Kyl and McConnell and the other incumbent “Republican” senators who are not trying to kill this bill see, apparently, no real change in the Party ranks. They know that on Election Day, 2008, only about half of the precinct committeemen slots nationwide were filled and that the half that were filled were split about 50-50 between liberals/moderates/RINOs and conservatives.

Kyl, for example, knows that fewer than one-third of the Republican Party precinct committeemen slots in Arizona were filled on Election Day, 2008. He doesn’t see much change in the status quo in his Party back home, despite all the sign waving at the Tea Parties and the nasty words about Republican incumbents by conservatives on the thousands and thousands of conservative blogs. Indeed, I doubt he reads the blogs. Those words and the sign waving count for little in his mind, I imagine.

On the other hand, if thousands and thousands of conservatives were flocking into the Republican Party to sign up to become precinct committeemen, maybe the incumbent “Republican” senators not trying to kill this bill would see the writing on the wall, so to speak. There has been an increase in precinct committeemen numbers, but not a large enough increase, apparently. The conservative folks with the big microphones on talk radio, for example, sometimes say “you people have to take back the Republican Party from the RINOs.” But “take back the Party” exhortations are too vague; they don’t explain to the people what that really means or HOW to do it. HOW to “take back the Republican Party” is achieved by filling up all the thousands of empty precinct committeemen slots with conservatives.

Go here to learn more:

http://www.redstate.com/martin_a_knight/2009/05/05/the-committeeman-project/

Not enough of the conservatives across this great land of ours are becoming precinct committeemen, apparently. Indeed, of the hundreds of people I’ve spoken to at Tea Parties and protests, most who profess to be conservatives don’t know what a precinct committeeman is.

It does not seem to me that the American people “have been doing their part in spades.” Oh, some of them have been shouting and waving signs at Tea Parties — but that isn’t “taking back the Republican Party.” Yes, many, for the first time in their lives, have been making phone calls or sending e-mails to their congresscritters from the comfort of their chairs — but that isn’t “taking back the Republican Party.” Many have been blogging away in their chairs, writing the next great blog piece that will, finally, wake up the American people and call them into action — or something like that.

The American people’s “part” in the political equation would get the attention of the “Republican” incumbents if it consisted of REAL political action. That is, actual participation in Republican Party politics WITHIN the Party. If more conservatives, who do actually believe in the principles and values expressed in the Platform, joined the Party as active voting members of it. THEN the incumbents might at least have a little FEAR that they might face a more conservative Republican challenger in their respective primary races if they abandoned the principles and values expressed in the Platform. They might FEAR that their “conservative” friends in the Party leadership positions might lose their positions in the next round of leadership elections in which the precinct committeemen vote. You know, little things like that.

Woody Allen said something like, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Apparently, conservatives haven’t been showing up in sufficient numbers where it really matters in politics — at local GOP meetings to become precinct committeemen.

Thank you.
ColdWarrior
http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com