Have you noticed a lot of chatter in the “news media” and on social media about the power of the delegates to the Republican Party national presidential nominating convention?
And whether those delegates actually are “bound” by the Rules of the Convention (which Rules will not be written until all of the state committees and caucuses have elected their national convention delegates)?
So, if you are incensed about what you perceive to be a crooked system, have you ever thought about doing something about it? That is, other than complain on an internet site?
There is something you can do.
Tomorrow night, I will try to become a delegate to the Arizona Republican Party presidential nominating convention, to be held April 30.
All I need to do is show up at a meeting of my local Republican legislative district committee, made up of fellow precinct committeemen, all volunteers, that will last about two hours.
To run for delegate, I have to be a registered Republican.
I am.
I have to get a majority of the precinct committeemen of my legislative district committee to vote for me. Because, per the Bylaws of the Arizona Republican Party Committee, only precinct committeemen get to elect the delegates to our state convention who, in turn, elect our national convention delegates (except for the state chairman and national committeeman and national committeewoman, who automatically are national convention delegates – but, the precinct committeemen indirectly elect these three delegates via surrogate they elect).
Because I am a precinct committeeman, and because I have been one since 2007, and because I have volunteered to run for Maricopa County Republican Committee elected officer positions, and because I have recruited many of the conservative precinct committeemen in my legislative district, I am hoping I have built up enough goodwill among the conservative precinct committeemen, who also will be showing up to vote, that they will vote for me. And maybe some of the moderates will vote for me, too. Because I am a “conservative in the primary, Republican in the general” kind of Republican. And tell people so.
I am a critic of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake, but when they win their primary elections (despite my efforts on behalf of one of their primary opponents), I will work my tail off to help them get re-elected. Because the worst Republican is better than the best Democrat.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because if you are a conservative Republican, I want you to get involved in the real ball game of politics. Party politics. And it starts by becoming a voting member of your local Republican Party committee. Odds are that in your precinct, whatever state you live in, there’s a fifty per cent chance that a vacancy exits that you can fill just by asking.
The Republican Party has about 400,000 of these “voting member” slots. When Obama got elected, about 200,000 of these slots were vacant. These are the people who elect our Party’s officers and, in some states, elect the delegates. And it is not hard to fill one of these slots. You can do it.
If you receive mailers from the RNC, the NRCC, or the NRSC, have you ever seen a mention in them about any of this? You have not. Because they do not want you to become precinct committeemen.
Seven years after Obama’s election, still, about 200,000 of these slots are vacant.
C’mon, conservatives! Get with it! Get out of the bleachers and onto the ball field.
Become a ball player. No?
Not hard to do. Only takes a couple or three hours a month to be effective as a conservative Republican Party precinct committeeman.
Don’t be in a position to say, “I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody.”
Walk in the footsteps of The Gipper and The Duke.
I hope this helps.
Thank you.
Daniel J. Schultz graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1978 and served as an Army Human Intelligence Officer. He now practices law. He has been a Republican Party precinct committeeman since 2007 and was a co-winner of the Conservative HQ Liberty Prize based on his e-book Taking Back Your Government: The Neighborhood Precinct Committeeman Strategy. State-specific and other information relating to The Neighborhood Precinct Committeeman Strategy can be found at http://precinctproject.us and http://theprecinctproject.wordpress.com. Mr. Schultz can be reached at acoldwarrior@gmail.com. He currently serves as the Secretary of the Maricopa County, Arizona, Republican Committee and hopes to become an elected delegate to the upcoming Arizona Republican Party presidential nominating convention.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.