You are correct. I was once a member of the Louisiana GOP State Central Committee, and had a vote in the selection of our state chairman and the two national committee members.
I ran for the office in a partisan election and won. We battled the Country Club Republicans at every meeting. That battle is still ongoing.
This is why it behooves people to elect conservatives to the local political offices.
It matters.
And it matters that we stay IN the party and get involved. Thank you for your efforts Have you considered posting a vanity of encouragement?
I usually refer to the "blue haired ladies" instead of the country club Republicans (having a couple of those blue haired old ladies in the family), but I agree.
Communities vary, but in many places the dynamic is as follows. The party regulars have been working precinct and county Republican politics since approximately forever. They get proprietary about it, and with some reason. They are the ones who organize the Lincoln Day Dinners and the county fair fish fry, walk the precincts for down ballot candidates in races no one cares about except the candidate and the blue hairs, show up to clean up the mess at headquarters the morning after we take a shellacking ... and who have been doing this for 20, 30 or more years. They're not in it for the glory or the money, because there isn't any at that level.
AND, they know (or have at least met) everybody in state politics because they haven't missed a county event in all that time. Local organizational politics is their thing, provides much of their social network, and elevates their place in the community.
Then an insurgent faction shows up, passionate about an issue and often full of people who have never done a lick of work, and accuses them of being out of step and out of touch. This may in fact be correct. But personal diplomacy here is important in bringing the regulars along, and this needs to be done at the local level. Insurgent campaigns, however, tend to be issue or personality driven, opportunistic in nature, and full of newcomers. Of course there are hard feelings when insurgents attempt what amounts to a hostile takeover.
A political party is not a social club. It exists to elect people to public office and it will ultimately be defined by its candidates. But a national party is also a large ongoing enterprise, and people who have paid serious dues over many years should not be turned into the enemy.
Yes...the battle against RINOS continues in State parties