#ncpol: RIP, NCGOP
It’s a new day in North Carolina politics. We’ve been saying for a while that the political parties no longer matter much. They are a great vehicle for getting the little people back home fired up and involved. They’re great for “getting out the vote.” But, in the end, it is the statist ruling class, which can be found dominating both major American parties, that calls the shots and manages the fate of our communities, states and nation.
This “affiliated committees” nonsense that sailed through the General Assembly codifies this long-held belief. The folks IN OFFICE can insulate themselves from the wrath of the little people back home. Through their regulatory oversight powers, they can shake down all kinds of “contributions” from deep-pocketed sources. They can then turn around and use that money to run ads totally lying to the folks back home — painting themselves as good hearted conservatives. It makes it much harder for a “Mr. Smith” — or even a David Brat — to go to Washington or Raleigh.
Since they have written us off — I think it is only fair for us to do the same to them. What’s the point in registering Republican anymore? The Rs in office regularly ignore that *silly* platform. State Rep. Paul Tine — registered unaffiliated and still voting hard-left — has all the rights and privileges within the House GOP 
caucus as a loyal Republican who has been faithfully toeing the conservative line.
Let Paul Shumaker put up all their signs and make the GOTV calls. Let’s see how well that works.
Stop voting for the R next to a candidate’s name. It doesn’t mean the same thing that it did during the days of Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms. Look at their core beliefs. Look at the voting records. These days, an R will lie to you, take your money, and regulate you up to your eyeballs just as quickly as a D will.
Democrats have been sitting back and chortling over all of this. But they need to realize something: THIS affects them too. Their folks in Raleigh can neuter the influence of their grassroots as well.
There is a long list of political parties that have been born and died off throughout American history. Maybe it is the GOP’s time.
As these parties have gone, new ones have sprung up and the country has carried on. It will this time, too.
I am confused about Section 81 of SB 119. It says “in the case that HB 373” becomes law. Does that mean that the affilated committees portion of Section 81 only applies if HB 373 is passed? can HB 373 still be passed?
H373 was ratified 9/24, and the Governor will not veto it, thus satisfying the primary date change necessary to retain NC’s delegates. No further action is required for H373 to automatically become law within 10 days.
We were lied to about the provisions in S119; the GOPe did not fix the problem, they doubled down. We must not forget!
So how do we compensate for all of this BS?
You won’t.
Seriously. You created a whole new set of taxes on working people, like on auto repairs, while cutting taxes on the rich. You gave the establishment parties huge new advantages over grassroots movements,
And you created, authorized, and funded a drone program that is testing military surveillance drones at Blackwater, while granting them huge warrantless surveillance exceptions in legislation that never saw the light of day before it became law…
If anyone believes Joseph Stalin could’ve done more harm to North Carolina in a few short years, I’d love to hear about it.
Governor McCrory has signed S119. It’s now law.
My quandry is if you don’t vote for the R, that is in effect a vote for a democrap. As bad as the GOP is, the other side has been taken over by the lunatic progressives. The GOP needs to be destroyed, but what would fill the void?
There’s still the Constitution Party here in NC. Then there is NO PARTY. Let the dingbat GOP worry about where we Patriots will go.
The Constitution Party does not have ballot access, which means it is not a viable option. Registering unaffiliated does not accomplish anything, except maybe a feel good exercise, and I am sure Karl Rove and Dee Stewart thanks every conservative that does so, as it just tightens their grip on the GOP.
Went and heard Sen. Tommy Tucker (voted for both HB 373 and SB 119) never once mentioned HB 373.
The GOPe is scared to death of their own electorate, and the desperate incumbent protection measures passed in H373 and S119 are proof. The NCGOP Central Committee is a small (but powerful), elitist group struggling to maintain contain control against the conservative majority groundswell. Where are the conservative primary candidates? We need to show these tyrants the door!
We cannot currently show these “tyrants” that call them the door because of the parties bad organizational structure.
