Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Republican Party is About as Efficiently Managed as Lehman Brothers

Logic would suggest to me that if you are a political party or a charity or in general, a non-profit, probably key to your operations would be the use of volunteers. That this one aspect, voluntary work, would be a vital, if not, life blood aspect of your organization, and therefore not only would you do your utmost to do what you could to recruit volunteers, but should you be so fortunate enough to have people inquire or be interested in volunteering for your organization there would be a mechanism or process in place by which to process these people and implement them into your organization to their maximum effect.

Of course that’s what logic would suggest

Reality is a completely different matter.

Given the outright ass-kicking the republican party received from the wave of socialism taking over the US, I thought it high time that I do something beyond the blog and actually live up to the required stewardship a citizen has in a democracy and participate a little bit in politics. It wasn’t going to be anything grandiose, but I thought that maybe, with my background in economics, unrivalled charting abilities, and public speaking skills I would be able to do something for the republican party. Perhaps volunteer some time, give them a couple pointers on economics, show them some charts that would do an immense amount of good battling the forces of socialism and ignorance, or just how to grow a pair and plain argue with liberals.

So I sent an e-mail to the Minnesota GOP. A day passed.

Another day passed.

And soon a week.

And soon, enough time that I opted to contact the Minnesota Young republicans, a division of the Minnesota GOP.

I was informed that I should contact the head of my local chapter, which I did by leaving a message on her voice mail.

A day passed.

Another day passed.

And soon a week.

Inevitably, I did get a call back from somebody, but it was from the main GOP office that I contacted originally, not the local chapter. He informed me that he thought I would be able to do some good for the party with my background and said he’d forward my contact information to the local chapter of the republican party.

Three days later, I’m still waiting.

Now, I understand that people are busy. I understand that there are many aspects to a political party. But I have a hard time believing that if I had called the Obama campaign or the democratic party it would have been this much of a hassle, let alone this many weeks before they would have contacted me. Something tells me that key to the democrats obliterating the republicans this last election was not so much the ignorance people have about government finances or basic economics (though that does contribute), but they just plain have their sh!t together and the republicans are horribly mismanaged.

Now I’m not looking to become the next chairman of the Minnesota GOP. I’m not even looking to be some kind “leader” in the GOP. All I want to do is contribute my talents, however they may be used, to the party that best has the organization, system and machine in place to fight off socialism and do my part in perhaps saving this nation. But if the republican party is so horribly inept and completely mismanaged that they cannot simply harness or process WILLING volunteers into a force that helps the party, then what hope is there of them ever delivering a proportionate counter-defeat come 2010, let alone repelling the advance of socialism?

11 comments:

  1. You are right. For better or for worse, Obama has changed the way political war is waged. It is now the grass root registration drives, internet presence, widespread fundraising, and hopeless hype that wins elections.

    It used to be that being right (or not being wrong) was often enough to win an election.

    Obama's turnout though was not the deluge he had hyped or hoped for. It was the sad turnout by Republicans uninspired by McCain and the shift of desperate white votes to Obama that turned the tide. Given the economic conditions and his organization, Obama's victory should have resembled Reagan's. It wasn't.

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  2. Anonymous8:43 AM

    Wish I had something optimistic to say, but I don't. The Republican party's apathy at a local level has been a problem for a long time. When they're not apathetic, they seem to go out of their way to find the most obnoxious jerks and self-congratulatory morons they can find.

    Like you, I've been thinking about volunteering in politics a bit, but I dread having to deal with the established party organization. The new head of the RNC, Michael Steele, used to be head of a group that would help recruit and train new Republican candidates, and he's said that he wants to shake up the organization from top to bottom. So hopefully you'll get a few more prompt return calls in the future.

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  3. Anonymous9:43 AM

    Given that the Republicans were responsible for doubling the size that Bill Clinton grew government, I feel I must parrot what Glenn Beck says, "Both parties are taking us to the same place; the only difference is that one (the Republicans) are using a steam train, and the other (the Democrats) are using the Concorde."

    Is it time for a viable third party, yet? The Libertarians don't seem interested in actual leadership. Maybe it's time for the (Captain) Capitalism Party?

    Of course, a new party would have it's work cut out for it in educating the American public about economics, and undo the damage done by the Democrats as far as wealth envy.

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  4. Anonymous10:32 AM

    RON PAUL RON PAUL

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  5. Anonymous12:37 PM

    Captain

    Give Obama a call and see what happens !!

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  6. Anonymous1:11 PM

    The MNGOP is stuck tactically and technologically about 20 years behind the times. Because it's a decentralized institution (BPOUS are self governing) it's likely to continue to lag behind for some time.

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  7. Anonymous2:43 PM

    I wish Ron Paul won...

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  8. Anonymous3:33 PM

    I too have professional services to contribute and I tried to contact the Michigan Republican Party to volunteer early in the election. The phone rang endlessly. I called the McCain campaign. No answer, just an answering machine. I left a message. Never heard back. I tried again. Nothing.

    I mentioned this to a friend who is a business owner and long-time large contributor. He was pissed, and inquired. The answer he got back was 'We're really busy and short handed.' Well, I wonder what might help alleviate that problem?

    I was not surprised at all that the GOP was trounced, and not just because they spent like idiots, wasted their time scoring social points (Terry Schaivo, etc) or that Bush can't string a sentence together consistently. They are hopelessly mismanaged, and don't even seem to be aware of it.

    This country seems resolved on learning first hand what icebergs do to ships. The GOP has done nothing to dissuade them, they only wanted the chance to steer.

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  9. Anonymous7:08 PM

    You are right. For better or for worse, Obama has changed the way political war is waged. It is now the grass root registration drives, internet presence, widespread fundraising, and hopeless hype that wins elections.

    It used to be that being right (or not being wrong) was often enough to win an election.
    ================================

    #1 technological revolution changed the way elections are waged. Obama didn't so anything.

    Also you are a crack head if you think "being right" has ever won elections.

    HYPE ALWAYS HAS and ALWAYS will win elections.

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  10. Anonymous10:30 PM

    I thought it was Obama's accepting foreign donations that changed the way elections are run.

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  11. Funny, it used be that Republicans had the better "machine." Between talk radio (Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.), magazines like the Weekly Standard and the National Review, and tons of blogs, think-tanks (Heritage, AEI, etc.), and (Coulter, etc.), the conservative message was dominant for a solid 10-14 years. I suppose these things come and go with the popularity of the message. Don't worry, the GOP will be back.

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