Much has already been written about what Republican “Establishment” people did in the Mississippi primary run-off election on behalf of incumbent Thad Cochran.
Some have written a letter to Republican Party National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to “investigate” the “potentially illegal” activities of these “Establishment” people.
Chairman Priebus might acquiesce to these demands, but I doubt it. Why do I doubt it? Because, looking at the names of the signers of the letter, it appears only one or two of them are actually members of the Republican National Committee.
Why would the signers’ status “in” the Party be important? Because Reince Priebus’s constituency consists of the national committee members. These are the people who elected him in January, 2013 and might re-elect him to the chairmanship in the next election in January, 2015. See Rules 2 and 5 of the Rules of the Republican Party. If he wants retain his position, or be re-elected, then he cares whether his constituency thinks he ought to be doing a particular thing; I do not believe he cares very much what others, not part of his constituency, think he ought to be doing.
By contrast, what if a majority of the RNC members had written such a letter to Chairman Priebus? Or, better still, tw0-thirds of them? Why might such letters from RNC members have an effect on Chairman Priebus? Because he knows, under Rule 5, the RNC Chairman is elected by a majority vote of the RNC members and, “The chairman or co-chairman may be removed from office only by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the entire Republican National Committee.”
So, why has such a letter not been written? Well, probably because there are not enough conservatives among the members of the Republican National Committee to constitute either a majority or a two-thirds majority of the membership to sign either such letter.
Can that be changed?
Of course.
How?
Get more conservatives into the “voting member” slots of the Republican Party who vote to elect the members of the Republican National Committee.
Is it hard to do?
No.
But it takes a little bit of time and effort.
So, can conservatives get the RNC to address the MS “Establishment problem” right now? Probably not. But they could in the future. Indeed, if conservatives began flocking into their respective local Republican Party committee meetings this month and every month thereafter, in great numbers, they could have an immediate impact on the conduct of some of the current RNC members.
Changing the “Establishment” into a Conservative Establishment.
I will use the Arizona Republican Party, where I live, and where I have done this, as an example.
By becoming a precinct committeeman in Arizona, a registered Republican obtains the right to run for the office of state committeeman. Each precinct lies within one of Arizona’s thirty legislative districts, and each legislative district has a Republican legislative district committee. According to the bylaws of the Arizona Republican Party, the precinct committeemen of each legislative district committee, at the committee’s organizational meeting after the general election in even-numbered years, has the right to elect one state committeeman for every three precinct committeemen. So, one-third of the precinct committeemen can become direct electors of the Arizona Republican Party Chairman, who serves a two year term on the RNC. The greater number of conservatives in the precinct committeeman slots in each precinct and legislative district, the greater likelihood the chairman elected will be a conservative.
In the presidential election years, the precinct committeemen caucus to elect the delegates to the state presidential nominating convention. Precinct committeemen, and only precinct committeemen, cast votes for the delegate candidates (any Republican can run to be a delegate, but only PCs elect the delegates). At the state convention, the delegates elected by the PCs vote directly for the national committeeman and national committeewoman. The greater number of conservatives in the precinct committeeman slots in each precinct and legislative district, the greater likelihood the delegates will be conservatives and the national committeeman and the national committeewoman elected will be a conservatives.
The process can vary from state to state, but it must comply with the requirements of the Rules of the Republican Party.
Majority Rules.
Majority rules. It is that simple. The problem for conservatives has been that conservatives have not been participating in this political process. But others, who are not conservative, have been.
A Tiny Percentage of Republicans Control Who Become the Party Officers.
Here in Arizona, by statute, each recognized political party gets at least one PC slot in each precinct and then one more for every additional 125 registered voters of the party residing in the precinct. So, roughly, less than one percent of the registered Republicans run the party machinery. And, when less than one-half of the allotted slots are filled, less than one-half of one percent of the registered Republicans are running the party machinery. And that is the way it is now in Arizona and in just about every state. Because about half of the “voting member” slots of our Party are vacant.
Let that sink in. Less than one-half of one percent of registered Republicans actually controlling the leadership of the Party.
Do you not want to be one of those Republicans?
About 400,000 of these Republican PC slots exist across all of the country’s voting precincts. And, again, all estimates point to the fact that about half of the slots are vacant. Let that sink in. Think about what an opportunity that presents for conservatives. More below.
