There's pretty much a fist fight going on in the GOP.
It's between those who slavishly accept anything with an "R" after it's name as the genuine, must-be-supported-at-all-costs-and-at-all-times article and those who take a somewhat different view.
Here, locally, we're cursed with individuals in office who completely forget their GOP heritage and what their district wants merely because they became elected...
The worst local example is fake Republican slimeball Tim "The Liar" Leavitt, who famously lied his way into getting elected and remained that way because his opponent in his re-elect ran a terrible campaign from the start.
Leavitt's Lie? That he was "opposed to tolls" on his pet CRC Scam. I called that a lie from the moment I heard it. I was right... Leave-it flipped on that scam about 60 seconds after he was elected... and he's been a scumbag ever since.
Now, don't get me wrong. Except for the occasional claim that he's GOP (Which you rarely hear except on those infrequent occasions when he needs it...) he's hardly big about his passing acquaintance with the party.
So now, we have what I refer to as the establishment types... beating the hell out of the Ron Paul types... who have this annoying habit of actually showing up... and oddly, if memory serves, those who actually show up are the ones who run the world.
The establishment types at every level want us to simply ignore the records of anyone with an "R" after their name and vote for them. Period.
No effort can be made to hold those electeds accountable for their perfidy, should they chose to engage in it. Once elected, we have no say.
Our utterly worthless congresswoman and her incessant self-aggrandizing use of her child as a political accessory, for example, has recently come under some scrutiny lately. Her abysmal failure to vote like a Republican, her slavish devotion to the establishment, her votes to raise the debt ceiling, her utter and complete failure to take any concrete action on the CRC /Loot Rail scam... these are the kinds of things that get the people of this area who actually pay attention kind of angry... since clearly, her ONLY mission is to remain in office... representing the people be damned.
I attended the PCO meeting a while back as an observer... where her obvious censure should have taken place... as should Greg Kimsey's.
The insanity I heard from various PCO's who have no more of an idea what their job is or how politics works was enough to make a statue weep.
And let there be no doubt: there is a schism in the party unlike any I've ever seen. The problem the establishment nay-sayers have is that politics and political effectiveness are outcome-based business.
And the local GOP has NEVER had the level of success it currently does now.
An entirely GOP county commission, 12 out of 15 legislators GOP... most county offices... that's not a record the establishment can point to.
But the county mechanism demands unity. One elected official wrote the following in the midst of the GOP fist-fight ongoing:
These broad political strokes are of course true, as are the opposite for the left.
The problem?
Who blinks? Both around here... and nationally?
Who backs off their righteous position?
The problem is that both sides have some level of merit. The current regime is, of course, acting out an agenda and using the GOP mechanism to do that, namely, to take over a party to use for the PaulBot Agenda. The local establishment and certainly the establishment at every level is well aware of that.
And, where they've been successful, the establishment finds itself on the outside looking in and that is DEFINITELY not where they want to be.
They're used to being feted. They're used to being stroked and going to the banquets and getting the tickets to the National Convention and so forth. They HATE to be out of power. They HATE it when the local GOP won't endorse them because, well, they're establishment.
Correspondingly, a great many of those who are in or who have been in (Such as myself) hate it when we bust our collective asses to get people elected who then proceed to forget all about their GOP roots and vote in committee and on the floor like they're a slightly inebriated Chuck Schumer.
It's not that they CAN'T remember: it's that the system co-opted them... from Ryan Hart who traded his endorsement while Clark County chair of that clueless moron of a congresswoman for a rather highly paid job working for her ($68000 a year or so, isn't it?) to Marc Boldt who almost immediately fell under leftist influence when he became a county commissioner and then proceeded to sell us out on the CRC and tax increases and so forth... and Greg Kimsey, whose hatred of fellow Republicans (Using the term very loosely here... Kimsey is anything BUT a Republican) David Madore and Tom Mielke led him to break a wide variety of laws generally and confidences particularly as he lied his way to success with the county charter scam...
There are others who, in time, allow themselves to be seduced by a system that is designed to take advantage of their weaknesses and human frailties. It wears almost everyone down in time... not unlike water going through granite.
So, as I said: it's not that they CAN'T remember: it's that usually... in time... they choose not to.
Whether the reason is reward (Steve Stuart for selling out Clark County on the TriMet eminent domain vote) or cash... (Hart for the Herrera endorsement... how much has he made since 2010?) the concept of principles and integrity gradually wear away...
And we get what we have.
All of this plays a role in the unity aspect.
Those controlling the local party now would have a much weaker hand if those we elected actually upheld something approaching GOP principles.
But far too many of those elected, don't. And every one of them who "forgets" or who "looks the other way" or "compromises" or substitutes their "vision" for the will of the people they, allegedly, represent... strengthens the hand of those from the "other" side. It feeds their ability to point out the obvious: those elected far too often forsake those who voted for them... and need to be replaced by those who will actually listen.
