WHY is The Right, which brought the GOPe to the dance, THE PROBLEM?
Who enjoys being lied to? I don’t.
Yet, many Republican voters — instate and nationwide — seem to be giving it the OK. Republicans talk a good conservative game at election time. When they get into office — they do a lot of “crossing the aisle” and “getting things done.” A lot of the same stuff perpetrated by the folks we threw out.
In 2010, we gave the GOP big numbers in Washington with the mission of killing ObamaCare. Since 2010, we’ve gotten a whole lot of half-ass effort and excuses. (No numbers in the Senate, man!)
*Democrats got HB2 repealed without ANY numbers in the state legislature. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a good fight.*
There were six or seven bills sent up to Obama demanding repeal of ObamaCare. All of them got repealed. Now that we have a Republican president, you would have thought they’d send one of those up to Trump for signing. But, no. We got lipstick on a pig that did little more than rename ObamaCare. 
Conservatives in the House said NO. And the bill got pulled. Instead of beating on the GOPe for trying to scam their voters, the conservative minority group in the House was wailed upon. The Trump White House has even hinted that it would be pleased to see those people primaried.
First, why are conservatives a minority segment within the alleged conservative party? Could it be that we have a whole bunch of Republicans who have taken advantage of the good reputation conservatism has with voters, mouthed a bunch of conservative-sounding platitudes to their voters, and then did a 180-turn after being sworn in?
We’ve had the same scam going on in Raleigh. The NCGOP went from an insignificant clique in Charlotte, Greensbor
o, Asheville, and small pockets of Wake County to a statewide force thanks to: the conservative 1972 campaign of Richard Nixon, Jesse Helms and The Congressional Club, the conservative 1976, 1980 and 1984 campaigns of Ronald Reagan, and the 2010 Tea Party revolt.Prior to those events, the NCGOP was pretty much limited to some folks who weren’t allowed to sit at the Democrats’ “cool kids table.” (Granted, there was also some loyalty out west to their ancestors’ historical ties to the Republicans, Lincoln and The Union.)
Conservatism stripped people away from The North Carolina Democrat Party and gave Republicans a seat at the table.
Yet, we’ve found that the people we elected — with the promise of stripping down government and giving power back to us — enjoy the perks of government just as much as the guys and gals in the other party do. Rewarding contributors, kissing up to “leadership”, and taking care of their own home territory beats out doing something good for the whole stateby a mile.
We keep getting crap from Thom Tillis disciples that this state is “purple” and the GOP needs to change to address tha
t. Jesse Helms got 30 years in Washington being unapologetically conservative and saying ‘Hell, No!” every chance he got. Lieutenant governor Dan Forest, also an unapologetic conservative, was the biggest vote-getter on the GOP side the last go-’round.
While working in Washington for Helms in the early 90s, I’ll never forget the number of visitors / tourists who came through the office saying something like this: “I don’t agree with the senator on everything. But it is so refreshing to have someone representing me who does what he says he is going to do. I don’t have to wonder what he’s going to do.”
I think that school of thought still prevails. It is sad that leaders who do what they say are so rare. But they are in demand.
If you’re not comfortable with cutting government, cutting taxes, or protecting family values, DON’T SAY IT on the campaign trail. Say something like this: “The other guys want to manage 98 percent of your life. I only want to do it 80 percent of the time.”
See how well that works for you.
Amen! If we had a majority like Jesse Helms to work with people like Dan Forest, we could really get back on track.
Amen Larry Pittman, and thank you for standing strong along with Michael Speciale.
Thank you, Larry. I wish we had more like you. This vote by the Gaystapo Republicans may well accomplish that change in next year’s primaries. Ordinary folks are talking, and they are disgusted with what went down. I am hearing it in my community. This has grabbed a lot of people’s attention.
It has always been my belief that one of our keaderships job is to recruit, vett, elect and then hold our elected representatives accountable to their electors, their supporters, their word and their oath, and to the Party Platform. This needs to be done from the Precinct and County level to the RNC and it appears we have taken our eye off the ball. An example…we keep electing the same folks to office even though surveys show our governing bodies with approval ratings of less than 20% in DC and not a whole lot better in Raleigh with an improvement locally. Why is this? Let me suggest that this problem needs attention at all levels, but we need leadership and activism at all leverls to change our course and overcome the malaise and apathy which will be the death of our Party…especially leadership at the State level. I invite you to check out the candidate whose name is on the header of The Daily Haymaker, to support and elect James Womack to bring our NCGOP up to speed, to “Revive the Party” and to lead us into the the battles ahead. 2018 will be a crucial election, from Craven County to DC and we need modern, business-like leadership to make sure we keep winning. Don’t be afraid of change, embrace it!
And David Rouzer initially campaigned like he was the second coming of Helms because he worked for him on Capital Hill. Now? He was going to vote for that failed AHCA citing it put Medicaid on a budget for the first time in 50 years. Don’t know what version of AHCA he read. It expanded Medicaid until 2020 then we all know it would all be continued after the next election.
One real problem that has occurred in the HB2 saga is the extremely inappropriate intrusion of Robin Hayes and Dallas Woodhouse into this issue on the liberal side favoring a sellout to the Gaystapo. The NCGOP convention never took this stand, nor has the state Executive Committee or the state Central Committee. Hayes and Woodhouse have done this on their own but done it in the name of the party. That is very, very wrong. It is an arrogant abuse of power and misuse of office and both should be stripped of any position in the party as a result of their actions and permanently barred from any party position.
