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Tag: empowered grassroots operation

At Least One Grassroots Organization Is Through Messing Around

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Mon Mar 18, 2013 at 02:14:36 PM EST
Tags: 2013-HB-4111, House Roll Call 11 (2013), nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, sending a message, empowered grassroots operation, iCaucus Michigan, 2010 endorsees, Justin Amash, Pat Colbeck, Kevin Cotter, Ray Franz, Dave Hildenbrand, Tom Hooker, Ruth Johnson, Dave Robertson, Tim Walberg, 2012 endorsees, Dave Agema, Kerry Bentivolio, Bill Brinkman, David Grant, Scott Harvey, Dale Pomeroy, Jon Rathbun, Jay Spencer, Rob VerHeulen, disciplinary action is necessary to protect those who didn't screw up (all tags)

First off, let me remind all of my readers that the very fact that 2013-HB-4111 is still sitting on the Senate Schedule means that Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville can call it up for a vote the second he thinks that the grassroots aren't looking (assuming that he has the whip count necessary to ensure passage). So we need to keep the pressure on our state senators (by all lawful means, including face-to-face discussion when possible) until this Trojan Horse is at least referred to a committee. However, we also need to keep in mind that the progressives aren't stupid, and will take advantage of our focus to accomplish other things while we're not watching "the other hand," and so in addition to raising a royal stink about the alleged party of smaller government caving to the single biggest expansion of federal government intrusion in our lifetimes, we must keep our other eye on everything else that's going on in Lansing while we're at it.

You may remember me mentioning a couple of weeks ago that the grassroots are just a tad ticked at 29 "republican" squishies who caved on House Roll Call 11 and brought this state one step closer to what is perhaps the single biggest government intrusion into private lives that I can recall in my lifetime. While I'm not going to go into too many technical details here, I will say that one particular organization isn't screwing around.

(1250 words in story) Full Story

Wish We'd Known This A Couple Of Weeks Ago

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Thu Mar 07, 2013 at 11:09:03 AM EST
Tags: 2013-HB-4111, "republican" talking points memo, Supremacy Clause, State Sovereignty, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, liberty movement coalition, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, causa provocare, inattention to results, sending a message, twenty-nine turncoats (thus far), House Roll Call 11 (2013), 2011 Senate Bill 693, Senate Roll Call 663 (2012) (all tags)

Let me start by saying that it's not even certain right now whether the Senate vote will or won't be taken today on 2013 House Bill 4111. Yes, the vote is on today's senate schedule (backup copy available here), just as it was yesterday (for which I also have a backup copy). Yet a press statement from Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville plainly stated that there would be no vote this week at all. I translate that as Richardville knowing that he currently doesn't have the votes to pass this thing. If that's true, then it would mean that the coordinated outrage of the liberty movement grassroots, directed both at calling our state senators and also apparently at flooding the phone lines at the Michigan Republican Party Headquarters, had the desired immediate effect.

Nevertheless, Michigan Votes indicates that the bill was forwarded directly to the Senate floor as soon as it was reported over from the House, and Joanie Fabiano is pretty sure that a deal has already been brokered to make the vote happen, so I guess we need to stay on our senators about this . . . and I think that's a good idea anyway.

(12 comments, 1310 words in story) Full Story

A Message To Our Legislators - Beware False Choices

They Weren't Listening

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Tue Mar 05, 2013 at 11:41:01 AM EST
Tags: 2013-HB-4111, Supremacy Clause, State Sovereignty, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, liberty movement coalition, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, causa provocare, inattention to results, sending a message, twenty-nine turncoats (thus far), House Roll Call 11 (2013), 2011 Senate Bill 693, Senate Roll Call 663 (2012) (all tags)

You would have thought, based on how close the Michigan Republican State Party Chair results were, that the party would've got the message. The liberty movement means business, and they won't be ignored. You'd think, based on that, that the state legislature would be extra careful to not tick off a motivated grassroots network.

Apparently, 29 republicans in the State House didn't get the memo. It's as yet an open question as to whether 13 republicans in the State Senate did.

(8 comments, 2046 words in story) Full Story

It Was About Sending A Message

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Wed Feb 27, 2013 at 10:16:18 AM EST
Tags: Michigan Republican Party 2013 State Convention, blueblood elites, liberty movement coalition, backroom shenanigans, serving notice, sending a message, unity based on a principled platform, Schostak Must Go, Donation-Gate, Dele-Gate, Mortgage-Gate, Convention-Gate, 62% failure on Election Day, inattention to results, disingenuous hypocrisy, memory holes, Courser 4 Chair, causa provocare, praesto explicare, empowered grassroots operation, State Convention Rule 20, acta non verba, shenanigans and skullduggery, YAFWYALF (all tags)

"It's not about money ... it's about sending a message."

That quote is from "The Dark Knight," specifically, the Joker (played with disturbing perfection by Heath Ledger). Without going into a level of detail that will break the analogy, the point behind that line is that there are some people whose principles are not for sale, regardless of whether for good or ill. Those who subscribe to the all-too-common philosophy that everyone can be bought, the only question being one of price, don't have the clue before the first clue how to deal with people of principle.

That philosophical disconnect was on full and open display this past weekend at the Michigan Republican State Convention, and the elites in the establishment plainly didn't know what to do about it.

(1 comment, 2363 words in story) Full Story

Comparison Shopping for State Chairs - What the Challenger Offers

By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
Posted on Mon Feb 11, 2013 at 08:25:59 AM EST
Tags: Schostak Must Go, Courser 4 Chair, causa provocare, praesto explicare, unity based on a principled platform, advanced voter identification, empowered grassroots operation, improved strategy and technology, fundraising and spending efficiently (all tags)

The core purpose behind challenging an incumbent elected official (whether in a primary campaign, a general campaign, or even an internal party contest) is twofold: first, to draw attention to the assertion that the status quo is unacceptable, and second, to offer solutions to the problems presented as cause for challenge. Regardless of any other factor, these two postulates must be firmly established ab initio, otherwise the challenge is pointless. A challenger who's perfectly comfortable with things as they are, save that he can run it better, is worthless if there's no actual vacancy to be filled. Similarly, a challenger who can point out in detail what's wrong with the way things are, but offers no practical solutions . . . infinitus est numerus stultorum.

However, in the case of the question that will be put to the Michigan Republican State Convention delegation about two weeks hence, we have a challenger to the state chairman who not only can honestly, frankly, and fairly point out what's wrong with the situation in which things are, but who also offers some fairly usable solutions to correct things so that the MIGOP can do more than just hold their ground in tight elections.