OK... so it looks like I'm likely to be the GOP PCO in Precinct 620.
The local RINO contingent is not happy about that. Some... particularly some who not only don't live in this precinct... BUT WHO DON'T EVEN LIVE IN THIS LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT... claim that I am not a Republican.
So, I guess that begs the issue: If I'm not... than who is?
Most recently, I voted for Mr. Trump for President. Does that make me a Republican?
What if I had trashed Mr. Trump during the campaign and then publicly refused to vote for him, writing someone else in instead?
Would such a person be considered a Republican?
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to vote for the President?
Or less?
I have been rabidly opposed to Obamacare since its inception, and I continue to view that program as one of the... if not THE... biggest governmental disasters since Jim Moeller's "What is, what isn't" Candy Tax.
I would repeal it in a heart beat if I were in a position to do so.
What if I were elected to office and voted to KEEP Obamacare in full force and effect?
Would such a person be considered a Republican?
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to vote to repeal Obamacare?
Or less?
I was and continue to be steadfastly opposed to the biggest gas tax and tab fee increases in the history of this state… PARTICULARLY if we are not allowed to vote on a such a massive increase... an increase that yoked the men, women and children of Clark County to a $700 MILLION bill... $700 million sucked out of our local economy, our local businesses and our local homes to benefit King and Snohomish County's transportation issues.
What if, as a part of getting elected to office, I wrote this:
And then, when the time came, instead of keeping my word... my pledge to the voters… I completely flipped and voted for that which I had promised to vote AGAINST?
Would such a person who lied to get elected be considered a Republican?
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to keep their word, PARTICULARLY KNOWING their district was... and is.... overwhelmingly opposed to such a series of increases?
Or less?
Last session, I was RABIDLY in favor of full disclosure by legislators on all of their communications; email, hand written, texted.
Were I in a position to do so, I would have voted YES to full disclosure.
Yet many... who happened to be Republican... voted to keep everything secret.
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to vote for full transparency?
Or less?
I believe that those elected to government work for US, and not the other way around.
Many, claiming to be Republican, believe just the opposite.
They refuse to communicate with those who disagree with them. They refuse to acknowledge you, even if you're either a constituent, or a prospective constituent.
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refuses to defend their positions to those who may disagree?
Or less?
In situations like this... all of which are real life, actually happened, actually involving real people who CLAIM to be GOP and much... much... more...
What... EXACTLY... am I supposed to do?
I wouldn't hire any of these people to wash my truck. Most reading this are not interested in hiring arrogant liars who don't want to "waste their time" on you... or me, as it turns out.
I have dozens of these types of situations documented. Some, in elective office RIGHT NOW, have called my clients to get me fired from work because I come after them for their dishonesty and lies.
Others claim *I* am not a Republican, but THEY have no problem burying their GOP "allegiance" whenever it suits them, setting up fake political action committees to campaign for those who have FORMERLY renounced their Republican ties and working very hard to trash a TRUE Republican working to get elected as a write-in to take out a disastrous, Young-Democrat endorsed "independent."
Others have spent time, money and effort working WITH democrats to make sure that a Republican DOESN'T get re-elected here locally, all the while trashing Mr. Trump and endorsing a democrat for local office here.
They claim that *I* am NOT a "Republican."
I've been a Republican PCO, a Republican District Legislative Chair, an elected delegate to the State Convention and I attended a National Convention... as I've also been an Executive Director to the State Republican Party.
But *I* am, according to them, NOT a "Republican."
As I pointed out in a conversation with our local Party Chair one night, I refuse to vote for a liar. I refuse to vote for someone who has EVER betrayed us. I refuse to vote for someone who lied to get into office or to stay in office. I refuse to vote for someone who supports the CRC Scam. I refuse to vote for anyone who supported the last budget under GOP Senate control, which caused our property taxes to explode... even after those involved assured us that said budget would NOT have that effect.
So what then, exactly, is a Republican? Someone who has quit the party a half-dozen times, endorsed democrats and done all they can to keep conservatives out of office?
Or someone who wants to hold these slime accountable for what they promise... and what they do.
Odd that these same people don't seem to have any problem with people like that... when they're RINOs.
The local RINO contingent is not happy about that. Some... particularly some who not only don't live in this precinct... BUT WHO DON'T EVEN LIVE IN THIS LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT... claim that I am not a Republican.
So, I guess that begs the issue: If I'm not... than who is?
Most recently, I voted for Mr. Trump for President. Does that make me a Republican?
What if I had trashed Mr. Trump during the campaign and then publicly refused to vote for him, writing someone else in instead?
Would such a person be considered a Republican?
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to vote for the President?
Or less?
I have been rabidly opposed to Obamacare since its inception, and I continue to view that program as one of the... if not THE... biggest governmental disasters since Jim Moeller's "What is, what isn't" Candy Tax.
I would repeal it in a heart beat if I were in a position to do so.
Would such a person be considered a Republican?
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to vote to repeal Obamacare?
Or less?
I was and continue to be steadfastly opposed to the biggest gas tax and tab fee increases in the history of this state… PARTICULARLY if we are not allowed to vote on a such a massive increase... an increase that yoked the men, women and children of Clark County to a $700 MILLION bill... $700 million sucked out of our local economy, our local businesses and our local homes to benefit King and Snohomish County's transportation issues.
