Wouldn’t ya know it? Last night I was supposed to attend the monthly local republican meeting where they were going to vote on my membership application. I begged off. While the reason I gave is accurate – f’n DST has screwed up everything. My wife wouldn’t be home in time to take care of the critters and the meet landed smack dab where it would cause a problem. You see, we lock the chickens up at night for safety. They don’t like to go in too much before dark. These days that means 7PM. The meet was set to begin at 6:30. Yeah. But there was yet more to the story. My angst.
Almost from the moment I handed my application in, I felt that twinge. You know the one – where you can’t help feeling you are making a big mistake. For the past couple of days, I’ve wrestled with the question:
Do I really want to join the party? Why?
Then this morning, I came across this article from Ammoland:
Firearms Training – Learn to Embrace the Contrarian Mindset
It helped. It really did because at heart I am also a contrarian. I must say this Keith Hanson explains it very well. The bottom line is I’ve never, ever, been willing to accept “conventional wisdom” at face value. As such I tend to piss everybody off.
If you’ve read much here, you know I despise party politics and I foresee forever advocating the total dismantling of our vaunted “two-party system” as well as political parties entirely.
Let’s start with just some of the “Republican Party’s” own rhetoric. The Virginia Republican Party states they support freedom and a limited government. Great. So do I. What I’d like to know is what, exactly has the Republican Party actually done to promote freedom and limit government. I’ll wait. Actually, no, I won’t. It’s obvious, but I’ll state it plainly so even an avowed party person can understand (maybe).
ALL POLITICAL PARTIES MUST WORK TO GROW GOVERNMENT IN ORDER TO GROW THEIR OWN POWER BASE
Sorry for shouting but too often this principle falls on deaf ears.
To this end any political party serves this common goal above and beyond serving party members and thus, every political party does not, CAN not serve those who make up the party. So why join?
This is what I’ve been asking myself. In part, my reasoning is those who are part of the party at the very least have taken an active interest in forwarding similar ideals. I’ve no doubt the rank and file believe deeply in the principles stated by the official party propaganda. However they, all of us really, have been blinded to the facts:
They ain’t working for us, they never have.
Sad but true. So, in part, I want to be a part of this group because we share common interests and I’d like to forward some of my contrarian views. (Thanks Keith!) Who else am I going to reach? I don’t know what it will take for anyone else to take action so I’ll try work according to Newton’s law first of motion:
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- An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force.
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My point? Active party members are, well, active. That sets them apart from those dedicated to pissing and moaning. Those bodies are already in motion and already heading in the same general direction.
So that’s the latest there. I have about three weeks to reconsider, however Keith’s contrarian article hit the nail on the head for me as it both provided an answer as to why I’m struggling with this as well as reframing my perspective so I can move forward without feeling hypocritical.