Open Letter to Leelanau County GOP and Democrat County Chairs

I wish to express my thanks to the Leelanau Enterprise for a fair and accurate story about America’s Independent Party, published in the October 15th edition.

However, I take exception to statements made by “the chairmen of the local Democratic and Republican parties [who] say there’s plenty of room for a group of this type in politics.”

In the typical “politic-speak” fashion, what these chairmen don’t say, is that there is room for a third party as long as it is opposite of their political persuasion. No less than three members of the local GOP contacted me with this message, but none from the Democrat side.

According to the highest-ranking GOP county official that contacted me, third party candidates (conservatives) siphon votes from the GOP, allowing a Democrat to win. To prove the point, he asked me to recall Ross Perot. After successfully countering his argument, a second tack taken. “Wouldn’t you vote for a candidate that supported, say, four-out-of-five of your principles?”

The counter-argument to the first question asserts that in a plurality race containing a leftist Republican and a leftist Democrat, most races can be won by a conservative independent candidate. Today, many GOP candidates, including the Party’s 2008 Presidential nominee, are left of center, if not true leftists. Need I comment on the Democrats?

Addressing the second question, voters who blindly, compromise their core principles to vote for the “best of the worst,” is a major factor in the GOP’s drift to the left. This slow but inexorable drift is the major cause, in my opinion, for the recent widely-publicized mass defection from the GOP’s base.

Unbelievably at a second meeting, another of the county’s GOP tried unsuccessfully to tie America’s Independent Party to George Wallace’s presidential party of 1968! Great try. Who once said, freeze it, polarize it, ridicule it?

Today, the GOP is no longer the party of the right. It is merely a party more right than the Democrat Party. The GOP’s recent attempts to cast the widest net for votes has resulted in candidates’ campaign strategies to do and say what they think will garner the most votes, while ignoring the party’s (a.k.a. the People’s) platform. The strategy has resulted in a catastrophic disconnect between professed party principles and party candidates, hence driving away truly conservative Republicans.

Polls show that most American voters are right-leaning. So why does the GOP leadership have trouble convincing these right-leaning people to vote for GOP candidates? I answered that question earlier. GOP leaders, you haven’t been paying attention to your base; have you been paying attention to me?

Come on GOP, and Democrats too, if you dare. Develop and encourage candidates who oppose erosion of our rights and liberties; who will work to truly shrink bloated, unresponsive government; who believe in strength thru preparedness; who foster free market capitalism; who embrace Reagan economics; and most importantly, who take seriously their oath to defend and support the Constitution of the United States.

America’s Independent Party will give its endorsement to all such candidates, regardless of party or level in government.

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Note: This letter was printed in the Readers' Forum column of The Leelanau Enterprise on November 5, 2009

After the Tea Parties.... Now What? Here's my Take

Many of you ask me the question about what's next? Yep, we meet weekly to share what's going on and to build a sense of community. Yep, we are now conducting our own training on the Constitution and Internet Activisim. Yep, we are networking with groups all over the state to support and share our time and talent with them.

That's quite a handful. But what it's really about is learning, training, and gaining experience for what faces us in the Fall of 2010.

I've run across quite a bit of buzz about the special Congressional election being held in New York's 23rd district in less than two weeks. It's a three way race between a Dem, a GOP, and an Independent. Because the GOP candidate is a flaming liberal, the Independent, Doug Hoffman, has a great chance to win this election.

Just a bit later in this posting, I will link you to an article on Politico.com that shows what tea party volunteers are doing in this special election. After reading the article, I would like you to do three things.

First, think about what skills you now have and what skills you will need to do exactly what the tea party people are doing in New York.

Second, and just as important, think about the current office holders whom you feel need to get the boot. Don't confine your thinking to Congressional, but also State reps and senators, County commissioners, City councils and mayors, and so forth. After you have picked out one or two, study their records,search for news stories. Learn everything you can about them so you can find the strategy that fits your style that will make the biggest dent to throw them out of office.

Lastly, watch for other potential candidates to run against them. Contact them if you can, and ask about their positions on the issues with the promise that if you really can connect with their platform, you will work FOR them and AGAINST their oppostion, since you have researched the opponent and have ideas how to beat them.

