Sorry - you know not about what you speak. You've not 'been there, done that' and I have. It is local power that drives what happens in a state - whether the state is liberal or conservative.
It is local power that determines the makeup, and numbers at the county level. It is county strength that decides state party leadership. OF COURSE... if the local districts are defunct, the state is defunct - and therein lies the problem of disinterest and lack of knowledge that this post speaks to.
Even in lefty states like CA and NY, they still send delegates to national conventions. I am proud to say that in CA we have one of the most conservative members in the RNC - national committee woman Barbara Alby. I've known her for decades, and worked hard with her in the state party structure.
She is up against far less conservative members from supposedly conservative states - states where conservative activism is typically much lower than it should be, at the local level. In spite of that, she continues to fight for the conservative cause - as fools at the local level ignore the political implications of their complete lack of interest in participating in the process.
'EternalVigilance'?? I think not. Tell me when you have gone to your first local party meeting - and after you have finally voted there.
Baloney. I've served at every level of the Republican Party structure up to and including my state central committee, and have worked on countless campaigns from the most local up to the presidential level in every region of the country. I've helped rebuild local and state party structures in many states. The gains we made were extremely short-lived though, unfortunately, because of the ongoing corruption of the national party and the ever-increasing compromise of the party's leaders. We did the work, and they either pissed it away or handed the accrued power over to the other side, one way or another.
I went to my first Republican Party meeting many years ago. I ran for precinct chairman and won. My opponent in that minor party election is now a sitting Congressman.