Last week's election exemplified why I am not a Republican. I don't say this because I am tremendously disappointed with the election results, but I am disappointed in how the GOP has handled some issues.
Renee Ellmers had gotten little or no support from The National Republican Congressional Committee all during her campaign. They claimed that her campaign was "not ready for prime time". While I must agree that there were some issues not readily apparent to most of the public, the fact is that she was the one who was running against the incumbent Democrat candidate, Bob Etheridge. When your candidate is running, you do what you can to support that candidate. You put the novice status aside and you run with that person. I didn't see anyone else standing up to the plate to take on Ol' Bob this year.
Then came election night. I sat up until after 11:30 PM watching election results trickle in. I don't know what makes returns trickle so slowly in this day of electronic media, but even that late there were still returns not yet reported from all precincts in the district. We pulled up Harnett and Johnston County's Board of Elections web sites and watched the results come in quicker than television was reporting the data. The count was neck and neck for a long time, then Renee Ellmers pulled out far ahead of Bob Etheridge in both counties.
Now there is a recount in the voting district after more ballots miraculously showed up that were supposedly not counted. This put the incumbent within the margin needed for a recount, so it appears that we will have one.
What did The National Republican Congressional Committee do when asked to help keep Renee as the winner? They told Renee Ellmers to raise the money herself for the cost of the recount. They snubbed her twice. The second snubbing is beyond my comprehension, since she had apparently won the election. You would think that they would want to keep it that way, even if the GOP did sweep a lot of seats in The House of Representatives.
Political games and disrespect like that are reasons why I left the Republican Party and why I do not believe that they will be as conservative and effective as many pundits seem to think. Somehow, Republicans have forgotten how to take command once they have power and want to limp-wristedly try to compromise and not seem so sinister. That is not a winning strategy. If you are in control, act like it. The Democrats have this part down pat. The Republicans seemed almost apologetic about being in charge, in times past.
Locally, we saw a similar snub to Johnston County School Board candidate, Jamie Guerrero. I have met and interviewed Jamie. He is a conservative, concerned family man. The local GOP originally endorsed him. However, Jamie took issue with things such as the fact that teachers and staff got no raises in salary this year but overpaid bureaucrats in the school administration building got a 7% salary increase. That is a legitimate observation. He also railed against the $30+ million reserve fund that the school system has, but they are not using it to offset expenses in a period of tight fiscal times. Again, that is a legitimate observation.
Jamie was warned to get off these issues, but he held to his convictions. When the local GOP chastised him, he put the actual data on his web site to prove his claims. As a result, the county Republican Party rescinded their support of Mr. Guerrero, republished their polling place voting guides at the last minute without his name included, and refused to take his literature and campaign signs to polling places in the county.
A look at the election results had Jamie coming in fourth place. Only the top 3 candidates would take seats on the board. The top two Republicans got far more than the 3rd place candidate, who got just a little more support than Mr. Guerrero. It is entirely possible that had the local GOP not taken the actions they did, Jamie could be a board member elect today. Instead, they in effect handed the election to a liberal Democrat incumbent.
The Johnston County Republicans would rather tolerate a liberal in office than one of their own with the conviction and courage to state the issues. The national Republicans would rather keep a liberal Congressman in office than make sure he was defeated, the margin of control in Congress was increased, and party unity was shown.
I saw some of the same gamesmanship played at the local level several years ago. Local GOP representatives told me how things have "changed" since I was a Republican, and how the local party has improved. I see the same games played on the national level in my own district. As long as I see things like this, I will have a hard time believing that the GOP has returned to its conservative roots and that they are willing to change politics as usual. Until I see it, I won't believe it, and will remain registered as an "unaffiliated" voter.
Showing posts with label stupidity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stupidity. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Column for Dec. 24, 2009
Last week, I was in a bit of a rush to ship a package by a deadline. On the way towards Durham, I wanted to ship out a small box to a business half way across the country. Since I have shipped literally thousands of packages over the years (I used to own a business in which I shipped packages to customers all over the world) I figured it would be no big deal to get one into the postal system.
I remembered that the Selma Post Office opened around 8:30 AM. One time I tried going earlier and found that they opened up then. So I grabbed the list of errands I had to perform which also included stopping by my bank and grabbing a freshly brewed Dunkin' Donuts coffee after I hit the Post Office, and headed out the door.
When I got to the local Post Office, I found a small line forming in front of the interior door at around 8:45. It seems that even in the holiday season, and especially the week before Christmas, the Post Office had changed its opening hour to 9 AM. I was not about to wait for another 15 minutes, so I hit the bank, the coffee shop, and went on to the Post Office in the next town. I figured that Smithfield was a bigger town and for sure their Post Office was open already. Negative. Their Post Office opened even later. I saw several upset potential customers walking away with the same disgust I was feeling. Surely Clayton's Post Office would be open, and since it was generally along my way to my destination for the day, I headed there.
After walking away from the Clayton facility with my package still in hand, I answered the inquiries of fellow customers that the facility was not opening until 10 AM. I should have known from watching a young mother departing with a toddler in one hand and a package in the other that the Post Office was closed upon my arrival.