Just remember this. We can rally, petition, call, and write all we want. Those are good efforts now, but they are only a holding tactic. Ultimately, the most effective way to make a real change is at the polls in Novermber 2010 and you MUST be ready to fight that fight.

Now, go read on, link to the complete article and start thinking about the three steps covered above.

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From the Politico.com website:

Tea party activists from across the nation are rallying around the House special election in upstate New York, viewing it as the first electoral test of the nascent conservative movement’s political muscle.

Organizers up and down the East Coast report that activists are making their way into the campaign offices of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, with the volunteers focusing their efforts in Oswego, Madison and Jefferson counties. While tea party organizers say the election is a unique opportunity to hold the Democratic and Republican parties to account, much of their energy is being directed against Dede Scozzafava, the GOP establishment-backed nominee whom they view as a squishy moderate who represents all that is wrong with the Republican Party.

“I went here from Washington, D.C., saying, ‘Now what?’” said Jennifer Bernstone, an organizer for Central New York 912, a Syracuse-based tea party group that so far has about 300 members getting out the vote for Hoffman. “Well, here’s the ‘Now what.’”

Read the complete article here

The Futre of Two-Party Politics in America As We Know It.

Today, being a slow news day, I digress a bit from my focus on Leelanau County politics. Please indulge me for a bit.

Lately, I've been seeing this chart show up in a lot of blogs that tend to criticize the GOP for loosing it's base. For anyone who pays any attention to politics, the results should not be surprising. The chart shows the net favorable ratings of both major parties in the period leading up to the four most recent midterm elections.

I've seen the bloggers and pundits that use this data go on and on, bashing the GOP leadership (and very often the party standard-bearers) for letting/causing this happen. I suppose one can find as many theories and opinions as there are bloggers. However, I think their conclusions about what the chart represents take a somewhat myopic view.

What slaps me in the face immediately upon looking at it, is that the American voters are rejecting both major parties. (It's a rainy Friday as I write this and I needed a good slap today).

It further reinforces my strongly-held view that the advent of instant and wide-spread communications on the Internet and the resurgence of grass-roots organizations has and will continue to completely change the face of politics as we know it.

The continuation of one-size-fits-all party platforms may need go the way of the national party nominating process at the week-long party convention.

This most certainly must happen if the smoldering movement toward state sovereignty and a greatly diminished role of the Federal government ever takes off. Come to think of it, perhaps "Internet Political Activism" will be the vehicle that allows that movement to become viable.

This, of course, presumes that the free use of the Internet for political purposes, including dissent against whoever is in power in the government will not be abridged.

The chart, above, came from Brendan Nyhan's site You may wish to read his interpretation on that site.

An Open Letter to Michael Steele, Chairman RNC

by Chuck Schaeffer

Dear Chairman Steele,
My letter today is in response to your letter concerning the Census of the Republican Party. I have taken my valuable time and have carefully read all four pages. I request in return the courtesy of reading of my entire letter. After all, my letter is only 2 ½ pages.

In looking at the questionnaire, I find it to be, in large part, an ineffective, poorly constructed instrument. However, I have returned it under separate cover. Your letter states the cost of the census is $.42 cents each. However in the donation section, you ask for a donation of $12? I am highly skeptical of the census mailing because of the blatant fund-raising appeal at the end of the questionnaire. Asking for funds in EVERY piece you mail to me destroys the credibility of the survey. However, I have enclosed a check with this letter for $.42 to cover the cost of the questionnaire, according to your assertion.

As for a larger contribution, I will no longer make contributions to the Republican National Committee. (So if you wish to save money, take me off your list for any mailing that requests a contribution.) I base my decision on how the “National Party” handled the candidacy of Jack Hoogendyk in his bid for Sen. Carl Levin’s US Senate seat last Fall. Between the national and state party organizations, I believe Jack received a mere $500 total (perhaps may have been as much as $1000, I have forgotten).

The point is, Jack was only able to raise about $275,000 against Levin’s $2,500,000 or more! Jack was a candidate that can and did re-energize many Republicans in Michigan, but since he was unable to afford ANY TV ADVERTISING in Michigan, he went unknown to the voters as a whole. The Republican Party failed him, and thus failed the State of Michigan.

I would now like to address your intent to “revitalize” the party. I have seen you speak on television and read much about you in the conservative blogs. In your rhetoric I see a glimmer of hope, given that you can turn the rhetoric into genuine action and revitalization of the party.

