Column for May 6, 2010

Sometimes I just do not get Republican leadership. Several years ago I left the GOP because of their unorganized, hypocritical ways. For a year or so I affiliated with a third party that turned out to be nothing but a bunch of ineffective, disgruntled former Republicans who thought they were breathing fresh air. Instead they were in a dank, dark cave and were fewer in numbers than most endangered species. From that point on, I became just "unaffiliated".

With the pendulum swing towards radical socialism by so called Progressives, there has been a groundswell of ticked off citizens who have been protesting against big government and the change to a socialist nation. Quite honestly I relate to them greatly but have not joined their numbers at Tea Party events or protest marches. Instead I sat here in front of my computer monitor and have been proclaiming this since before people like Glenn Beck came on the scene and long before the Tea Party Movement got started.

I started becoming disenchanted with the GOP in the early to mid 1990's when I saw big government growing and spending increasing under Republican leadership. I was certainly not going to go to the Democrat Party. I believe that I would rather be stabbed to death with a plastic fork than become a registered Democrat.

Unlike in 1994 when Adolph Hitler could probably have gotten elected if he ran as a Republican, we probably will not see that easy a battle in 2010. The Progressives are too well organized and have too much experience with Joseph Goebbels style propaganda to be that easily defeated. The ironic thing about the Progressive Movement is that they keep trying to characterize right wing adherents as Nazis. Folks, Nazis were leftists, not right wing extremists. They were the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Did you read that part? Socialist was right in their party name.

By the time that this column is published, the 2010 Primary Election will be over. Here in our little county, I saw the worst of GOP disorganization and foolishness. This past weekend, I got in my mailbox a post card from the county GOP. It listed the candidates who were being touted as being "conservative". I am all for conservative candidates. Unfortunately, the local GOP was not pimping the best, most conservative, or most qualified candidates in each election.

In the non-partisan school board election, the GOP recommended incumbents Larry Strickland (who got my vote) and Butler Hall (upon whose campaign signs I already commented in a previous column). They also recommended Jamie Guerrero and Bruce Frierson, neither of which I am familiar. They may very well be conservatives, I don't know. The Republicans did, however, neglect one of their longest standing loyalists and perhaps the most conservative candidate, Dave Tuttle. Dave and I go back many years and are close friends because of our similar polotical and religious views. He also has a track record as a former school board member unlike some other candidates. I was disappointed that his name was not even on the little post card.

One would think that if the GOP wanted to ensure that a Republican/conservative got elected, they would have let everyone know who all of their candidates were, even in a non-partisan race. I just hope that Johnston County is not a microcosm of the national GOP.

I left the county GOP because of neglectful stuff like this. I went to regular meetings at a local restaurant and the turnout was regularly low. One time I was the only person who showed up besides the guest speaker. That was the last straw for me as a member of the local party. I have not been to another meeting or fundraiser since.

Yes, this is a rant in the truest sense of the term. I fully admit that, and I hope that it wakes up someone in the county Republican Party. I have been told that the GOP wants me and people like me back in their camp to help fight and make changes from the inside. However, if Republicans, the only real choice I am left with in a two party system, do not wake up, change tactics, organize better, and seize this opportunity to take the leadership role, I predict that many more people will drop off their voter rolls.