The central commitee needs to be voted on straight out of the executive committee. This would allow for better accountability plus it would one again establish that the central committee works for the executive committee and not the other way around. When the central committee has any trouble coming to agreement on any issue they should return that issue to the executive committee. When the executive committee feels the central committee is out of control they can recall the central committee and have re-elections to replace the board.
This is my idea to make things better and i will keep pushing this idea till I hear someone say something better
Start a new party for conservatives. I’m ready. Isn’t there a Conservative Party somewhere? New York?
The Republican Party has become a cancer in this state. Cancer is not cured – it’s surgically removed. The scalpel may be voting third party or, God forbid, Democratic. If we Republicans have lost grassroots power in our party, we will have to use whatever legal resources are available to us to remove the Republican malignancy.
The little guy doesn’t have the power to fight the political machines. Remember, conservatives are increasingly staying at home on election days. Even the gun lobby is not dependable as a voting bloc. The Republican Party may have just alienated enough of its base to drop below the winning line for years. Maybe that’s the only long-term solution.
We in North Carolina are now seeing the War on Conservatives that Boehner and McConnell have been waging at the national level. It was appalling when Boehner had his allies at American Action Network run attack ads against conservative congressmen who dared not support one of Boehner’s cave-ins to Obama, and the many attacks on conservatives by the National Republican Senatorial Committee over the last three election cycles, most notably the dirty tricks in the Mississippi Senate runoff last year against conservative frontrunner Chris McDamiel.
Of course Tillis and to a lesser degree some of the second tier people in the Senate had already done some of the same in NC. but HB 373 loads the gun for a lot more of it.
We also have to be aware of the allies of the Big Government / Special Interest Republicans like Rove’s bunch at the national level, and the US and NC Chambers of Commerce. It is amazing how the current leadership of those groups have abandoned the pro free enterprise, anti-regulation, pro limited government stance that the Chamber used to take. Now they are all about being partners of big government and are total crony capitalist rent seekers.
Conservatives need to go to DefCon One to fight back, and the answer is not to cut and run by reregistering. We need to stay and fight, not neuter ourselves as Unaffilliated voters.
Part of that should be in the GOP organization. We need to rethink this business of the party staying out of primaries. When Rove, the Chamber, lots of other outside players and special interest groups are throwing big money in independent campaigns in primaries, why should the grassroots have their hands tied behind their back? There need to be triggers that allow party endorsement, and a formal mechanism for that. Lets fight fire with fire. Local party endorsement should also be allowed when any Raleigh forces, including the legislative leadership tries to monkey with our local nominating process.
We also need to replace those holders of party office who are in cahoots with the big government / special interest Republicans, starting with the national committee races that come up next year.
Conservatives also need to start building our own structures to recruit and support candidates. The state chapter of the Club for Growth in South Carolina is a good model, and it has been effective. If we build up those structures, then we no longer have need of the GOP, if worse comes to worse.
I note that the Senate Conservatives Fund in a membership survey this year asked about members opinions of backing a conservative independent in an appropriate three way race. Some conservatives seem to be thinking of those options in appropriate circumstances. Upcoming primaries in open primary states like Mississippi, after the dirty tricks where liberal Democrats encouraged to vote in the GOP primary upended the choice of actual Republicans, could arguably be better run with the conservative running independent. That way, you do not have to worry about liberal Democrats skewing our primary.
Conservatives won such a three way race for US Senate in New York in 1970 when Conserrvative Party candidate Jim Buckley defeated incumbent liberal Republican Senator Charles Goodell and the Democrat. A little over a year ago, in a special election for State Senate in Pennsylvania, a Tea Party independent won handily in a three way race in a GOP district against the official nominees of the two major parties.
Several of Tim Moore’s closest allies are in districts where they would be roadkill with a conservative independent entering a three way race and splitting the right of center vote. With an organization to deliver the message, that could be good leverage to keep Moore from pulling a Tillis and going after conservative incumbents in primaries.. Let him know that there will be consequences to his friends.
HB 373 shows that the Big Government / Special Interest Republicans have pulled out all the stops. Conservatives should do so, too.