What if, as a part of getting elected to office, I wrote this:
And then, when the time came, instead of keeping my word... my pledge to the voters… I completely flipped and voted for that which I had promised to vote AGAINST?
Would such a person who lied to get elected be considered a Republican?
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to keep their word, PARTICULARLY KNOWING their district was... and is.... overwhelmingly opposed to such a series of increases?
Or less?
Last session, I was RABIDLY in favor of full disclosure by legislators on all of their communications; email, hand written, texted.
Were I in a position to do so, I would have voted YES to full disclosure.
Yet many... who happened to be Republican... voted to keep everything secret.
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refused to vote for full transparency?
Or less?
I believe that those elected to government work for US, and not the other way around.
Many, claiming to be Republican, believe just the opposite.
They refuse to communicate with those who disagree with them. They refuse to acknowledge you, even if you're either a constituent, or a prospective constituent.
Am I MORE of a Republican than the person who refuses to defend their positions to those who may disagree?
Or less?
In situations like this... all of which are real life, actually happened, actually involving real people who CLAIM to be GOP and much... much... more...
What... EXACTLY... am I supposed to do?
I wouldn't hire any of these people to wash my truck. Most reading this are not interested in hiring arrogant liars who don't want to "waste their time" on you... or me, as it turns out.
I have dozens of these types of situations documented. Some, in elective office RIGHT NOW, have called my clients to get me fired from work because I come after them for their dishonesty and lies.
Others claim *I* am not a Republican, but THEY have no problem burying their GOP "allegiance" whenever it suits them, setting up fake political action committees to campaign for those who have FORMERLY renounced their Republican ties and working very hard to trash a TRUE Republican working to get elected as a write-in to take out a disastrous, Young-Democrat endorsed "independent."
Others have spent time, money and effort working WITH democrats to make sure that a Republican DOESN'T get re-elected here locally, all the while trashing Mr. Trump and endorsing a democrat for local office here.
They claim that *I* am NOT a "Republican."
I've been a Republican PCO, a Republican District Legislative Chair, an elected delegate to the State Convention and I attended a National Convention... as I've also been an Executive Director to the State Republican Party.
But *I* am, according to them, NOT a "Republican."
As I pointed out in a conversation with our local Party Chair one night, I refuse to vote for a liar. I refuse to vote for someone who has EVER betrayed us. I refuse to vote for someone who lied to get into office or to stay in office. I refuse to vote for someone who supports the CRC Scam. I refuse to vote for anyone who supported the last budget under GOP Senate control, which caused our property taxes to explode... even after those involved assured us that said budget would NOT have that effect.
So what then, exactly, is a Republican? Someone who has quit the party a half-dozen times, endorsed democrats and done all they can to keep conservatives out of office?
Or someone who wants to hold these slime accountable for what they promise... and what they do.
Odd that these same people don't seem to have any problem with people like that... when they're RINOs.
I have thought about this question a bit, but your post does not really seem to address the question but simply ask a bunch of other questions. Yet I do think you have hit on the same problem that I have and that is that we have no clear definition of what it means to be Republican. Without a clear idea or principles it creates a lot of disunity as just about anyone can be a Republican. We need something more than just the party that opposes the Democrats. Thank you for the post, it was an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteCody, are you aware of the Socratic method?
DeleteWhat I try to do... when I can... is to get people to think. Everyone's definition will likely vary. But what I seek is to have those who blindly support someone merely because of a party label begin to ask themselves these same questions.
ReplyDeleteI have MY answer: To me, a Republican is more concerned about the people keeping what they earn than they are about taking those earnings away to keep the poor, poor; the downtrodden, downtrodden; and to make sure that the power remains with the people.
Election of anyone does not make them more powerful than the people they govern.
As a Republican, I pay attention to what these candidate's pledge. I know when they lie, when they exaggerate, when they turn rogue, when they're arrogant, when they've stopped being the so-called "servant leader" they claim they are.
When a candidate or a group of candidates or a party leadership has more in common with the democrats than they do the people who elected them, than I have a problem with that.
In Clark County, we elect and re-elect those who've straight up lied to our faces. I would like to think that the democrats are the liars, given that few of them run on policy issues as much as they run on class-envy and hatred.
But that is not the case. We are infested with those claiming to be Republican but who vote like they've never heard the word. Are we to turn a blind eye to their betrayals? Are we to simply and dutifully vote for those we know HAVE hurt us and WILL hurt us again, all while they laugh at Republican tenets?
How many times has the Establishment told us that things will be different if we take the House? Then, things will be different if we take the Senate? Then, when we take the White House?
Are things different? Are those who've shattered the laws of this country being held accountable? Have we gotten rid of Obamacare? Has the nest of vipers in the FBI and Justice been cleaned out? Are illegal aliens being stopped?
Why not? Haven't had the time? Congressional leadership too busy acting like they've got "D's" after their name?
These, of course, are my positions and conclusions. The point of my post was to get the reader to ask themselves these questions and form their own conclusions. I provide the evidence... you determine your own conclusions.
Like I said, I know what it is for me. But your mileage may vary.