WCRC meeting – June 2007

Lots of great food and drink at this month's meeting. I wish we could promise this EVERY time but if we get more members anything's possible!

First of all you can’t beat this spread. Thanks to Bobieanne and Charles Adams for all of the food! They do this about once a year and last night was the time.

Last night’s meeting was not supposed to have a speaker, it was pretty much a business-only meeting as we’ve decided to tackle a by-law revision this year much as the state party has. Thus the by-laws were slated as the topic of discussion.

After dispensing with the usual niceties (Lord’s Prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, minutes, and treasurer’s report) we first got a Central Committee report from county Chair Dr. John Bartkovich. While it’s old news to monoblogue readers, he recounted the selection of Robert Laun as our newest Central Committee member. But we also heard about upcoming events like the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake on July 18th (I’ll be there!) and our booth at August’s Wicomico County Farm and Home Show.

That was the county party in brief. The membership also got the news about the WCRC website, to be relaunched July 1st with all new information. In mid-July there will be the first of a quarterly series of newsletters placed on it with all of the other information. That responsibilty falls to the Second Vice-President, who happens to be…me. (Why do you think I took the gig? I can’t be President because it’s not allowed in the by-laws.)

So we got down to the business at hand, which was soliciting the input of those present regarding the club’s by-laws. Earlier the executive committee had gone through and placed suggested changes in an easy-to-read format in order to promote discussion. Well it worked!

We had several members who were passionately defending their views on particular items, from one who demanded that our club change its name to the Wicomico County Republican Party and drop the Central Committee moniker (state law dictates that the Central Committee be elected and call itself such) to whether we should allow only Republicans to be members. A compromise on that issue seemed to be that we would allow non-voting Associate memberships for those who aren’t registered Republicans, but Associate members could not be officers.

All of this actually will be voted on at a future meeting, since there needs to be 30 days’ notice of changes. But we had another gentleman, known to most of my readers but one who will remain anonymous in this discussion, stand up and suggest we look at three items for inclusion in the by-laws. Two of them I had no real issue with, a definition of how the club will spend its election money in support of officeseekers, and the other being the timing by which the club supports candidates. Generally the club as a body refuses to take a stance for or against a candidate during the primary season, a position that I personally support.

But the third policy idea is what rankled me the most. As I understood it, essentially this gentleman advocated a by-law where club members and officers could not speak out in public against a Republican incumbent or candidate. I immediately thought of it as the “hush monoblogue” rule. And it’s not like we haven’t had a similar discussion before.

This is the way it is, people. There are a few dissident folks on the Central Committee and active in local Republican politics who just don’t care for the way I speak out on the issues because I have a set of opinions on how the Republican Party should be run at all the levels from Wicomico County all the way up to the national level. Also, I share my feelings about a number of issues with a reasonably wide audience and it’s well known that I disagree with many of the GOP politicos on some things, particularly immigration. Further, I’ve made some negative comments about our Republican member of Congress because I didn’t agree with his voting record and even skewered a Bush initiative (Medicare Part D) at the same time, noting, “Medicare Part D was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for equating Republicans with fiscal conservatism.” That’s just in the last week or two.

But I’m not changing who I am just because there’s a few who don’t like it. I have two pieces of advice for them. Number one, if you don’t care for my performance as a WCRC officer, feel free to run for the office I hold come January. And if you don’t like me being on Central Committee, you have until September 2010 to line up supporters. But I plan on winning re-election – in fact, I’d welcome a contested race in both cases.

These people who speak out against me (and more particularly, monoblogue) sort of remind me of the Republican mindset before 1980…let’s just get along with the Democrats and we’ll take whatever crumbs they toss at us. My two political heroes are Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich – we know what they did for the Republican Party and more importantly the conservative movement. I’m working to reinvent the Republican Party in a new image, combining conservative small-government values with a more libertarian social outlook in many areas and a focus on restoring states’ rights.

We have a choice in the Wicomico County Republican Club. We can be a meek social group that’s rapidly graying or we can be a body that’s not afraid to take a stand and be critical of those above us running the party when we feel they’re steering away from the values that make America great. In my opinion, in growing the club we might just have to ruffle some feathers and a club policy muzzling dissent is a sure path to extinction.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

4 thoughts on “WCRC meeting – June 2007”

  1. You’re right. No political organization should stifle the voice of it’s members. This equates to politics within politics. We can’t expect everyone within an organization to agree on everything. But we should expect to maintain our right to speak our individual minds. Just because an organization intends to present a united front doesn’t mean we should be expected to be stripped of the right to be individuals. The tide is changing. Several important issues facing our nation today have fractured both parties. The fact that our politicians aren’t listening to the people indicates to me that the political house is falling. This feeling is growing and transcends the party lines. But the foundation is strong. It’s takes reform on a grass roots level, such as local Republican and Democrat organizations, by movers and shakers to rebuild the house from the bottom up to once again embrace the idea of a government of the people not at the people.

  2. Bob Luan is a Republican? I would have never guessed that, especially after his comments to me while soliciting signatures for the petition to take the tax hike to referendum. How can a fence sitter claim to be a republican? Maybe he is a go with the flow republican? His exact words to me were “I can’t sign the petition, I’m really sitting on the fence about this, I feel that if it goes through and the people don’t like it then they can vote those in office out of office.” What??? What is he afraid of? Having an opinion that is not popular? Since when is a 17% tax hike popular? He is one of the many that is going to get hit hard considering where he lives and the length of time he has owned that home. Bob Luan, where is your backbone?

  3. You’re right, Michael, in thinking that it’s time for an overhaul of the Republican party machine.
    And perhaps that’s part of the problem.. it’s a machine. It reminds me of a phrase from the Old Country.. “Ve haff our vays uff doing tings….” (in German, it’s called ‘Ordnung’)
    Most folks around here are used to doing it the way they’ve always done it, whether it’s politics, church or whatever. And the older folks seem to have a death grip on the reigns of power. They just can’t give it up.
    The message to them: It’s broke. It needs fixin’.
    Look around– see the mess we’re in?
    The dynamics of this society have completely changed since the 50’s and 60’s. We’re now in a fight for our very survival.
    Adapt or step out of the way, because change is coming.
    And we’re not going to endorse ANYBODY just because of the label they wear.
    There’s way too much at stake.

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