Oft time the NH GOP rails against folks like we Groksters because we “upset the apple cart”. For instance, as Steve reminded us (recently), the current NH GOP Chair said this about we bloggers at GraniteGrok back in 2013:
He told me that he was not going to waste his time discussing the vote with me. Oh yeah … and he also said that people who blog are those who are “ruining” the party.
I riffed off his post soon after with this: “And his main point – why are bloggers out on point instead of the the NH GOP?”
I’d suggest you read both posts (especially in mine, read the words of Jon Henke as they are as valid now as when he first said them to me). The crux of this is that the Political Class still, after 16 years of there being such a thing as “blogging”, doesn’t really “get” us and why we do it (Heh! If I have to tell you, I’d have to give you a very strong sedative to calm you down) although there are a couple of political operatives with the Class that understand what we do and why – and appreciate it (as well as most of our readers, thankfully!)
Thus, continuing on and finishing my RRftSotRP (Republicans’ Republican for the Sake of the Republican Party) series, I present you with the above and a brief commentary on it.
The Party has good, nay, GREAT ideas – they are full of Liberty and freedom sounding words (ahem, emphasis on “sounding” here). They give you the soaring rhetoric of a group of people that actually seem like they believe it. A lot really do talk that way. The problem, is that for a few, it really is only a “sell job” (and yes, I do mean it in a negative way). They sell during a campaign, they sell during a Press Release, they sell during an Op-ed, they sell via Op-Eds, and they sell during interviews.
And then way, WAY under-deliver on their words if, indeed, action out on the absolute opposite. Limited Government becomes more govt workers. Less intrusion becomes more laws and regulations. Freedom of Speech becomes joyously more restrictions on campaign messaging and financing. Private Property becomes an issue of “Daddy Govt, may I”?
And frugalness now means that every man, woman, and child is on the hook for 10s, if not 100s of thousands of dollars in promises just in pensions alone and elected officials continuing to expand that cost by that phrase “well, it’s only a cup of coffee a day more”. Or worst, the Democrats proclaiming “We’re a rich State | Country!” and actually believe that it really ISN’T our money but Government’s – and then go and take it because “WINNING IS EVERYTHING!”.
RINO, RINO, RINO – if it walks like a duck, if it squawks like a RINO, if it legislates like a RINO, and if it votes like a RINO in leaving the NH GOP Platform in tatters, it’s a duck of a RINO. Too bad, author – don’t like the term? Don’t blame us. Instead, do what the Party SHOULD be doing and that’s both vetting its candidates and then policing them later.
After all, the author used the “fundamentally sales” mantra and any good salesman (and those of us who know good salesmen) understand the marketing and branding must be consistent. If it is consistent only in its marketing materials and during “the sale” and then goes south after the sale is made (e.g., the vote), people understand the hollowness of the message. Sure, there will always be those that will be RRftSofRR-ers. But many of us who stand on Principles (see what I did there!) go “great, used car salesmen again”. And then they wonder why we DON’T keep quiet because it is clear the no PRIVATE accounting is being done (very doubtful, especially in regards to the Power Elite) and even if it is, it is horribly ineffective (which tells you of the effectiveness of the “vaunted” power of their sales pitch.
I also point out, if I may be so crass, that “for the sake of the Party”, lose your First Amendment Right at the door. And on the phone, and in the streets, and pretty much everywhere else. At least Obama, as he was perverting and degrading the First’s Freedom of Expression to “Freedom to Worship” allowed us to go somewhere to Worship. The author here basically is saying SHUT UP and keep any criticism to yourself. Talk to no one and share it with no other. Just let it stick in your craw, swallow your angst, and let your rising blood blow your head off your shoulders.
Omerta. How Orwellian.
And for the last part in which he blows his own argument to smithereens:
Sure, he continues with the omerta theme. Well, the author’s got one word in their right – but without the proper Capitalization, the author unexpectedly shows the degradation that many GOPe-ers show for it: “principles”. Frankly, in a missive like this, it should have been Capitalized if for no other reason than to show its importance. It is important and it should have a higher priority than it does. In fact, it’s the reason I came up with this meme:
Winning is only a precursor; it’s what you do afterward that’s most important
Unfortunately, if you take the author’s missive as a whole, and add it to current Gov. Chris Sununu’s words “Winning is everything”, you can see they have it completely backasswards. The author actually has the temerity to demand fealty to the Party and not to the Principles it is supposed to stand for – and that is where we bloggers keep messing with their Narrative. We do have our own opinions and we share them to whoever wishes to read or listen to them.
The fallacy in the author’s language, and which has given us much fodder over the years, is that middle one:
“Advancing our principles requires a legislative majority and executive held by the Republicans”
Guess the author hasn’t been keeping all that close watch in Concord lately – or is the phrase “averting one’s eyes” more like it? Look who the Republicans put in as Speaker at the beginning of the session – once again the Democrat elected Shawn Jasper. Who controls the agenda? Certainly not the base Republicans. Also, look at who the committee chairs were and are – HOW often did they vary from the Platform they are supposed to support?
Let’s just pick a couple of near and dears:
- Right To Work
- Defunding of the murderous Planned Parenthood of New England
In both cases, it was Republicans that killed RTW off and then RETROACTIVELY funded the baby killers. And the author says we are to sit in the corner and TAKE IT????? Let me re-Right (spelling intentional) the last line:
We abdicate our Principles if our actions help elect “Republicans that ruin the Party’s branding and actions even if the Republicans are the” majority party “because they are” utterly opposed to them. This is effectively what has been happening and what is happening. Further, it seems that it will also be the future because as Grokster Ian wrote with his prescriptions for political recovery, the NH GOP seems indifferent (at best) or devious (at worst) to the idea that the Government is supposed to, first and foremost, protect our Liberty and Freedom.
The NH GOP gives lip service to that in many ways. So the author’s missive is hollowed out due to its absence; there is no WHY there – only DO. And only DO for the lowest of expectations – which it isn’t even accomplishing that.
The end. Or “our ends” if they don’t smarten up and realize what they aren’t doing. The author fails to acknowledge that the NH GOP must convince others; the author forgets that actions speak louder than words.
PS: Cute to have added Reagan’s missive. Too bad for the author that it seems to be quite a number of elected Republicans that are well BELOW that 80% – and they are in “leadership” positions. How now, brown cow?
