Posted on 07/08/2009 6:55:10 AM PDT by flattorney
As a military officer for 30 years, I came to recognize the necessity of good leadership. When I retired from the military in 1998, I became active politically in the Republican Party. Since that time, I've been elected to two National Republican Conventions, acted as a military spokesperson for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004, and served as national veterans coordinator for Fred Thompson's presidential run. In 2007, I ran for Minnesota GOP party chair as a reform candidate, and lost. Over the years I have raised tens of thousands of dollars for GOP coffers, donated many thousands of dollars to local and national GOP candidates, worked many hours at the grass-roots level and been asked repeatedly to run for state or federal office by Minnesota GOP officeholders.
So why on Earth have I decided to leave the Minnesota GOP?
Simple: When a political party becomes so dysfunctional that it no longer can operate without tyrannical domination over the grass-roots, it is time to stop enabling bad behavior from that party. I have come to the conclusion that a majority of Minnesotans and many Republicans no longer trust the message of the Minnesota GOP. After years of ineffective party leadership resulting in a record number of defeats, lack of transparency in party dealings, alleged financial impropriety by former party employees, and numerous Federal Election Commission problems, can you really blame the electorate for abandoning the Minnesota GOP?
On June 13, the party continued its death spiral by electing the same failed leadership that has lost the last two elections. The "old guard" network of the GOP State Central Delegates continued to imitate lemmings gleefully following each other over the cliff to the political abyss below. Possibly the last chance to reform and re-energize the Minnesota GOP before the 2010 governor's race has been lost. For me, it was the last straw. I refuse to enable poor performance any longer. In my opinion, the new party leaders are rabid, power-hungry ideologues and the former attack dogs of the previous party chairman. They will not provide a message of inclusiveness or willingness to discuss contrary opinions. Honest, open and transparent party operations will not exist. The party is increasingly controlled by a small group of major financial donors and lobbyists who demand that their hand-picked people maintain the leadership positions. Most elected GOP politicians don't dare support reform out of fear of retribution. When lobbyist and corporate money has this type of stranglehold on a political party, fresh ideas and quality leadership fail to rise to the top.
The Minnesota GOP is no longer capable of competing. If you need further evidence, you only need to look at these two examples: the decision of Gov. Tim Pawlenty not to seek a third term and the decision of businessman Brian Sullivan, long thought to be the party's hand-picked successor to Pawlenty, of declining to run. I'm convinced both men, after watching the abandonment of Sen. Norm Coleman by principled conservatives and the debacle at last year's state GOP convention, where Ron Paul supporters were attacked and shouted down, have read the party tea leaves and decided the Minnesota GOP is so divided it is in no condition to contend in 2010.
After June 13, I came to the conclusion that the Minnesota GOP is no longer capable of being saved. My detractors will attack me, anonymously, or claim that I have hard feelings or that I'm just taking my ball and going home. Wrong — I'm only doing what thousands of Minnesota Republican voters have done over the last two elections; it just took me longer to pull the plug. Somewhere is a political party that is inclusive and wanting of seasoned political grass-roots talent. Somewhere there is a political party that will stand on principle, not radical partisanship. Somewhere there is a political party that isn't bought and paid for by large financial donors or special interests. There must be a party in need of fiscally conservative, principled individuals who will work for the people of Minnesota and not for the blind political ambition of a few. I encourage like-minded Republican voters to join me. I'm sure we'll find that new home.
Lt. Col. Joe Repya, of Eagan, is retired from the U.S. Army after 30 years of service that included Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“Our local paper called him one of the best congressmen we’ve had but would not endorse him because he wouldn’t promise to bring pork to the area.”
Figures. At least you had him for 17 years.
Of course, you cannot vote in both--unless you're a Democrat (sarcasm).
The fact that it (Franken’s election) was even CLOSE is enough evidence for me. Agree?
Sort of agree. Franken’s biggest help was the third party candidate that sucked a bunch of votes away from Coleman. That is my understanding. Flame me if I am mistaken.
Those are eye-opening. The GOP is groveling for DEM voters, is what it's doing. It sees DEM ranks increasing, and wants some of that.
The elites can't get their lackeys into office without the votes of the public.
“Some choice. Our immediate problem is Obama. If we don’t stop him, or impeach him for sedition, he will finish us off.”
good luck with that.
This is the typical wording of someone accusing the GOP of be too conservative. It's just one statement in the announcement, but it's leaving a seriously bad taste in my mouth.
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The following caught my attention as well. Usually when someone claims to be "fiscally conservative" they are moderate liberals, at best.
There must be a party in need of fiscally conservative, principled individuals...
