Committees and Conventions

I respectfully say "ugh" to both. Two weeks ago, I attended my first meeting of the county GOP Central Committee as a voting member. It was amazing to me how much of a pep-rally rah-rah "look-how-great-WE-are-compared-to-THEM" session it was. Applause for every mumbling statement any speaker made, passing the bucket for donations, promotion of candidates for local offices, special mention of special guests (and what it was that made them special, I'm not sure), reminders of upcoming fundraisers, and so on. It was pretty much like this: take the local Rotary Club or Kiwanis, subtract the helpful philanthropy and add some inflated rhetoric.

Then today, more of the same at the County Convention, just increased by a factor of 10, directed to an audience of over 500. Even more speakers doing self-promotion, even more fundraising (through bucket-passing and delegate "fees"), and even more preachy, inflated rhetoric (against all opponents, foreign and domestic), amid much cheering. I hope that at the upcoming District Convention, it will be more professional and less stridently partisan, but... I doubt it.

Still, I will hold my nose and do my part. Eventually, the delegates will count - in Tampa in August. It's looking more and more like the decision on a presidential candidate will happen there, and so I'll take my Pauline effort as far as I can. Anything to tone down the belligerent rhetoric and change the direction of this party.