Revitalization of the party only needs one specific topic of its focus. It does not need another questionnaire like the one just sent. The party needs only to find candidates with fire in their belly who are 110% committed to not just stopping, but reversing our gallop towards socialism. In my view, socialistic leanings are EMBRACED NOT JUST BY DEMOCRATS BUT BY NEARLY EVERY REPUBLICAN now holding national office. The Republican Party is NOT the party of the right. It is the party of the Just-Slightly-More-Right-Than-The-Democrat Party. It is conservative only by comparison to the democrat party.

Our future candidates need to have a full commitment to ending socialism and moving back toward genuine respect for the Constitution, as intended by its authors. (Plus the ability to articulate the message clearly and simply.) Period. If you adopt the primary goal of moving away from socialism and big national government, everything else flows from that. It’s a simple message, understood by everyone.

Now, how to find the candidate? I believe that the movement toward primary elections to select a Presidential candidate has hurt both parties! I do not believe that the primary system selects the most electable candidate. In the past election, I did not want to vote for either candidate. I did not support John McCain because he was not the best candidate the Republican Party had. Early in the primary cycle, I was supported (through signs, talk, and money) Rudy Giulani. My reason was that at the time it looked like the democrat nominee was going to be Hillary Clinton. My support for Rudy was based on my conviction that he was the only candidate capable of beating Hillary. But he ran out of money. McCain had money. Obama had (more) money. We had a choice, then, in the general election of voting for the candidates with the most money, not the candidate who would be the best President.

Many people urged moving away from “smoke-filled back rooms” at conventions where the party big wigs select the Presidential candidates. I believe ever since that happened, the Party has not, in general, fielded the best candidate. I would rather have “professionals” in politics select the candidate who has the best chance of winning, rather than the candidate who has the most money and charisma (of which John McCain had neither).

Another shortcoming of the party is that now it seems that the party platform is the platform of the nominee, not the platform of the party delegates. In fact, in the past 3 elections, I don’t even remember any major news coverage of what came out of the Platform Committee. Come to think of it, WAS THERE a platform or committee? If so, it was not a centerpiece of the convention.

Let’s turn to my US Rep., Dave Camp and how he typifies our incumbent legislators. Dave will not get my vote in 2010. Dave is a moderate- to left-leaning Republican. He will never get my vote, primary or general. Dave represents a lot of what’s wrong with our Representatives and Senators.

The winning strategy for regaining control of the House in 2010 will not be about holding on to Republican seats, and ousting some Democrats. The Party doesn’t need to hold on to Camp and his ilk, but instead needs a slate of candidates that, as I said earlier, “have full commitment to ending socialism and moving back toward genuine respect for the Constitution, as intended by its authors. Period.”

If this means withdrawing support from incumbents, so be it. If it means losing seniority on congressional committees, so be it. The rebuilding of conservatism and the tearing down of socialism will be a long process. Let’s bite the bullet and do it the right way.

Finally, lest you think this is the opinion of one person, I would like you to know that I am the organizer of a group of like-minded individuals in my region. We have people who are officially signed up as members, and more people who are our supporters, but not “joiners” at this time. We’ve only been at it a few weeks, but see new people joining nearly every day and have passed 20.

Parenthetically, we all believe in the principles and values that have been formalized in writing by Glenn Beck. In Michigan, we are the eighth such organization formed since March of this year. I only mention Beck, not because we feel he is our leader, but rather that he articulates our principles and values. I mention him also because if you know what he stands for, you know what we stand for and I don’t have to take time to explain it. WE LEAD OURSELVES.

If the Republican Party has the guts to make MAJOR changes in its philosophy and stops worrying about what blocks of voters it will try to co-opt or pander to, the party will have our support. If it’s the same business-as-usual party with a new logo and fresh talking points, forget about support from grass roots organizations such as ours.

If the person who is reading this is, in fact, Michael Steele, thank you for your time and consideration of my thoughts. If you are someone else, throw this away. My time in crafting and drafting this was for Mr. Steele’s benefit, and if it does not make it to his attention, I will know that it’s just “business as usual” for the Republican Party. I would appreciate at least a personal acknowledgment from Mr. Steele that he has read this letter.

Cordially,
Chuck Schaeffer