The establishment wants us to overlook all that. And many who have their own, equally insidious agenda or levels of ignorance... do that with ease.
But frankly, the establishment's loss here is no one's fault but their own.
They've been out-played, out-thought, out-hustled and ultimately... they failed to show up... not, unlike, come to think of it, Marc Boldt... who's failed to show up to just about any known GOP function even though he's been an elected PCO for the last 3 years...
The establishment simply doesn't care. For them, it's a matter of labels, start to finish.
And it's not possible for "the twain to meet."
If the establishment intends to reestablish control over the party, they are going to have to do that thing which they've failed to do to date.
They are going to have to be more like the Paulistinians and less like the establishment they so zealously guard.
They have to shut up the strident. They have to stand back and ponder why so very many are so unhappy with how they've been running things. They have to commit to change... and it's likely to be painful change... because history has taught us that when a popular uprising has succeeded... as this one has succeeded... merely painting a vision of going back to the "good old days" will never be enough to restore control... and trying to... as they are trying to now using the worst possible people to make it happen... just plays into the hands of their obviously loathed political enemies. (For a reference, look up the Russian Revolution: when the White Russians took places that had been held by the Reds, they immediately returned to the old, unpopular government forms that the Reds had just deposed... and they never stood a chance as a result.)
The establishment MUST change. Or they will continue to lose. It's inevitable.
It's a hard lesson to learn for those in politics: the democrats refuse to learn it and they get hammered at just about every election around here... because of that refusal to change.
Here, everyone believes themselves to be right. But possession is 9/10th's of the law. And right now, the establishment possesses nothing. They should adjust accordingly... or they will merely be a footnote in our local political history.
It's between those who slavishly accept anything with an "R" after it's name as the genuine, must-be-supported-at-all-costs-and-at-all-times article and those who take a somewhat different view.
Here, locally, we're cursed with individuals in office who completely forget their GOP heritage and what their district wants merely because they became elected...
The worst local example is fake Republican slimeball Tim "The Liar" Leavitt, who famously lied his way into getting elected and remained that way because his opponent in his re-elect ran a terrible campaign from the start.
Leavitt's Lie? That he was "opposed to tolls" on his pet CRC Scam. I called that a lie from the moment I heard it. I was right... Leave-it flipped on that scam about 60 seconds after he was elected... and he's been a scumbag ever since.
Now, don't get me wrong. Except for the occasional claim that he's GOP (Which you rarely hear except on those infrequent occasions when he needs it...) he's hardly big about his passing acquaintance with the party.
So now, we have what I refer to as the establishment types... beating the hell out of the Ron Paul types... who have this annoying habit of actually showing up... and oddly, if memory serves, those who actually show up are the ones who run the world.
The establishment types at every level want us to simply ignore the records of anyone with an "R" after their name and vote for them. Period.
No effort can be made to hold those electeds accountable for their perfidy, should they chose to engage in it. Once elected, we have no say.
Our utterly worthless congresswoman and her incessant self-aggrandizing use of her child as a political accessory, for example, has recently come under some scrutiny lately. Her abysmal failure to vote like a Republican, her slavish devotion to the establishment, her votes to raise the debt ceiling, her utter and complete failure to take any concrete action on the CRC /Loot Rail scam... these are the kinds of things that get the people of this area who actually pay attention kind of angry... since clearly, her ONLY mission is to remain in office... representing the people be damned.
I attended the PCO meeting a while back as an observer... where her obvious censure should have taken place... as should Greg Kimsey's.
The insanity I heard from various PCO's who have no more of an idea what their job is or how politics works was enough to make a statue weep.
And let there be no doubt: there is a schism in the party unlike any I've ever seen. The problem the establishment nay-sayers have is that politics and political effectiveness are outcome-based business.
And the local GOP has NEVER had the level of success it currently does now.
An entirely GOP county commission, 12 out of 15 legislators GOP... most county offices... that's not a record the establishment can point to.
But the county mechanism demands unity. One elected official wrote the following in the midst of the GOP fist-fight ongoing:
It seems like we are fighting amongst ourselves and hating on each other more than focusing on defeating the enemy. I guess this is where my coach in me comes out. Without good chemistry and putting team before self at times you won't have long term success. It seems some want to run the ball and others to throw a long bomb and have forgotten that the purpose of a political party is to win elections so you can implement your agenda. There are multiple ways to do that. Unlike most other countries we are a 2 party system. That means we have multiple factions in each party. I am confident we all don't want Another Democratic president and would like WA state to move farther right. Each of us have our own opinions on the best way to accomplish that, but we have the same goal. Let's focus on the goal. We are fighting with ourselves while our opponent is pulling flanking maneuvers. Say what you want about all our GOP elected officials and the local party leadership, we may not be in agreement on everything, but I know everyone of us want a smaller less intrusive cost effective government and to decrease the power of the left in this country.