In Arizona, all one has to do to become a voting member of their political party is fill out two forms, one an affidavit that says you live in your voting precinct, and another with the signatures of no more than ten registered voters from your precinct, either voters of your party or voters who are “independent.” Fill out that paperwork, turn it in to the elections department by a deadline in May, and then you will be on the primary ballot in your precinct for one of the available precinct committeeman slots in your precinct. I got appointed to a vacant slot in 2007; I became an elected committeeman in 2008. And, if you fail to get the signatures, you’ve got two weeks to fill out a write-in nomination paper and affidavit; all you have to do is fill out this one-page form stating you live in your precinct, have your signature notarized, and then turn it in to the elections department before the deadline. If the number of candidates is equal to or less than the number of slots (very likely, as only about half of the slots, on average, in Arizona, in any given precinct, were filled after the 2012 primary election), you will win by default. Otherwise, a contested election is held just like any other — those who receive the most votes via the ballot win the seats.
Become a “Top Dog” in our Party.
In Arizona, there are no dues to be a PC. If you want to donate money to your local committee, you do so. No one can tell you to do a thing as a PC, as you are a pure volunteer. If you want to participate in the meetings and in the other activities, you are free to do so. The PCs are “top dog” in the Party — no one can tell them what to do. PCs ARE the Party. The Republican Party is a voluntary association.
So, if we conservatives want to change the leadership of our Party, we must become voting members of it.
Because Republican Party precinct committeemen, and only precinct committeemen, elect, directly or indirectly, all of the Party committee officers, at the local level, the county level, the state level and even at the national committee level.
If conservative “political activists” want to have a say in who runs our Party’s National Committee, then they must become “political activists” inside our Party by becoming “voting members” of the Party at the precinct level. It is the only way to change the Party.
In my humble opinion, the only way to “change” the current Party “leadership” is to replace them by electing better people. And the only way conservatives can elect better people is by becoming electors — by becoming voting members of our Party — precinct committeemen.
The only reason our Party leadership is not “conservative enough” is because there are not enough conservatives “inside” the Party as PCs electing conservatives to the leadership slots. As someone recently said, “He who controls the precincts controls the party.”
Here are two graphics that explain this. Study them, please.
The Neighborhood Precinct Committeeman Strategy works. It is just common sense in action. But it is only a theory until enough conservatives unite and organize where they live to become “voting members” of the Party in their own precincts and on their own local Republican Party committees. Will you help make it happen? Will you become a precinct committeeman where you live? Will you recruit other conservatives where you live to do the same?
Here is a more in depth explanation of how it works in Arizona.
The local Party committee should help you with getting the forms. Mine did. In theory, yours should, too. But, if the local Party committee is run by moderates, they might not help you. So, figure out the process without their help by going a different route. Ask other Republicans you know. Call your state committee. Don’t give up. You are a resourceful American, no? Get it done. If you run into roadblocks, contact me at coldwarrior1978 at gmail dot com and I will try to help you.
I’ve compiled what I can here about how it works in other states and I’ve posted other articles about this here.
There’s no cavalry coming to save you. You have to save you. We can do it together at the ballot box.
Another explanation of the PC Strategy is contained in Richard Viguerie’s new book, “Takeover.”
Here is an article that shows what can happen when conservatives get involved “inside” the Party, as they did in Eric Cantor’s district leading up to his defeat.
Another, from here in Arizona. Please follow the links in the article, and the links in the linked articles, for more information and evidence that the PC Strategy works.
Millions of conservative “political activists” of one type or another exist. We conservatives need to unite with other conservatives where we live in the single best unifying organization for political action: a political party. Our party. The Republican Party. We need to fill up those approximately 200,000 “empty” precinct committeeman slots with a warm conservative body. About 200,000 of the approximately 400,000 Republican PC slots are filled, and about half of those are filled by conservatives.
We can end the conservative vs. RINO war inside the Party by winning it: all it takes is about 200,000 conservatives to get “inside” the Party where they live.
Again, study the graphics above.
I hope you will consider doing this. If you are going to spend time “doing politics,” what better way to do it, a few hours a month, than as a voting member of your local Republican Party committee, where you can become a voting member of it allowing you to vote for the Party’s officers, directly or indirectly, including those who occupy the RNC slots?
Or we can end up with Eric Cantor as the Chairman of our Party.
I hope this helps.
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
[Cross-posted at UnifiedPatriots.com]
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