I’d drive a Prius IN Africa, except its hard to find charging stations…

I really think there is a void in comunication on maybe both ends. Each side looking at the other with pre-conceived notions about what the agenda of each group is. This is not at all healthy for the party as a whole. For the new comers into the party they need to understand they are newbies and that they need to earn the respect of others. I get that. I want to do that.

Lets get together and chat over coffee.

Take care,

Why doesn’t the party embrace these new people? Take them and show them how things work? Guide them and grow them within the party?

This is a discussion we had at our last State Central Committee meeting. It was actually Tammy that brought it up and said that it was extremely important that we embrace the Ron Paul supporters and invite them into the Republican Party. She was very clear that she believed that they were the future of our country, and that we should welcome them, and mentor them as best we can. The whole of the Central Committee agreed. Then came the caucuses and conventions. You probably didn’t see it, but you wouldn’t believe how rude the members of the executive committee were treated by a lot of the Ron Paul supporters from the beginning. When I was registering people at the caucuses and straw poll, I got the honor of listening to several comments and questions about what “you people” were going to do to fix the vote and screw Ron Paul. I got to listen to a few discuss how they were just waiting for the Constitution Party to get formed so they could get jump ship from the GOP. Why should us members who have “put in our time” give a rats ass for them? I’m committed to using the Republican Party as a vehicle to make the country better, not making it a suitable port of call for someone who is party hopping. (By the way, I find it hilarious that I’m part of “the establishment” now. Do you know how many knock-down drag-out fights I’ve had during State Central Committee meetings?)

What the new people who walked into that room with a chip on their shoulder did’t understand is that the straw poll, which wasn’t required and had never been done before in Wyoming, was held specifically for the purpose of getting new people — THEM — involved in the process. As for Crook county, the release of the straw poll results weren’t delayed so that the results could be altered. The hope was to wait until all the counties were in so they could be released all at once so we could get the maximum amount of press coverage. The fact that the caucuses were held over several days made that impossible. The moment Tammy realized that the delay would cause even the slightest perception of impropriety she made the executive decision to release all results immediately. When the guidelines for the straw poll were discussed and decided on in the Central Committee, that possibility never even came up, but once the process started, the first reaction we got from the “Revolution” was that we were somehow trying to screw them over. The result of the vitriol that came from the Ron Paul supporters around the state is simply that none of the people who volunteered to make the straw poll happen will never do it again. There probably won’t be another WYGOP straw poll. The negativity just isn’t worth it. (Another “by the way. It was Novotny’s hard work that made the straw poll possible at all. Without him, Ron Paul wouldn’t have gotten the publicity from it that he did.)

Which brings to mind: Every facet of the partisan political process from the State Party on down is done by volunteers, not professional politicians. Tammy has literally been running the State Party out of the trunk of her car using her own cell phone for the last year. She doesn’t do it for any personal gain. She does it because she believes in the Republican Party. Yes, she screwed up at the State Convention, but she also was the driving force behind making the convention possible at all. It is 100% because of people like her that ANY of us get ANY say at all in the partisan process. And it IS a political process. People pick sides. Of course Novotny is pooling support to do something about the Ron Paul people. He’s a Romney supporter and works on the Romney campaign, and Ron Paul is his competition. I expect nothing less. Politics is battle. It gets heated. You have to strategize and figure out a way to win, whether it be in the hallway, on the floor of the convention, or behind a locked door. But what a lot of people don’t get to see is that at all levels of politics, when the fighting is over, most of us set it aside and can relate pretty OK at a personal level. We don’t have to be best friends, but we don’t all have to hate each other either. A lot of the Ron Paul supporters I’ve had to deal with over the last few months don’t seem to understand that. They act like we should be mortal enemies from the moment we meet.

Personally, I believe that the best way to change the country for the better is to start by changing the Republican Party, and I believe the only way to change the Republican Party is from the inside. That’s why I got involved. The reality though is that you can’t get inside by sitting on the outskirts throwing stones. You can’t constantly attack the “established” members of the party and then cry when they don’t welcome you with open arms. We’re only human. If you start the conversation by immediately trying to put us on the defensive, guess what? We’re going to get defensive and fight back. It’s purely reflexive human nature.

I hope you noticed that I, in no way, anywhere in my essay, attacked Ron Paul or called him a kook. I have nothing but respect for him. However, the first test of a presidential candidate is how he runs his campaign. It is widely accepted — even if it isn’t necessarily true — that if you can’t run a successful campaign, you can’t run a country. Gains from 2008 aside, Dr. Paul has failed at running a campaign. Consistent 10% support is simply not a success. You only have to look at comments from his supporters on the forums to see that the centralized planning is fractured and in a lot of cases non-existent. What’s more, the size of the cult-like following that he has inspired is admirable, but I also think it has done more to harm his chances at capturing the average Republican voter and leading the country to real positive change than to help his chances. It’s too bad, because I believe he has a lot to offer, but I truly believe that it is a very obnoxious group of his own followers that marginalizes him and prevents average voters from giving him a second look.

Finally, even if I take your statement at face value that you haven’t decided how you are going to vote at the National Convention, then that leaves around 11 more of the alternates that were elected, who also ran as “Undeclared,” whose intentions are suspect. Never mind the fact that the Ron Paul campaigners are, despite your words to the contrary, declaring YOUR alternate seat, as well as the rest of the alternate seats, as having been “taken” for Ron Paul. I don’t have a problem with “undeclared.” If I had run for a National Delegate position at the County Convention, I would have run undeclared because at that time I still had no idea who I would vote for. But I’ve read the Ron Paul forums and I know the strategy. And I know a lot of the people who were running. They have declared, loudly, who they support, as you have. I support the Ron Paul campaign’s right to have a preferred slate, and I honestly don’t have a problem with the fact that it was agreed on behind a locked door guarded by the bodyguard who seems to get bigger every time he is referenced on the Daily Paul. I just think that it was disingenuous for your group to try to hide your slate behind “undeclared” in front of the convention, while demonizing the the Romney campaign for offering a slate to their supporters out in the open.

Unfortunately, the machine (much like a slaughterhouse) is very efficient and if either gets off-kilter you can generally fix the problem with either a hammer or a bit of grease.

The problem with the political machine is that it is now archaic technology. If it were a computer there’d still be two camps of machines to replace it – shiny, sleek-looking ones that offer frivolities, and ugly boxy, stuffy ones that offer more of the same, with some new bells and whistles up front. Sure, there may be a hybrid machine finely tuned, and parts specced for maximum performance – but the general public doesn’t buy those. Those are left to the radicals and fanatics to do with as they see fit in their own little corners.

Often those corners are dark, dismal places…sometimes not. Either way, they are still corners. They aren’t center-ring. The majority of people want to see lions and tigers and pretty acrobats center ring. Of course, lots of those people do wander off to the sideshow for a moment, check it out briefly and then head to the egress just as the ringmaster wants and needs them to.

There ya go, Wisdom – a handful of metaphors and not a single flamethrower ignited. Perhaps it was enough of a spark to ignite an idea.

Sadly, it is a reality in the country we live in that people think they need zoning to “protect” people from themselves and each other when fences would be much more effective.

I’m sorry to hear that you ran into roadblocks with your attempts to contact Commissioner Kolb and the P&Z Director. This surprises me, as in my experience they have both been pretty accessible. They don’t agree with my take on zoning, but I find them honest and approachable.