Mending the GOP

Happy New Year everybody!

The new year begins with a makeover in Congress, as well as
many state legislatures and governorships. The party which
won these offices is getting a makeover too. The Republican
National Committee Chairmanship is up for grabs, and current
chairman Michael Steele is being challenged by four candidates
in the wake of a tumultuous and controversial term.

Under Steele's leadership, the Republican Party lost the confi-
dence of many major donors and grassroots activists. The
infamous "boy's night out" in which some party officials
went to a night club which featured scantily-clad female
entertainment, paid for with RNC funds with Steele either
signing off on the outing or at least doing nothing to prevent
it from taking place. Meanwhile, the RNC is saddled with
$15 million in outstanding debts and loans. All this on top
of public missteps by Steele on some sensitive political
topics which have also damaged the credibility of the party
and its national committee chairman.

One of the declared candidates for the RNC top spot is the
man who successfully melded the Tea Party activists in his
state with both state GOP officials and candidates, getting
their mutual cooperation and pooling of resources to stage
an historic takeover of his state's legislature, governorship,
two U.S. House seats and one U.S. Senate seat --- Wisconsin
Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus. For his tremendous
accomplishments alone Priebus should be chosen to be the
RNC Chairman when the committee's 168 members meet to elect
a new chairman or re-elect the current on January 14.
It also helps that he kept drama to a minimum as your faithful
Peasant's home state GOP Chief, in contrast to Michael Steele's
time to date as chairman of the RNC.

For his part, in a recent debate in Washington with his four
challengers for his position, Steele defended his performance
by saying "My record stands for itself --- we won." Yes, the
Republican Party scored a resounding victory in November,
but the credit goes to the Tea Party activists for their amazing
grassroots efforts in selecting and working to elect bona fide
conservative candidates, often clashing with party "old guard"
stuffed shirts to make headway. Chairman Steele kept his distance
from the Tea Party crowd until their candidates began winning
primary after primary, and the governorships of Virginia and
New Jersey, thrashing the old guard network hand-picked
candidates along the way. Then Steele would embrace the 
Tea Party folk as members of the family!

In the debate, one of the candidates described the party as
being in crisis, while another claimed that the party was broken;
both are right. The only reason that the Republican Party is
enjoying a resurgence so soon after the whippings it received
in the last two elections is the arrogance and the contempt for
the people on the part of President Obama and his fellow Demo-
crats. The GOP has one shot at redemption, and that is to work
with the Tea Party rather than fight it. New leadership and fresh
activists are critical to building upon the success of 2010, and
Reince Priebus has demonstrated the necessary leadership skills,
managing the Badger State GOPs relationship with the Tea Party
people with diplomatic smoothness and an open mind. This has
not been the case in other states within those state GOP organi-
zations.

Priebus declared that the party needs to work well with the Tea
Party activists and with party regulars, and that they did precisely
that in Wisconsin, with fantastic results. Would that the rest of
the GOP officials thought this way!

Whereas the Tea Party made electoral gains in many states, its
greatest success by far was in Wisconsin thanks to state
Republican Chairman Reince Priebus and his tactful leadership.
In other states the Tea Party folk and Republican bigwigs either
clashed unceasingly or they worked together begrudgingly,
thereby preventing them from achieving even bigger gains on
Election Day. It is the fervent hope of your favorite Peasant
that the RNC members will vote to install Reince Priebus as 
chairman when they hold their intramural election in just over
a week from now. We need a strong, principled, undivided,
consistent Republican Party in order to take back our govern-
ment from Obama and the Democrats in 2012; the work we did
in 2010 was just the beginning of our campaign to reclaim not
only our government but our country from those who would
transform it into something that we would not recognize nor
would want any part of. Electing Reince Priebus Chairman of
the Republican National Committee would be a step in that
very direction.


MEM