I traveled further into Clayton to a facility I thought for sure would be open. A very large shipping company that delivers worldwide has a franchised agent store in Clayton. I am not going to mention the business name, but its initials are UPS. Bingo, they were open. Score one for private industry.
Private industry will only flourish however, when it meets customer needs at a price customers are willing to pay. I was astonished as I watched two extremely unsatisfied customers storm out of the business without transacting any business. One simply wanted to leave a dollar on the counter for the busy clerks to ring up later for a small card worth far less than a dollar. He was rebuffed so he dropped the card on the counter, made a deserved sarcastic remark to the clerk, and left.
One lady in front of me was quoted a price for shipping a large, gift wrapped, framed picture of some sort and a book. She was quoted over thirty dollars and we both winced. Then she was quoted an extra twelve plus dollars for the actual shipping. It seemed that the original figure was just for packaging the items for shipping and did not include freight charges. The customer got angry, felt misled, grabbed her items, and left. The two clerks shrugged off a second irate customer.
Then it was my turn to get annoyed. An item that costs about six dollars packed in a small box would cost over seven dollars to ship. Since I was not willing to go out of my way for a fourth time and find yet another Post Office, I paid the higher than expected shipping charge and left. At least I got tracking information for the package unlike I would have gotten at the Post Office and it shows that as of this writing, my package is on time for an expected delivery.
Here is the bottom line. The Post Office is run like a government bureaucracy instead of a business. The holiday season is the busiest shipping time of the year. Instead of catering to customer needs, some pinhead government bean counter decided that the Post Office would open at an inconvenient hour allegedly to save money. Instead of providing a competitive operating schedule and competitive service, they continue to act like a monopoly and as a result lost my business. How many millions more people like myself did the same thing this year instead of using the United States Postal Service? If a private company can ship a package half way across the country and track it as it goes, so can the Post Office.
Sure I am beating up on the Post Office, but I feel the same way about ABC stores in North Carolina. The same principle applies. If a government operation wants to make better revenue, they need to think like a business instead of like a bureaucracy.
I remembered that the Selma Post Office opened around 8:30 AM. One time I tried going earlier and found that they opened up then. So I grabbed the list of errands I had to perform which also included stopping by my bank and grabbing a freshly brewed Dunkin' Donuts coffee after I hit the Post Office, and headed out the door.
When I got to the local Post Office, I found a small line forming in front of the interior door at around 8:45. It seems that even in the holiday season, and especially the week before Christmas, the Post Office had changed its opening hour to 9 AM. I was not about to wait for another 15 minutes, so I hit the bank, the coffee shop, and went on to the Post Office in the next town. I figured that Smithfield was a bigger town and for sure their Post Office was open already. Negative. Their Post Office opened even later. I saw several upset potential customers walking away with the same disgust I was feeling. Surely Clayton's Post Office would be open, and since it was generally along my way to my destination for the day, I headed there.
After walking away from the Clayton facility with my package still in hand, I answered the inquiries of fellow customers that the facility was not opening until 10 AM. I should have known from watching a young mother departing with a toddler in one hand and a package in the other that the Post Office was closed upon my arrival.
I traveled further into Clayton to a facility I thought for sure would be open. A very large shipping company that delivers worldwide has a franchised agent store in Clayton. I am not going to mention the business name, but its initials are UPS. Bingo, they were open. Score one for private industry.
Private industry will only flourish however, when it meets customer needs at a price customers are willing to pay. I was astonished as I watched two extremely unsatisfied customers storm out of the business without transacting any business. One simply wanted to leave a dollar on the counter for the busy clerks to ring up later for a small card worth far less than a dollar. He was rebuffed so he dropped the card on the counter, made a deserved sarcastic remark to the clerk, and left.
One lady in front of me was quoted a price for shipping a large, gift wrapped, framed picture of some sort and a book. She was quoted over thirty dollars and we both winced. Then she was quoted an extra twelve plus dollars for the actual shipping. It seemed that the original figure was just for packaging the items for shipping and did not include freight charges. The customer got angry, felt misled, grabbed her items, and left. The two clerks shrugged off a second irate customer.
Then it was my turn to get annoyed. An item that costs about six dollars packed in a small box would cost over seven dollars to ship. Since I was not willing to go out of my way for a fourth time and find yet another Post Office, I paid the higher than expected shipping charge and left. At least I got tracking information for the package unlike I would have gotten at the Post Office and it shows that as of this writing, my package is on time for an expected delivery.
Here is the bottom line. The Post Office is run like a government bureaucracy instead of a business. The holiday season is the busiest shipping time of the year. Instead of catering to customer needs, some pinhead government bean counter decided that the Post Office would open at an inconvenient hour allegedly to save money. Instead of providing a competitive operating schedule and competitive service, they continue to act like a monopoly and as a result lost my business. How many millions more people like myself did the same thing this year instead of using the United States Postal Service? If a private company can ship a package half way across the country and track it as it goes, so can the Post Office.
Sure I am beating up on the Post Office, but I feel the same way about ABC stores in North Carolina. The same principle applies. If a government operation wants to make better revenue, they need to think like a business instead of like a bureaucracy.
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