The site of this year’s Groktoberfest was the Londonderry Fish & Game Club, situated on the outskirts of suburban Litchfield, NH, located a few miles from Manchester. The surprisingly warm weather hosted a not surprisingly resolute group of faithful conservatives in the outdoor environs where the live free or die crowd was surrounded by a cavalcade of patriotism and purpose aimed at preserving America and its values.
Situated under the club’s conference-sized veranda were many attendees there to raise funds for New Hampshire’s most read and distributed conservative publication, GraniteGrok. What is a Grok, you wonder? Grok is a neologism coined by American writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Used colloquially, it means “to understand profoundly through intuition or empathy.” Granite Grok is the brainchild and labor of love of its founder, Skip Murphy, who started it as a blog only to see it grow in popularity. It is now the most-read conservative publication in New Hampshire, with many millions of views and readers from around the globe.
Co-owner and editor of the Grok is Steve McDonald. Steve is an award-winning blogger, Managing Editor, and owner of GraniteGrok.com. He serves on the Board of Directors of The 603 Alliance and is a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, was a founding member of the New Hampshire Republican Volunteer Coalition, and is a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.
The Master of Ceremonies for the event was Jeff Chidester, who set the tone by speaking eloquently about the call for action fulfilled by the Grok and its contributors and supporters. The purpose of the event, beyond raising funds to expand the capacity at the Granite Grok, was largely to gather like-minded culture warriors as brothers and sisters in arms. The irony of many conservatives is the desire to be left alone, however, that inclination is largely responsible for our current situation, where we see red states turning purple and bluer by the day.
Among the many vendors in attendance were representatives for the Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns. Many of the kiosks offered free literature on the Constitution, concern for protecting children in schools, and the rising trend of Marxism in American politics. Such groups as Camp Constitution, run by one of the day’s speakers, Hal Shurtleff, sat alongside like-minded activists from the NH Constitution Party, the Free State Project, Back to Basics LLC, Defend Our Kids, and the John Birch Society.
The keynote speaker for the event was former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Mr. Lewendowski rolled into the event in Trumpian fashion behind the wheel of a sleek black Shelby Mustang accompanied by one of his sons. After listening to several speakers raise awareness of the various concerns their organizations focus on, Mr. Lewandowski, a former NH police officer, took to the dais and reminded the crowd what was at stake and who they were up against.
Reminding everyone of his candidates’ unlikely win over “crooked Hillary” and controversial defeat at the hands of “the Biden regime,” he shared a variety of stories from the campaign trail, including his role in helping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secure his most recent term in office.
The overriding tone of his speech was to reiterate what has become obvious to anyone following American politics from the right. We are facing an opponent who is not beholden to American values as we know them, including honesty in reporting (the media) and the recent weaponizing of institutions of power from law enforcement agencies to rogue judicial officials bent on activism rather than protecting citizens’ constitutional rights. He concluded by reminding everyone the next election is the most important election we will ever face, which he admits is a cliché thing to say at political gatherings, however, his tone was unmistakable. Perhaps it was that he included “we won’t have a country” if we lose the next one. Was this hyperbole to hype the crowd, perhaps? Only if you’ve not been paying attention to the realities he’d already covered.
After a few more speakers, both Skip and Steve McDonald addressed the crowd, thanking them for all of their support and reiterating the words of the previous speakers. They also cast a vision about the future of the Granite Grok, which now includes a VermontGrok looking to galvanize their friends to the west.
Sadly, we were also informed that Skip is stepping down in his full capacity to deal with family matters that are more important than his political activism. Steve is more than capable of steering the helm of this ship. However, Skip has long been the soul that guides its conscience. As a matter of conscience and in spirit with true conservatism, Skip isn’t in the game for sport but for the love of all he holds dear – human freedoms, civic liberty, God, country, and family. To use another cliché – he puts his money where his mouth is.
Speaking of money, if you’d care to join the cause, you can support the Grok in a variety of ways by volunteering to help contribute articles, covering your local politics, working phones, going door-to-door for Grok-supported candidates, as well as donate financially via their website.
The Chronicle would like to welcome the Groksters to Vermont, where we have more than enough “green” mountains to climb as a body politic.
