Monday, November 28, 2016

Crisis in Leadership in the CA GOP?

I noticed a nice little shout-out for me in the California Political Review Blog.

Thanks, Stephen Frank.

He reposted my comments about The War Within ...

Before I take on his comments, I want to share more good news ...

1. Darrell Issa has officially won re-election.

YES!

2. I have a great job and I am very well-paid to do what I want to do.

3. I spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with my father, his wife, and the rest of the extended family in Oregon!

4. I am in good health.

5. I am back to reading my Bible, and I sense the changes for the better already.

6. A good friend of mine gave me updates on what she is doing in Long Beach, CA.

Yes, indeed, Thanksgiving cannot be just one day--everyone of us should be encouraged to make it a lifestyle!

So, something more that makes me happy ...

Stephen Franks reprints something that I wrote on his California Political Review!



His preliminary comments are worth meditating on:

Since February, 2013, the California Republican Party has not spent a dime on voter registration—and it shows.  Since October 22, 2012 till October 24, 2016, the Party has lost over 300,000 net registered voters, though a couple of hundred thousand did, register Republican.  

I have heard nothing but complaints about the lack of registration for Republicans in California. Why is this? What is going on?

I can say that in the Beach Cities Republicans, people are re-registering.

I think that this method is doomed to fail, however.

What is going on?

We are told that under McCain-Feingold there are periods of time we can not, as a Party register voters without using “federal funds (Levin accounts).  OK, so why not register in the other times?  Why not raise Levin funds?  Instead the State Party has outsourced voter registration to an organization run by Charles Munger—unelected by Republicans at any level—HE decides where voter registrations happens.

Which organization is this? Membership is about leadership and doer-ship. Why does this habit persist, in which GOP leaders are doffing responsibilities onto other people?

How has it worked out?  A net loss of 300,000 registered Republicans.  I should add Munger also sponsored and financed Prop. 14, which ended political parties nominating candidates for office in California.  Hence no reason to be a Republican registrant.

What?!

That is unconscionable.

How can we be losing registered votes in such a dramatic fashion?

AD-66 was a terrible example of this. In 2012, the district was 36% Democrat and 33% Republican. Now it's 42% Democrat and 32% Republican. This is not success.

This pattern of failure is all wrong.

Prop 14 is bad. That proposition is a terrible idea, and needs to be scrapped or significantly altered.

There followed statements from my blog post:

“Instead of freaking out over principles, it’s time to reach out to more people.

"We need leadership, enforcement, and a no-nonsense attitude on the necessary basis for a sound government which protects the rights of all and offers special privileges to no one!

If the proper forces don’t take hold in the state of California, this will be the lingering fate of the California GOP:”

Leadership is about making clear differences and standing by them.

The goal is not to try and make nice with every segment of a population, especially those elements which vehemently oppose the political party and its principles.

Principle means nothing if it is not treated with primal importance.

Political parties have to coalesce around values. They always will. From the outset of the Republic, there were Federalists and then the anti-Federalists.

Two parties exist because of two different views on the role of the state, and the role of the citizen, of the individual within the state.

Here comes Frank's question: 


That takes leadership.  What do you think?

Yes, that takes leadership.

It will take leadership that stands for something.

That takes a personal connection with the day-to-day concerns of other people.

That means getting in bad people's faces to change things.

Fundraising is a necessity, but not dependence on one large donor, or on donors who are more interested in abandoning values and accommodating a dying culture.

Leadership. 

I hope that I have begun fitting that mold. Everyone who wants to lead must be willing to follow, as well. I believe that there are other people who demonstrate leadership skills for building up California, and building up the California Republican Party.

How can we Californian Republicans generate support for our efforts?

And who will lead this rejuvenation?



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