically. They want me that way because I will not go along to get along. They want me that way because no one in GOP politics from the state level on down gets my support or is immune from my critique unless they rate it.

These same people all seem to lack the testicular fortitude to confront me directly; instead they attack my friends in an effort to silence me, or they attempt to apply professional pressure.

All I have are a few blogs. These same people who want to silence me threaten others if I am not silenced. Some Herrera followers a while back were circulating threats against me personally, though not of a physical nature.

No, not physical threats. But threats of the political variety.

Other candidates have contacted people I know claiming that I "lie" or engage in "slander." Others, in some effort to reduce the pressure or the impacts of what I write, lie about me directly.

What none of them do, however, is refute me.

I have a standing offer to ANYONE: if you know me to be wrong, feel free to contact me and provide your evidence. If I see evidence that I am wrong, I WILL post that fact as I did here and here; on one occasion when the evidence was provided, and on another occasion when my position was overcome by events.

To candidates running for any office, being threatened or pressured into any action by any of these self-important, self-acclaimed puppet masters is the first step towards being co-opted. They will continue to pressure you into doing their bidding, and you are likely to continue to acquiesce. It is their habit to get what they want by pressure. It's a habit they want you, candidate, to get into.

While I was going to college, I took a philosophy class. Even though it was 30 years or so ago, I remember it well: Never act because of authority. Authority can, and frequently is, wrong.

Going to someone else's fund raiser, for example; being "ordered" to buy a table and then actually doing that?

Wrong on every level.

Doing that because you WANT to do that... because YOU think it's a good idea?

That's entirely different.

This kind of garbage is precisely why I do this. I see it as a duty to lift the veil and let anyone who cares to glimpse the reality of the political landscape of this state and this local area.

You learn a lot in my position. You hear a lot and you have to be careful to be able to separate fact from fiction; rumor from reality.

Only about a third of what I hear ever makes it to this blog. The rest fails to rise to any credible level of proof, so I don't write about it even though, on many occasions, I "know" it to be true. "Knowing" and "proving" are two dramatically different things.

But the one absolute that I know for a fact: none of you scare me. I will not be silenced.

And if you think you can silence me, then let's get this party started.
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