Every once in a while Pawlenty is good, but do a Google search on Pawlenty championing his own regional Cap & Trade (Ration & Tax) program.
Also check out Pawlenty's global warming tour with Arctic explorer Will Steger.
“You do realize that the liberal wing of the Republican party also say the exact same thing—that the Republican party has been taken over by the religious right. So who is right?
I say, let’s stop fighting among ourselves and fight the Democrats. “
Perhaps you should tell that to the liberal GOP extremists(They are more of a small powerful minority, not a wing) that you cite. That message is old and hollow when given to the conservative base. They have grown weary of compromise and sacrifice to the liberal agenda. Your liberal GOP wing has driven away members, contributions and volunteers. The principles of party have drifted left so far that it is getting to the point of irrelevancy. The contents of this very thread provide good evidence of that.
Lt. Col. Repya volunteered to return to active duty for the Iraq war, he was recommissioned, and served honorably. He is a friend of mine and credentials are valid.
It won because of a 4-way split, but Republicans essentially supplanted the Whigs, which disintegrated after the 1854 elections, and assimilated the briefly-existing Know-Nothings. Even a decent chunk of Conservatives walked out of the GOP, the GOP would still exist, and in a lot of places, if the GOP & Conservatives ran candidates, the Democrats would benefit enormously. Only if the GOP completely disintegrated would a “new” rightist party benefit.
I've posted the same several times on FR. The Bushes have been called Rinos a lot on FR, but Prescott Bush, Bush I's father, was a Republican senator in the 1950s, when Ronald Reagan was a Democrat. He was also the first national treasurer of Planned Parenthood.
Until Reagan, the Republicans had been the party of the east coast money class for several generations. Reagan was an anomaly in the history of the Republican party. He was able to grab a huge number of disillusioned Democrats when the party was taken over by the Communists in 1972. As of now, I have no party. I'm certainly not interested in being a member of the party of Meghan McCain, and I could never make myself vote for any Democrat for any elected office. So, last election, I held my nose and voted for McCain, even though I was convinced he was stupid, senile, and that his presidency would be a disaster. I voted for him because Zero has been almost exactly what I expected. The idiocy of his fiscal policy can only exist because so many people are willing to pretend it makes sense.
So, where do I go? So far, I've voted for a party that I only oppose on key issues about 70% of the time to try and keep out a party that I'm convinced wants to destroy the country.
I wish I could. I know that "inclusive" frequently means guys like Colin Powell, who calls himself a Republican but has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate that I can find. Being inclusive also usually means supporting guys like Arlen Specter after the party kneecaps people like Toomey in the primaries.
This guy could mean that narrow-minded Republicans turned their backs on Coleman because he didn't pass the purity test, or that the party put a hack like Coleman in because they didn't want a conservative. From his letter, I have no idea which is the case.
I can assure you I am not even close to being a liberal but I am scared to death of these Democrats and want them driven out of office. In order to do that, we must remain united.
“Being inclusive also usually means supporting guys like Arlen Specter after the party kneecaps people like Toomey in the primaries.”
I was furious when the GOP backed Specter. He is neurotic paranoic, who can never be counted on. I wasn’t the least surprised when he jumped parties.
I used to think the Republicans thought they needed to move to the left to pick up independents. Now, I'm convinced that most of the Republican hierarchy would rather have Democrats in power than reduce spending.
I suppose there's also the possibility that people still think they can vote benefits that exceed the gross national product to themselves and that some other entity will always pick up the tab.
China's cutting off the credit. I was out looking for new pants today. I couldn't find anything that was made in the US. I used to think the pendulum would swing back, but in places like Detroit, California and New York, they seem to be happy to simply pick over the bones of the dying industries, never considering that their greed is what killed them.
“China’s cutting off the credit. I was out looking for new pants today. I couldn’t find anything that was made in the US. “
Mail order is about the only way to find “Made in America” anymore.
“I suppose there’s also the possibility that people still think they can vote benefits that exceed the gross national product to themselves and that some other entity will always pick up the tab.”
Some day they will realize that there IS no other entity.
Me winning the lotto is more likely than either
A)Palin forming a new party
B)Palin being elected President on the ticket of that party in a 3-way race.
Anyway, have you AUH guys met? ;)
Third Party = Sure Democratic Victory
The GOP mirrors its constituency, change that and you can make a real difference. Leaving public suicide notes isn't going to help anyone.
YOU STOLE MY SCREEN NAME!
(Which is entirely fair, since I stole mine from a picture of a sign at the 1964 GOP Convention that I once saw in a history book at school.)
FReegards,
The REAL AuH2ORepublican
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