The Christian County GOP caucus yesterday was, at best, a fiasco. I honestly think the "establishment" got a much bigger crowd than they were expecting. I have to admit, they did a good job of getting out the vote to the people they wanted to show up.
Not everyone, mind you, just the folks they wanted there. There were other people who showed up that they didn't really want to be there. That would be the non-"establishment" people. Some of them read about the caucus in the newspaper or heard about it on the radio. Some of them are called "Paulbots" by detractors.
That conjures up such a funny image for me. I picture a whole army of C3POs with Ron Paul faces. I wonder if the "Paulbots" would have British accents?
In reality, at least in Christian County, the Ron Paul supporters are quite varied. They range in age from 18 to a few in their 60s or 70s (I'm too polite to ask those old geezers their exact age) and they are students, stay at home moms, small business owners, farmers, railroad workers, parents and grandparents. They are a heterogeneous group that is not in any sort of lockstep as those who call them "Paulbots" attempt to imply. As a matter of fact, they seem to be a pretty normal cross-section of the community.
In addition to the "Paulbots," there were other concerned Republicans who live in Christian County who also showed up and had things been better organized they might have been able to join with the "Paulbots" to keep the Central Committee Cronies from monopolizing the process of electing delegates to the 7th congressional district and state conventions. There was at least one Mitt Romney supporter who wanted to vote for a Romney slate but she didn't have an opportunity to do so because she was not allowed to nominate a slate and neither of the two slates nominated represented her. Well, I guess it's possible the Central Committee slate might have. No one knows because when the Central Committee Chair presented their slate he did not state which candidate each delegate was going to vote for or at least that say, 20 delegates were planning to vote for Santorum, 10 for Romney, and 7 for Gingrich. The other slate was called "Restore America" and since this lady apparently had heard Ron Paul's campaign slogan, she knew that one didn't represent her either.
It was moved and seconded to take a recess, presumably so those who had not formed a slate and wished to could do so. While the recess motion was on the floor, another man made a motion to close nominations of slates. The motion was not seconded and was out of order because there was already a motion on the floor. However, after the recess motion carried and the caucus recessed and then reconvened, the chair stated that it had been moved and seconded to close nominations. In other words, he ruled that a motion that was made out of order and not seconded was to be voted on.
So we took a 10 minute break, presumably to be fair and allow another slate or two to be made so that everyone besides the cronies and the "Paulbots" could be represented, and then didn't even allow other slates to be nominated.
An attempt by some "Paulbots" to form a combined slate consisting of Christian County Republican Central Committee proposed delegates, Restore America proposed delegates and central committeemen and women who had been left off the Central Committee slate was met with contempt and vitriol by many of the people sitting on the left side of the room. What disappointed me the most was that some of the people on this proposed slate were our committeemen and women and elected officials and they couldn't even concede a few delegates so as not to shut out everyone but them.
It was not suggested that they get even get 2/3 and Ron Paul get 1/3. We didn't even get that far. They wanted their way and they had the majority and that was it. I thought the reason we have a Republic and not a democracy was to protect the rights of the minority.
Most of the people at the caucus yesterday had never been to one before. And the ones who hadn't been involved in the slate and strategy planning sessions that took prior to the caucus were completely left out of the process. Missouri has caucuses every four years to elect delegates to the congressional district and state conventions, but this is the first time in sixteen years that those delegates weren't bound to a primary vote.
The previous caucuses, at least those after 1996, were a formality. You could nominate whoever you wanted and they had to go vote bound to the primary results. Those caucuses didn't mean much so not a lot of people showed up.
This year's caucuses are contentious because they actually mean something. The people who showed up yesterday who weren't specifically contacted by the Central Committee Cronies came out because they wanted their interests represented at the district and state conventions. They wanted to elect delegates that would vote for the candidate they support. And while the 37 delegates are not bound, if you know the people involved, you know who they are supporting.
As a matter of fact, we didn't talk about presidential candidates at all! I thought that was the reason we were there.
I guess I was wrong.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
The Ca-ca caucus
The GOP ain't so grand, but it sure is old. And no, I don't mean "old" as in it's been around for awhile. I mean old, as in...full of gray-haired retirees and middle-aged fuddy duddies.
Not that there's anything wrong with either of those, if you still have an open mind and some common sense.
I went to the Christian County Republican Party caucus yesterday. It was eye opening to say the least. And I was very disappointed in the actions of some members of the Central Committee. I thought it was very disingenuous of the county chair to put up a slate with the name "Christian County Republican Central Committee" when not even half the proposed delegates were committeemen and women. Now considering the fact that the central committee has 52 positions (one man and one woman from each of 26 townships) and that not quite half of those seats are vacant, it is understandable that some of the delegates would not be committeemen and women if a full slate of 37 delegates was proposed.
But several committeemen and women, active people who are at nearly every meeting, were left off the slate. There were also active Republicans, who are not committeemen and women, who attend nearly every meeting and even volunteered on subcommittees to help with events such as the chili supper fundraiser, the caucus and the upcoming Lincoln Days, who were left off the slate. Why?
I'm guessing it's because they aren't for the "right" candidate. A candidate that is so far to the right that he's wrong. A candidate, who, quite frankly, scares the bejeezus out of me. But his stances on limiting freedoms of Americans are popular with the Bible-thumping social conservatives who have taken over the GOP, not only in Christian County, but in Missouri and much of the United States. He wants to limit the freedoms most Christians find distasteful.
What these ill-informed Christians don't realize is that when you start limiting freedoms you don't like, just give it time, they will eventually get around to limiting those you do like.
The slate really should have been called "Christian County Republicans for Rick Santorum." Or perhaps, "Christian County Republicans handpicked by the Central Committee Chair and co-chair and their spouses and the Rick Santorum county coordinator and all the other old cronies who are scared to death of those awful Ron Paul people."
Truth in advertising, people.
Not that there's anything wrong with either of those, if you still have an open mind and some common sense.
I went to the Christian County Republican Party caucus yesterday. It was eye opening to say the least. And I was very disappointed in the actions of some members of the Central Committee. I thought it was very disingenuous of the county chair to put up a slate with the name "Christian County Republican Central Committee" when not even half the proposed delegates were committeemen and women. Now considering the fact that the central committee has 52 positions (one man and one woman from each of 26 townships) and that not quite half of those seats are vacant, it is understandable that some of the delegates would not be committeemen and women if a full slate of 37 delegates was proposed.
But several committeemen and women, active people who are at nearly every meeting, were left off the slate. There were also active Republicans, who are not committeemen and women, who attend nearly every meeting and even volunteered on subcommittees to help with events such as the chili supper fundraiser, the caucus and the upcoming Lincoln Days, who were left off the slate. Why?
I'm guessing it's because they aren't for the "right" candidate. A candidate that is so far to the right that he's wrong. A candidate, who, quite frankly, scares the bejeezus out of me. But his stances on limiting freedoms of Americans are popular with the Bible-thumping social conservatives who have taken over the GOP, not only in Christian County, but in Missouri and much of the United States. He wants to limit the freedoms most Christians find distasteful.
What these ill-informed Christians don't realize is that when you start limiting freedoms you don't like, just give it time, they will eventually get around to limiting those you do like.
The slate really should have been called "Christian County Republicans for Rick Santorum." Or perhaps, "Christian County Republicans handpicked by the Central Committee Chair and co-chair and their spouses and the Rick Santorum county coordinator and all the other old cronies who are scared to death of those awful Ron Paul people."
Truth in advertising, people.
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