I was recently posed the question, “what are you going to do about it”. Well, let me tell you. As one of the folks that’s decided to take this Future of The HCRP thing we have here and run with it, I’m going to grow it as exponentially as possible. How? One action at a time.
It has been decided that for right now our goal will be to recruit as many precinct chairs as possible. The 48% vacancy rate is unacceptable and it needs to be cut in half by the next election cycle or, once again, we as a party will be dead in the water. I can sit here and complain that our leadership has known this and has let it go like the old busted houses you see them renovating on HGTV, but what good would that do?
Instead, I’m going to move forward. I have already started meeting with the various leaders of the auxiliary GOP groups in the area including College Republicans in attempt to get their members involved in the process, not just sitting on the sidelines waiting for direction and orders from Richmond Avenue. The younger crowd doesn’t like to be treated that way. It may have worked for the Boomers (sorry Ed) but it doesn’t work for the XYZ generations. We are also working on updating the main website for Future of The HCRP to become more interactive and coalition based. This help drive people to and from all of our respective websites with the goal of making our coalition united as well as draw as much traffic and discussion as possible.
I hope this answers the question, “what are you going to do about it”. This is our plan and we will move forward, move out and draw fire.
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Aaron, it's an answer to the question I asked, and it's the one that works for you--sadly, not for me. As I said to Ed in an email, I wish you luck with it, but I've moved on. This response is both is why I did so, and what I see wrong with your current approach.
The Republican party squandered my loyalty over a decade, going back to "Monica-gate." Wasting time on stained dresses when we needed clear, conservative leadership to undo a generation's worth of liberal damage was bad enough. To sell out all our principles in favor of pork and lax immigration was the final insult. I now vote for a mix of parties. (I even vote straight ticket Libertarian, for lack of a better alternative – and I’m working on the alternative).
As for reforming the HCGOP… to accomplish anything, you have to fight the people within your own party who stand for nothing except holding on to power, as well as public apathy. One of the problems I see is that, (I assume) to avoid offending possible allies, you really don't have much of a platform beyond banal generalities. This makes your group look like just another clique.
That's not meant as a snide slam, it's just how it looks to an outsider. You want to recruit precinct chairs? Great...to do what? Putting your group in power is a means, not an end. Everything I see here is a means. Rules, plans, committees, etc. As John Q. Public, my question is very simple: Tell me what you plan to do. If you control the county GOP what public policies do you plan to support (and presumably, will find candidates to support)?
For all that the Republican party is no longer my home, it doesn't mean that I don't share some of the same goals. My advice, FWIW: take a page from Newt and make a stand. Pick solid local issues that will galvanize support. Only political junkies care about processes. As long as the HCGOP stands for nothing, no one will stand for it, and you’ll continue to have vacancies at the grassroots level.
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