The North Carolina Republican Convention was a surprisingly great time. Far from boring, I found it to be full of excitement, enthusiasm, and lively debate. 731 delegates from around the state participated in the political process, and a huge number of them were young, liberty-minded Republicans. The Chairman of the convention, Billy Miller, was extremely fair to all delegates, knowledgeable of the rules of order, and patient with those of us who were inexperienced. More importantly, he kept us all laughing, even during times of contentious debate.
This incredible experience was marred only by our NC GOP Chairman, Linda Daves. I’ll admit, I didn’t have a ton of admiration for her going into the convention. I thought the political ad that she so proudly takes credit for was pretty lame. This ad, which attempts to discredit two Democratic candidates – because they endorsed Obama, who refused to disown Reverend Wright, who made offensive remarks about the U.S. – represents everything that is wrong with American politics today. How about talking about the issues instead of playing some twisted political version of the Kevin Bacon game?
NC GOP Chairman, Linda Daves, lost a few more points with me during a speech, in which she praised our North Carolina civil war soldiers, not for being brave, but for being “the most obedient!” I can’t be sure, but I thought I heard her pause for a moment, as if that should have been an applause line. The room was silent and I saw more than a few people in front of me with puzzled looks on their faces.
But the true travesty of this weekend was a last minute subversion of the will of the voters of North Carolina followed by a blatant lie about it by Daves. Ron Paul, due to the significant percentage of votes he received in our primary, was entitled to 4 more delegates (one had already been elected at the district level) to be elected by the NC GOP. The state party reinterpreted the rules just a few days before the convention and reduced his allotment to only 2 additional delegates. Maybe they used a reasonable interpretation of the rules, maybe they didn’t, but why the last minute switch? Making the matter worse, the 2 “Ron Paul” delegates who were chosen are completely unknown to the Ron Paul supporters in our state.
When asked by a delegate why the delegates who were submitted by the Ron Paul campaign were not on the slate, Linda Daves, a very experienced public speaker, suddenly forgot how to use the microphone as she stammered and muttered her response off to the side. When asked to speak up, she had the nerve to tell the delegation that they had to pick their own delegates because the Ron Paul supporters were fighting amongst themselves! Um….nope, they submitted a list of names. All the state party had to do was pick a couple from that very short list.
This particular occurrence exemplified an interesting division I sensed throughout the convention: the division between new and old. I don’t mean age and I don’t mean political experience. I am referring to the old way of thinking vs. the new way of thinking. The old thinkers are all about fear, “obedience,” and doing whatever it takes to win. The new thinkers stand for liberty, the rule of law, and standing up for principles no matter what. In this respect, the new thinkers won a few battles and lost a lot of battles at the convention, but I’ll venture to say that they also laid the groundwork for winning the long-term war.
During my admittedly short time with the GOP, I have repeatedly heard the question raised, “How do we attract more young people to the party?” I am going to give you all a hint. Pay close attention and try to understand: young people are very computer-savvy, which means that they are also very well informed and (relatively) very well organized. And they have absolutely no tolerance for bullshit.
I am normally very accommodating and polite. I avoid confrontation and I hate rocking the boat. But every so often, a situation arises that is so toxic to the political process, that even I can’t help but comment. Linda Daves, Chairman of the NC GOP, is peddling bullshit. I have no use for it.
I have no doubt at all that Linda Daves has done everything with the best of intentions for the Republican Party, for North Carolina, and for the country. But subverting the rules and trampling on the rights of others in order to protect us is exactly the reason why our country is in the mess it is in today.
I will stay involved with the GOP because I believe in the principles of the Republican Party. You can bet that I will be back at the state convention next year, to make sure that my party sticks to them.
