It seems the Chronicle, whose concern about the health of the State’s GOP is well documented, is now worried about who votes in Republican primaries. Excuse me if I don’t worry about the Chronicles opinion about our party. We have a bigger problem.
Rod Lapsley, of the State’s Chamber of Commerce, commented that prohibiting decline to state voters from voting in Republican primaries would relegate the party to "permanent minority status." Excuse me if I don’t care what the Chamber thinks, either. The Chamber is as much responsible for Democrat hegemony in this state as any other group. They demand absolute fidelity from Republicans, but have little problems hopping into bed with the other side if it suits their purpose. The Democrats have a faithful spouse in the unions; the business community, to whom the Republicans seem to have married their future, cheat on the Republicans all the time. They do not have our best interest in mind either.
Republicans’ problems go deeper than who votes in their primaries, and the sooner Republicans understand that, the better we will be. In the same day as the Chronicle story on primary votes, we find a story about how one group of Republicans is suing another over their Republican credentials in a Central Committee vote IN A COUNTY WITH 16% REPUBLICAN REGISTRATION, and the state party has joined in the fight. Talk about fighting over the crumbs. We should welcome those who upset the status quo into the party, praise their organizational skills for beating out the existing structure, and encourage them to use those skills to build registration to 20 or even 30% in the county, not sue them. Does anyone not see the irony here?
Republicans activists spend more time fighting with each other over who gets control of the fiefdom than they do fighting for the kingdom. We spend more time trying to figure out how to outsmart the Democrats than how to outwork them. The only thing that is going to make Republicans the majority in this state is hard work. Not new technology, no new techniques about who is going to vote where, not cute, insider political maneuvering. Hard work towards a majority, towards commitment to what Republicans believe, a secure community, a small government, lower taxes, and family. Hard work, nothing else. When our party leaders and our elected officials realize that we need not worry about who controls a central committee in a county with less than 20% registration, but we should work hard to raise registration, and find candidates in districts where the registration is between 30 and 35%, we will start to pick up seats, and registration throughout the state. We may then win more than one or two statewide offices. We might win more than 30-32 Assembly seats and 14-16 Senate seats. We might actually become the majority because people like us, not because they hate the Democrats.
Since 1958, Republicans have only held the majority in one house or the other twice, once in 1968 and once in 1994. We rarely get more than one or two statewide offices. Our party is dysfunctional because the leadership thinks that raising and spending money is the way to win, not working hard for a solid set of principles. Of course, money is important, but only hard work, and being committed to principle, will win the hearts and minds of Californians. Suing each other, fighting meaningless fights over who gets to vote, whining and complaining is not going to get us there. Hard work and commitment to principle, that is it.
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
I agree about the hard work. In fact a lot of us, who you want to right off, in counties under 20% do work very hard. A vote in an under 20% county counts as much in a statewide election as a vote in an over 20% county. And, we need to chose our candidates and leadership. Look at the last presidential election.
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
And now you have a pied piper running her mouth promising to cut 30,000 gov. jobs…..good luck!!
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Very well said, Ray!
August 24th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Just so it is clear, I said nothing about writing off counties where registration is less than 20%. In fact, in my time in the Legislature, I spent more time in those counties than any of my colleagues. I do believe, however, that the lawsuit in Alameda County, and the state party’s involvement in that suit, is ill advised
August 24th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Ray
I agree with most of what you say in your article.
So can you name the people from top to bottom that need to be replaced in the leadership in the Party , if we do not name who is the problem in leadership positions that need to be replaced and put the people in that can lead the Party to victory starting in 2010 , how else are we going to fix it ?