Well for some reason, the only person I ever heard from was from the lady who first answered my inquiry from the “RNC Election Integrity Team”. I’m not even sure why that was sent but I replied to her saying I hadn’t heard from anyone else. She got right back to me with the text of the email the county guy supposedly sent me. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. I somewhat think he did because of the content of the email. So I replied to both.
The election official position(s) are filled. He didn’t mention poll-watching, even though, if the early voting poll, i.e. the Registrar’s office was to be watched, it would need to manned daily from now until the election. One more reason for same day voting.
He also expressed a need for volunteers for our current Congressman. For that I said, I didn’t think this seat was in danger of being lost. I also added I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about this representative. I have my reasons and, of course, I believe they are quite valid. Okay, one of my biggies is he supposedly went to visit the DC gulag with MTG and others. Never heard a word about it. I wrote his office asking about his observations. Crickets. With this and his almost total lack of any communication (not with me personally but with all of us constituents) if he DOES lose his seat, he deserves to. Our side needs more MTGs.
Then he told me about the monthly meetings and such locally. Okay great. Then I’m informed I need to complete a “short form” to “become a member”, pay $20, and then I’m voted on. Wait a minute. I am already registered as a Republican so what’s the deal? Membership to what, exactly? Is this some sort of formal organization? Is there a charter and bylaws? I want to see them. Yes, I am that kind of pain in the ass. MTG, move over. Look, I really am trying to be nice about this but I’m not “joining” something so I can feel good about being a member. I can stir things up on my own and those plans are in the works. This county has had a couple hundred years to get their act together and so far, I’m not impressed. To be fair, it wasn’t any better anyplace else I’ve lived either. Oh! By the way, the monthly meeting was two days ago. Apparently, my presence is not needed this election unless I want to stump for our shoo-in Congressman.
The above was a couple days ago. Since then I’ve had a few emails back and forth with the local R head guy. My tendency is to get blunt and I start pissing people off. I did my best to hold it together this time. The $20 for “membership” is to become a voting member. He referred me to the “State Party Plan” of the Virginia Republican Party. I browsed through that. It’s a lot of goop mostly about party hierarchy. The structure of the party is laid out but I’d almost need a road map in order to follow it. Yawn. I suppose if they want citizens to pay to play, that is their privilege. I’m not so sure I want to be a card-carrying, secret decoder ring-wearing voting member at this point. Sometimes it’s more interesting to snipe from the outside.
For the record, from the exchanges I’ve had with the local head guy, I like him well enough. He seems like a decent guy. He answered my questions as best he could though I don’t think he actually read some of them. For one thing, he encouraged me to ask to our congressman myself about his voting record as he couldn’t answer for him. I never asked him to answer for anybody. What I said about his voting record was from what I’ve seen he’s done all right. As far as the rest of our discussion about “the honorable soandso”, I covered that above. I should have learned by now that most people have difficulty handling directness. I do try to be more roundabout when I can but my tendency is to get fed up with beating around the bush and just saying things plainly. I know, right?
So it turns out our vaunted congressman is due at a local event today. I’m debating as to whether to show up just to see if I can ask him face to face about the whole J6 deal. I know this is not a big “campaign issue”. It should be but it is not. I don’t want to debate anything. I just want to know what he learned from his visit and why I’ve never heard another word about it from him. If I get a chance I’d like to see him pursue due process for these prisoners. That’s it. Due process. At this point I’m concerned these prisoners’ rights have been so woefully violated that they should be immediately released and if they are to be tried, they should be tried in the federal court nearest to their own homes.
I’m hesitating for a couple of reasons. First, I have another commitment so if things run late as they always seem to do, I will have to leave before seeing anyone. Second, I have my doubts about how effective my little voice will be. We are now racing towards an election and he never bothered to answer me way back when things were far calmer. Heck, even all this Ukraine nonsense hadn’t hit at that time. Then there’s crowds. I hate them. While I don’t expect a huge mass of people today, even small crowds are an anathema to me, especially these days. Finally there’s the trust issue. While I long ago stopped worrying about the bogeyman, feds are everywhere these days and our congressman is a federal guy. While I don’t expect any trouble I hesitate to show up on anyone’s radar, even if I am just a brief blip. The bottom line here is I won’t be controlled by fear. I post this blog and I suspect half of my four visitors are likely connected with the feds. I doubt they are fans.
Anyway, I’m posting this today before I go so there is a record of what I expect to do today and why. My intent is to simply ask this congressman about his efforts for the J6 prisoners and encourage him to do what he can to see justice prevails. Hopefully, all goes well.