in just a few hours. I’m not quite sure what to expect – oh, I know what’s on the agenda, but I’m wondering about the overall mood and sense of optimism (or lack there of). Things have been better in GOP land in the past – and that is not now. I want to hear what the heck is going on with the rebuilding process. I want to find out who thinks they are leading and who are the real leaders. Who is making the noise at the top, and who is starting, at the bottom, to make the foundation to move.
Who, then?
I’ll make a bet with you all – I bet it isn’t going to be the leadership that will get the job done. Think what you will about the current leadership all around state, good or bad, but I frankly do not see it coming from that level of the Party. It takes an extraordinary person to make that happen from the top down. Those folks are far and few between.
Rather, I think that it will have to come from the plain folks. Harkening back to that movie "Network" – "I’m mad as h*** and I’m not going to take it any more". And as I see the emails flying around, the buzz on the forums, and the words on the blogs, it is clear that the leadership won’t be in the lead here.
People like you. People like me. People who agree with the principles espoused here at the ‘Grok (or at least more often than not – hey 100% ain’t ever going to happen).
You know the type -> Rabble-rousers. The silent conservatives. You know, people like me. Like Doug. And you sitting at home reading this (we just have to figure out how to get you to read AND do something about it – no matter how small the activity).
The message? The rallying cry? Conservative principles. And not only principles, but principles put into action after they can be espoused with a good message for today. It will take a rebuilding effort. It will take a while. It may take a long while.
Can I tell you, right this very second, that I’m optimistic that the Party will stop acting badly, that Republicans will stop mouthing the words of the platform and doing the opposite, will stop doing stupid PR things that have the general public asking themselves "why do we want to vote R"?
That words will mean something and that those words will turned into Action?
Nope, no can do – not this instant. I am not that optimistic.
A different word, however.
Just as in marriage, the operative word is not love, but committment. Love is emotional, is wonderful, and great to be "in". But it waxes and wains, grows and diminishes, over time. Committment, on the other hand, is lasting and durable. It is not an emotion – it is an attitude. It is the application of attitude to actions that philosophically aligns itself with the attitude. It is lasting, not given to fads.
Could I leave the Party? Sure. But what does that solve? I am under no illusion that my leaving would have any effect what so ever (other than some locally might say "good, now he is out of our hair". Others locally have done that, loudly trumpeting this fact. So what has it really done, effectively?
Not much – a bit of a splash (except for those that trumpet it over and over – and for those, it is more about them than it is about the Party). Then it is over.
What is harder? To leave, or to stay. To rail from the outside, or do the fixing from the inside? Which is more effective? I think more the latter rather than the former.
So, I go to the meeting.
After all, change, true and effective change, comes from leading by example. No matter how dim it may seem. Sometimes a big rock thrown into the pond is sufficient to roil the waters. Better still, to make waves, needs lots of little rocks, each making their own small ripples. But enough little rocks, all over the place, can effect change (the stillness of the water) much better than a big one.
So, I go to the meeting. And will throw my little rock.
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