WCRC meeting - June 2007
First of all you can't beat this spread. Thanks to Bobieanne and Charles Adams for all of the food! They do this about once a year and last night was the time.
Last night's meeting was not supposed to have a speaker, it was pretty much a business-only meeting as we've decided to tackle a by-law revision this year much as the state party has. Thus the by-laws were slated as the topic of discussion.
After dispensing with the usual niceties (Lord's Prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, minutes, and treasurer's report) we first got a Central Committee report from county Chair Dr. John Bartkovich. While it's old news to monoblogue readers, he recounted the selection of Robert Laun as our newest Central Committee member. But we also heard about upcoming events like the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake on July 18th (I'll be there!) and our booth at August's Wicomico County Farm and Home Show.
That was the county party in brief. The membership also got the news about the WCRC website, to be relaunched July 1st with all new information. In mid-July there will be the first of a quarterly series of newsletters placed on it with all of the other information. That responsibilty falls to the Second Vice-President, who happens to be...me. (Why do you think I took the gig? I can't be President because it's not allowed in the by-laws.)
So we got down to the business at hand, which was soliciting the input of those present regarding the club's by-laws. Earlier the executive committee had gone through and placed suggested changes in an easy-to-read format in order to promote discussion. Well it worked!
We had several members who were passionately defending their views on particular items, from one who demanded that our club change its name to the Wicomico County Republican Party and drop the Central Committee moniker (state law dictates that the Central Committee be elected and call itself such) to whether we should allow only Republicans to be members. A compromise on that issue seemed to be that we would allow non-voting Associate memberships for those who aren't registered Republicans, but Associate members could not be officers.
All of this actually will be voted on at a future meeting, since there needs to be 30 days' notice of changes. But we had another gentleman, known to most of my readers but one who will remain anonymous in this discussion, stand up and suggest we look at three items for inclusion in the by-laws. Two of them I had no real issue with, a definition of how the club will spend its election money in support of officeseekers, and the other being the timing by which the club supports candidates. Generally the club as a body refuses to take a stance for or against a candidate during the primary season, a position that I personally support.
But the third policy idea is what rankled me the most. As I understood it, essentially this gentleman advocated a by-law where club members and officers could not speak out in public against a Republican incumbent or candidate. I immediately thought of it as the "hush monoblogue" rule. And it's not like we haven't had a similar discussion before.
This is the way it is, people. There are a few dissident folks on the Central Committee and active in local Republican politics who just don't care for the way I speak out on the issues because I have a set of opinions on how the Republican Party should be run at all the levels from Wicomico County all the way up to the national level. Also, I share my feelings about a number of issues with a reasonably wide audience and it's well known that I disagree with many of the GOP politicos on some things, particularly immigration. Further, I've made some negative comments about our Republican member of Congress because I didn't agree with his voting record and even skewered a Bush initiative (Medicare Part D) at the same time, noting, "Medicare Part D was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for equating Republicans with fiscal conservatism." That's just in the last week or two.
But I'm not changing who I am just because there's a few who don't like it. I have two pieces of advice for them. Number one, if you don't care for my performance as a WCRC officer, feel free to run for the office I hold come January. And if you don't like me being on Central Committee, you have until September 2010 to line up supporters. But I plan on winning re-election - in fact, I'd welcome a contested race in both cases.
These people who speak out against me (and more particularly, monoblogue) sort of remind me of the Republican mindset before 1980...let's just get along with the Democrats and we'll take whatever crumbs they toss at us. My two political heroes are Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich - we know what they did for the Republican Party and more importantly the conservative movement. I'm working to reinvent the Republican Party in a new image, combining conservative small-government values with a more libertarian social outlook in many areas and a focus on restoring states' rights.
We have a choice in the Wicomico County Republican Club. We can be a meek social group that's rapidly graying or we can be a body that's not afraid to take a stand and be critical of those above us running the party when we feel they're steering away from the values that make America great. In my opinion, in growing the club we might just have to ruffle some feathers and a club policy muzzling dissent is a sure path to extinction.