“Winning is only a precursor; it is what you do AFTERWARD that is important“
Steve had a good post on what drives us here at GraniteGrok – Principles. It seems that popular culture, and the political culture, has lost sight that it was solid philosophical principles that guided our country to greatness – and great people are driven by rock-solid principles as well. Yet, that whole notion and all that it encompasses, is seemingly of lower and lower repute. Instead, we are drifting from Principle to mere celebrity hood and the notion that Famous for being Famous, that success is earned in an instant instead of perserverance, and that politics in nothing more than a Win…and nothing but NOTHING matters but the Win. Only the Win. What comes after – there never seems to be an answer. So, a new commenter by the name of Chris Amino decided to try trotting out the same tired old song and dance that has “settle for anything that gives Republicans a win”:
If you spent half as much time fighting Democrats as you did fighting Republicans, not only would we win elections but we would be a center-right state again. Instead of taking aim at the Left, you turn the power of this media outlet against the Republican Party and then you wonder why the ship is sinking. It would be better if you stopped
acting like a petulant child because you don’t get what you want from a candidate 100% of the time and realized that the world does not revolve around your purity requirements. People like you, the ones who “stay home” or are not “satisfied” with the Party’s nominee are the reason we lose and Maggie, Annie, and Jeanne are our office holders. Grow up.
You KNOW that I had to respond:
The fallacy of your above argument, Chris, is the assumption that all elected Republicans are more Right than Center. In our experience, that assumption is wrong. After all, it was REPUBLICAN State Senators that passed Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion (against almost all of the precepts in the Platform), gave us a rather broad based tax (the gas tax and by that, refused to do the hard work of actually fixing that political problem), and championed the decrease in our liberty of free speech in the political realm.
So, how did those items help NH be a Center Right state, Chris? We trusted the Republicans to do the right things – and they failed. And we are supposed to remain silent simply because they have an R next to their names?
Our message is that there are bad people on BOTH sides of the aisles as well as ideas. While most of us here are registered REpublicans (and I am an NH GOP State COmmittee member), those are secondary concerns for us, Chris. Letting the Rs off the hook and not putting flashlights on bad behavior won’t help things – the NH State Senate Republicans proved that this session. And it wasn’t Maggie, Annie, and Jeanne that did it – our “own” did it to us.
And that will continue until they get the message that it will not be tolerated any more. Look, I’ve had my face to face discussions AND screaming matches with Bradley, Morse, Odell, and Stiles that what they were doing to the Republican Brand was wrong with these votes – they ignored us and a LOT of the grassroots. Are we to merely remain silent, Chris, and just “take it”? Is your message is “be good little Republican soldiers” and do what we are bid?
I have said it before and will say it again: the ‘Grok can be shut up concerning Republican behavior and it will take only 1 thing for them to do: cherish and align themselves with the precepts in the Platform and Constitutions and stop crossing those boundaries. If they did that, we’d have nothing to say about, right? Until them, we are non-partisan in who we call out – we do believe in standards.
And if you don’t like how we use “the power of the media outlet”, well, start your own. I will warn you, however: we have seen a number of “moderate” non-standards based Republican blogsites in the past – where are they now?
And then went back to address the “the power of this media outlet against the Republican Party“:
One more thing, Chris – we are no Republican House organ like those other moderate R blogsites that died years ago. Do something right, and we’ll be sure to praise them but that hasn’t happened a lot lately this session.
Of course, if you think there is a need for such a site as you are demanding we should be, open one of your own! Seriously – not a snarky suggestion. If you see there is a need in the political marketplace, go fill it. We might even send traffic your way!
We stand on Principle – and demand excellence. Those that assail us want one thing – for us to lower ourselves to their levels and get in line. Folks who demand this of us, like Chris, have little idea of what we are about. We also see them as being part of the problem – demanding only the win, they fail to see the larger prize and become part of the problem. Excellence, improve the Brand, be proud of something more than just a shallow name or title. That’s easy – the talk. Harder? Walking that talk. As we have experienced, few are walking what they are talking. Or worse, abandoning even lip service to the talk.
What others have learned in the past, Chris must learn – we don’t do this to boost the Republican Party. We aren’t “fanboys” (and “fangirls”) that fawn over other Republicans. Those folks? Mere ordinary people (with very few examples) just like the rest of us. What IS important to us is what motivated the Founders – IDEAS and Principles. Insofar that people believe in them, defend them, and put them into action, that’s the part that fulfills the top of post quote.
*RRftsoftRP = Republican Republicans for the sake of the Republican Party
