Let's get Relavent

Tony Marsh wrote a column called “On The Road To Relevance” linked here
-----link-----
http://townhall.com/columnists/TonyMarsh/2009/02/11/on_the_road_to_relevance
---------------
This a well written article but also Mr. Marsh put forth my opinion of how the Republican party can regain the trust of the people. Relevance being the first priority.
-----quote from the above article-----
We began to fear our own conservative principles because we’d refused to make them relevant to the day-to-day concerns of those whose votes we desperately sought.
-----------------------------------------------------
This is basically a get back to basics type of article. It brings up Michael Steele’s efforts to make the party more relevant by getting candidates running at all levels and in every precinct. I see it as a back door way to change the party in the way it needs to be changed in order to get the new voters we need.
-----another quote from article-----
Those candidates will look like and speak like the people whose votes they seek to earn. They’ll carry the message that the people and the policies of the Republican Party don’t build walls, we open doors.
------------------------------------
For this type of thing to work. Well to put it bluntly it calls for a massive effort. If we are to get a Republican on the ballot in every township race, well that would in the case of Muskegon County involve getting I would guess twice as many candidates as we had last election cycle. I just did a quick head count of the last election and Republicans just in the township races in Muskegon County failed to even run over 40 candidates for the township offices such a supervisor, clerk, treasurer and trustees. That is not counting the city races and the village races.

This is 40 new candidates not to mention fielding candidates for all the other races in areas where we ran but lost.

I tried my best to give support to the township candidates but found no support at the county party level. In some cases open hostility. I ended up doing very little. A lot more needed to be done. If Mr. Steele can come up with a way to do what he wants almost by definition the huge influx of new candidates will bring change to the party. That’s what I mean by a “back door approach”. All those new faces will also have some new and relevant ideas, and that also by definition will scare the beejesus out of the current party leadership particularly at the county level.

With my experience from the last election, I saw that it was all the county party could do to field the county wide candidates then only give partial help in their elections or lack thereof. How we are going to add another 40 to the list is beyond me. Our last county meeting in its exclusiveness had barely 20 attendees.

If Michael Steele is serious about this Endeavor then he should be looking at recruiting Precinct Delegates as the starting point to find the necessary recruits for office.

He has the old riddle of the chicken or the egg as to which comes first. We need a good message a relevant message that you me and all the peons of the party can get behind. The problem is trust. We need to trust the messenger to fulfill the message.

The best way I know to do that is starting at the local levels with concrete plans and projects that voters and citizens can relate to. Set up by and run with concrete real people. I like freedom, I think freedom is what this country is all about. Let’s showcase some projects locally that highlight individual freedom free from government rules and regs etc that work and enhance our real sense of empowerment derived from our selves not force fed from the government.

As Tony Marsh finished and I quote
-----quote-----
We’ll recapture our credibility when we turn those messages into concrete policy initiatives that create economic prosperity and personal empowerment.

The Republican Party is under new management. It’s arrived just in time. Now, let’s get on with it.
---------------

I will again get up off my butt and start doing what I should.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.

PS. This next County Republican Meeting I will be making a proposal. It will be along the lines of what I've blogged here and hopefully get something started. I have less than a week to get it flushed out. Then we have less than two years to make it work.