It is time to fight, not time to quit. We should not allow our state government to be prostituted to the special interests..
I know that in my district we are preparing a primary challenge to Sen. Tommy Tucker. Any support in getting our message out to conservatives will be appreciated.
Raphael, it all sounds good, but it won’t happen. Conservatives and even gun owners would rather sit on their hands and have their rights taken away from them. If Conservatives had voted in 2008 and 2012, we would not be where we are today federally. The ship has sailed. Our own party has turned against us.
I’m not disagreeing with you, but we still have to fight.
To what end? Tell me the results of the fight. How are you going to feel if you put yourself on the front line of the fight only to turn around, look behind you, and discover that there are no reinforcements? They are at home sitting on their hands and whining about the state of the country.
Make a persuasive argument for the fight. I’m willing, but I’m not willing to do it with just a handful of like-minded conservatives.
I hear you. I can’t see the victory on the horizon either. How will I feel? Not so great. Just count me as the fool willing to risk massacre for my grandchildren. Then, God willing, I’ll be a member of the fallback position after that. And, perhaps after that. And planning for the next phase after that.
I am presently working within the GOP and outside of the GOP towards that end. I don’t have any great answer. I’m just too stubborn to quit.
The biggest problem facing the NCGOP are a few establishment members on the Central Committee have this idea and belief they are the only ones smart enough to save the NCGOP from themselves. These members, let’s call them Me, Myself, and I on the CC want you members on the NCGOP executive committee to know how important, intelligent and long serving they are. Just ask a select few members on the CC how wonderful and important they are to the success of the NC Republican Party. After all their picture is worth a thousand words of praise. It’s a shame for the NC Republican Party when concern of only one selves ego and a successful future for themselves is far more important then the whole. It won’t take long to identify anyone who always wants to be first in line.
This is why i am calling for a change in the plan of organization to call for central committee members to have to be elected by the executive committee and thus the actions of the cc can be held accountable by the ec
This would be a much better party structure and hopefully solve more then it would cause
The biggest problem with that approach is that for the last decade and a half, the Executive Committee has meekly rubberstamped the state chairman’s nominees for officers elected by the Executive Committee. Prior to that, there used to be real races for those positions. Even Harnett went in and pushed his nominees, which is NOT a grassroots friendly approach. Perhaps regional caucuses at the state convention to elect regional representatives, combined with the convention electing more of the officers would make a difference.
I agree with your identification of the problem, but the cure needs to be looked at carefully. We do need to look at a number of measures to enhance the grassroots, but at the same time to protect a grassroots chairman from Central Committee coup makers, we do not need to impose an imperial chairmanship.
Please try to get on the next Plan of Organization Committee, as you have some ideas that need to be considered.
Yes i have already asked my district chair to consider me for that committee but i think to make any major changes like you and i purposed we need a mulitude of supporters calling for overhaul
So I will keep preaching it and hope i can get some fighters with me so we can start the conversation. Your ideas could be the dirrection to the solution also
I didn’t think there was anything particularly meek about the most recent ExComm meeting. 🙂
If this report from State Executive Committee member Hal James is correct, more happened to split the party at that Central Committee meeting than just the hiring of the divisive Dallas Woodhouse:
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-NEWS-and-COMMENTARY-c-2015-10-02-279906.112112-More-signs-of-the-demise-of-the-NC-Republican-Party.html
This just keeps getting worse and worse.
Well, we can now see why the Republicrats, Demicans and the Main Stream Media attacked, vilified, mocked and ridiculed the Tea Party Movement.
We now know why Hussein sic’d his political IRS slut Lois Lerner on any and all Tea Party groups (in order to stop their fundraising and voter turnout campaigns). Called on the carpet, Obama ass kisser (and damned ugly broad) Lerner (go figure) took The Fifth (which means: I’m guilty as hell).
So yes, in North Carolina (and in Sodom & Gomorrah (Washington), the term “Republican” can be translated into: “Establishment Whore”.
YOU KNOW WHO YOU ALL ARE!