Convention Conclusions

Some conclusions and ideas for moving forward

There is still a great divide between the factions who came together at the 2012 AZ (and other) State GOP Convention. Lets talk about what there is to learn and how we need to grow.

No Education

If there is a single general observation to be made about this primary cycle is that the resistance to change and lack of purpose or unity in the Republican party is going to be the only force to keep keep if from winning this election. Americans are watching the austerity madness in Europe. They are watching the continued consolidation and growth of government in Washington. They see inflation, unemployment, and how little entitlement measures actually help anyone. They also seen and are beginning to understand the converse shrinking of jobs, freedoms, retirements, and our economy. They are sick of war, and they want to go back to the Capitalist ideal.

The ideal of the Regan years has drawn a lot of people back to the GOP just as the reality of Bush years drove many away. The steadfast GOP members who stayed with the party say they hate flip flopping. They need to understand, historically, the party itself has flip flopped. It was the party of federal unity, isolationism, the party of Lincoln, the party of the North, the party of the South, the party of fiscal responsibility.

The Republican party and its members want to spend big, then reign in. The party is built and acts, like all successful things in this world, as a growing changing entity ready to adjust and succeed. In some ways, I would credit those who left and came back with being more conservative because they, like myself, felt that the party needed a slap in the face hard enough to turn it around and back to its core values.

I'm not here to educate on the history of the party, but I am here to tell them that there are many factions and it is important that they are all respected and heard. If the party is to succeed then they need to unify before the federal elections. Now is the time to educate ourselves about what these factions want and can do for the party. Now is the time to understand the best path forward and choose it together.

No Dark Sarcasms

The beauty of the GOP is that all factions and ideals are all to be heard and respected. From there, we create the platform that will do its best to satisfy everyone and bring them together. The Romney faction, which is touting themselves as the conventional republican faction, is dominant. The problem and benefit of being the dominant faction is it has little to no stance or particular plans. This means it will likely not offend anybody, and it will not really inspire anybody.

I was asked many times with biting sarcasm, 'What do you think you all will achieve here? Don't you realize you are just fracturing the party?'. 'Why don't you guys get behind Romney like the voters who have already spoken?'. 'Do you guys even care about the party or do you just want attention?'. These were just a few sarcasms and there was much more name calling and snide stabs.

Why are we here?

My response was to explain to each of them carefully and slowly a few simple facts. We are here because we share a similar, if not identical set of morals and ideals. We believe in this party and its procedure and its tenants. We are here so that we can explain that there are some issues that we do not agree with: particularly recent directions the party has taken. We want to express our disagreements and hope only that we can influence our party to take some new directions and approaches. In short, we want the party to make small adjustments to its national platform and then we will continue to respect and support it.

We don't care who the candidate is, we care what they do. This is what it means to be American and this is the beauty of a two party system. We make the plans and concessions now and then run on the ideas that satisfy the conservative ideal. We aren't fracturing the party, we are sharing our ideas with it in the way the party intended. The only fracturing will come from turning a deaf ear on fellow party members.

No Thought Control

Nobody is perfect and we all know that change is not easy and it certainly not always pleasant. The important thing to understand is that we are a group of like minded individuals that rejoice in our freedom of speech, life, thought, and responsibility. Just because some party leadership says unite, this doesn't mean we should stop talking and fighting for the ideals and platform. If you haven't fought for either then start listening to the arguments. Let your mind open up and consider that the direction from Washington and the Romney campaign is only one way to look at what this party means.