These broad political strokes are of course true, as are the opposite for the left.
The problem?
Who blinks? Both around here... and nationally?
Who backs off their righteous position?
The problem is that both sides have some level of merit. The current regime is, of course, acting out an agenda and using the GOP mechanism to do that, namely, to take over a party to use for the PaulBot Agenda. The local establishment and certainly the establishment at every level is well aware of that.
And, where they've been successful, the establishment finds itself on the outside looking in and that is DEFINITELY not where they want to be.
They're used to being feted. They're used to being stroked and going to the banquets and getting the tickets to the National Convention and so forth. They HATE to be out of power. They HATE it when the local GOP won't endorse them because, well, they're establishment.
Correspondingly, a great many of those who are in or who have been in (Such as myself) hate it when we bust our collective asses to get people elected who then proceed to forget all about their GOP roots and vote in committee and on the floor like they're a slightly inebriated Chuck Schumer.
It's not that they CAN'T remember: it's that the system co-opted them... from Ryan Hart who traded his endorsement while Clark County chair of that clueless moron of a congresswoman for a rather highly paid job working for her ($68000 a year or so, isn't it?) to Marc Boldt who almost immediately fell under leftist influence when he became a county commissioner and then proceeded to sell us out on the CRC and tax increases and so forth... and Greg Kimsey, whose hatred of fellow Republicans (Using the term very loosely here... Kimsey is anything BUT a Republican) David Madore and Tom Mielke led him to break a wide variety of laws generally and confidences particularly as he lied his way to success with the county charter scam...
There are others who, in time, allow themselves to be seduced by a system that is designed to take advantage of their weaknesses and human frailties. It wears almost everyone down in time... not unlike water going through granite.
So, as I said: it's not that they CAN'T remember: it's that usually... in time... they choose not to.
Whether the reason is reward (Steve Stuart for selling out Clark County on the TriMet eminent domain vote) or cash... (Hart for the Herrera endorsement... how much has he made since 2010?) the concept of principles and integrity gradually wear away...
And we get what we have.
All of this plays a role in the unity aspect.
Those controlling the local party now would have a much weaker hand if those we elected actually upheld something approaching GOP principles.
But far too many of those elected, don't. And every one of them who "forgets" or who "looks the other way" or "compromises" or substitutes their "vision" for the will of the people they, allegedly, represent... strengthens the hand of those from the "other" side. It feeds their ability to point out the obvious: those elected far too often forsake those who voted for them... and need to be replaced by those who will actually listen.
The establishment wants us to overlook all that. And many who have their own, equally insidious agenda or levels of ignorance... do that with ease.
But frankly, the establishment's loss here is no one's fault but their own.
They've been out-played, out-thought, out-hustled and ultimately... they failed to show up... not, unlike, come to think of it, Marc Boldt... who's failed to show up to just about any known GOP function even though he's been an elected PCO for the last 3 years...
The establishment simply doesn't care. For them, it's a matter of labels, start to finish.
And it's not possible for "the twain to meet."
If the establishment intends to reestablish control over the party, they are going to have to do that thing which they've failed to do to date.
They are going to have to be more like the Paulistinians and less like the establishment they so zealously guard.
They have to shut up the strident. They have to stand back and ponder why so very many are so unhappy with how they've been running things. They have to commit to change... and it's likely to be painful change... because history has taught us that when a popular uprising has succeeded... as this one has succeeded... merely painting a vision of going back to the "good old days" will never be enough to restore control... and trying to... as they are trying to now using the worst possible people to make it happen... just plays into the hands of their obviously loathed political enemies. (For a reference, look up the Russian Revolution: when the White Russians took places that had been held by the Reds, they immediately returned to the old, unpopular government forms that the Reds had just deposed... and they never stood a chance as a result.)
The establishment MUST change. Or they will continue to lose. It's inevitable.
It's a hard lesson to learn for those in politics: the democrats refuse to learn it and they get hammered at just about every election around here... because of that refusal to change.
Here, everyone believes themselves to be right. But possession is 9/10th's of the law. And right now, the establishment possesses nothing. They should adjust accordingly... or they will merely be a footnote in our local political history.
FWIW, I put my money where my mouth is. I will not and have not donated any money to the National Republicans (or state or local units) or to House or Senate Republican committees. I will continue this policy until I see behavior that indicates that the party establishment is more in-tune with the constituents.
ReplyDeleteI have and will donate to specific campaigns where the candidate has proven to be "like minded." and I have and will donate to special interest PACs that make active efforts to move forward on various issues.