This issue split our House delegation in half and also split the Senate delegation. The party should not be taking sides on such an issue. Hayes and Woodhouse went against the position of the highest ranking Republican in NC government, Dan Forest, and undercut his bid for governor. Taking a personal position against many Republicans and improperly making it a party position without authority to do so is unacceptable and inexcusable. The sooner we can get Hayes and Woodhouse gone, the better. Woodhouse’s support structure on the Central Committee needs to go, too. They are a menace to our party.
This is also not the first time that Hayes has abused his party office to further his own private positions and personal agenda. Ask the commercial fishermen. Hayes background with the Ripon Society marks him as a liberal and his policy positions on such issues confirm it.
Between the federal fiasco of Ryancare and the state fiasco of HB2 repeal, the GOP establishment is doing all it can to depress GOP turnout in the critical midterm election by making our base voters disgusted with the sellouts of our elected officials.
Interesting facts: Since January 1, 1993, Massachusetts – the state of Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Elizabeth Warren – has had FIVE Republican governors. Since January 1, 1993, North Carolina – the state of Jesse Helms, Lauch Faircloth, and Dan Forest – has had ONE. Granted, Massachusetts Republicans are different from North Carolina Republicans, but how in the world can we not get our act together in this state?
Because of situations where you “find” 90,000 votes in one of, if not the most, demorat counties in the state. I just find it interesting the demorats have not been doing that for national races more often when you consider that they get beat pretty consistently for the national level races. I guess it is also harder to do at every NCGA district level too….probably because if you were to involve that many people in so many parts of the state the scheme would certainly be brought to light by some whistle blower.
Has anyone been paying attention to what’s going on at the UNC-CH and NCSU campuses lately? Some really bizarre stuff. And yet our legislators–and their handpicked BOG members and trustees– are doing absolutely nothing about any of it. What a worthless bunch of RINO Republicans!
The Washington Examiner had an excellent analysis that Ryancare was the biggest political broken promise in history: It was far from the ”repeal and replace” that has been long promised.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/gop-cave-on-obamacare-repeal-is-the-biggest-broken-promise-in-political-history/article/2618413
Now in North Carolina, we have a broken promise which on the state level is of similar proportion, the repeal of HB2.
Those responsible for these betrayals need to pay the price in the primary and be kicked out of office, and that is particularly true of those who were in leadership roles in this massive betrayal of GOP voters.
There really does need to be a concerted effort to drain the swamp in Raleigh next election and those who sold out by repealing HB2 are a good target list. Almost all of them are liberal on other things, too. It is much more than just selling out to the fruit loops and the corporate bullies. Many of their voting records are target rich environments for a conservative opponent in a GOP primary in a low turnout cycle when issues are more powerful and name recognition matters less. The sellout on HB2 is a powerful issue to start with, but most of these guys also have other baggage, too.
Many of these sellouts are from rural districts where the base GOP voters are furious with what they did on HB2. What is needed is conservative candidate recruitment for primary opponents. In some of the cases, the county GOP organizations are solidly conservative, and some of the activists there can help identify prospective challengers. In others, efforts should be made to work through Tea Party and Christian conservative organizations.
Even though it is a very uphill fight to primary a House Speaker or Senate President, the role of this pair in selling us out demands that an effort be made to primary them if possible. Wrap the HB2 repeal around them.
Some obvious targets are-
Fraley – Robert Brawley needs to seek a rematch and clean his clock;
Dollar – a rematch of last year’s primary in a cycle with a more favorable turnout pattern should produce a different result
Saine – HB2 and his suits can be a deadly combination to take him down. Some say that his county is in thrall to him, but this means using the Tea Party or Christian conservatives to find a challenger
Bell – The county party organizations in all the counties in his district are conservative. He should be easy to take down once his record is exposed to primary voters..
Dixon – His rural district will be a good place to deploy HB2 to change the representation
Grange – She has been exposed as a liar for claiming she was a conservative. Time for a rematch with a voting record to expose
Murphy – a real liberal who was originally installed in his seat through fraudulent procedure, he was also chief sponsor of Michelle Obama’s ”food deserts” boondoggle.
McGrady – how does rural Henderson County stomach a legislator who has been a national officer of the radical left Sierra Club?
Lewis – HB2 may finally be the issue that wakes up Harnett County to this screaming liberal.
Hastings – another liberal from a rural conservative county not likely to be happy with his selling out to the homosexual activists
The list can go on. We need to drain the swamp of these and others. In the Senate, there are betrayers from rural districts who should be targets like Pate and Wells. Tillman is also in a very conservative district with active Tea Party organizations in both of his counties.
Someone needs to organize a meeting of Tea Party and Christian conservative groups to start recruiting challengers. Maybe someone like Freedom Works can drop some money in some key districts softening these guys up on HB2, the solar ripoff, and other issues.
One problem that has led us to have more nominally Republican legislators who often deviate from Republican principles is the change in how legislative candidates are recruited. The formal procedure has not been changed, it has just been ignored. For most of the party’s existance and past the Martin administration, local party leaders did legislative candidate recruitment. The county chairmen and Congressional district chairman were on the front line and state party headquarters was usually also engaged. Laziness led them to abdicate this function to the legislative caucuses, and the types of candidates the legislative leadership prefer, especially with the House, are often not the type of people who respect by party principles.
The GOP at all levels, but especially at the local level, needs to heavily re-engage in legislative candidate recruitment, or we will continue to have legislators who disappoint us.