A Dismal State of Local Affairs

by Armando Simón

I have written numerous articles in various sites not only damning the present totalitarian drive to destroy America, spearheaded by the Democratic Party, but also explaining their tactics and psychology. Being from Cuba, my antagonism towards these Communists is boundless. Conservatives and liberals generally welcome my writings while liberals foam at the mouth—if they read them.

On the other hand, I have also written articles which have been equally scathing in their criticism of conservatives for their reluctance to physically fight back, to fight for their country (actual fighting, not making angry comments in websites), their incompetence, their laziness, their delusions, and their frequent bouts of stupidity. Needless to say,  conservatives respond with insults rather than analyzing my critiques. Nevertheless, I echo what Milo Yiannopoulos once stated, which is the reason that the Left has acquired so much power in society is because conservatives did nothing to stop them. They are the ones at fault.

Those articles were directed at the national level, although they apply at the local level. I now want to focus at the local level.

However, I don’t want to be misunderstood. Whatever my criticisms at the local level, I want it understood—and I cannot emphasize it enough—that all these people are good, decent people who have the country’s welfare in mind. They also have an extensive knowledge of the rules and state laws.

Nonetheless, they exhibit severe shortcomings which have resulted, and will continue to result, in a long series of uninterrupted defeats.

I have worked as a part time volunteer at a metropolitan GOP office for about seven years, in a very unimportant position by my own choice. The headquarters have gone through three administrations, each one swearing to do better than the one before and to make changes, only for the same stagnation to persist.

I will list some of these shortcomings in the (possibly vain) hope that if this is commonplace throughout the country, someone at the local levels will emerge who will alter matters.

Cliques. GOP headquarters are characterized in being rent by cliques of geriatrics who can’t stand each other and who will indulge in the Republican hobby of backstabbing each other, including allies of the Party. With each new administration there is an extensive staff turnover at the office.

This is one of the reasons that young Republicans avoid HQ, they are disgusted.

Ineffective networking. Each local HQ should have an extensive list of organizations that can agree to mutually support each other by their presence in the case of demonstrations and rallies or complaints against bureaucrats. I am tired of seeing a “Day of Action” being attended by six persons or some lone brave soul, without backup, going toe to toe with an arrogant school board or city council. It is very demoralizing.

Whether it is liberals trying to impose mask mandates, allow homosexual pornography in school libraries, whether it is to indoctrinate children with CRT, or to curtail freedom of speech, conservatives and allies should be present raising hell, every step of the way, instead of letting liberals coast by without opposition. Incidentally, sarcasm at this level is more effective than anger—but that’s another story.

Contrast the lack of participation by conservatives with those of liberals. Liberals can mobilize tens of thousands simply for feminists to publicly foam at the mouth,

Raising funds. This is indirectly connected to the above. Chairmen/women complain of lack of funding from the rank and file and get angry. They never ask why this is so.

The answer is simple: because YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING.

At least, nothing that merits contributions.

DeSantiis and Trump are extremely popular and get lots of donations. Why? Because they have ACCOMPLISHED THINGS.

The run of the mill activities in conservative politics, no matter how essential, are the background, but not dramatic enough—rather, admirable enough—for people to part with their hard-earned cash.

Raising hell is effective fundraising.

Rigidity. In spite of a consistent pattern of ineffectiveness, Republicans show a rigid resistance to change, to do something different, something that will give results. I have seen people with great skills come in, ready to volunteer, having new ideas.

They are welcomed.

They are encouraged.

They are ignored.

They leave in frustration.

Nothing-ever-changes.

Let me give a couple of personal examples. During election time, Republican candidates will hire political consultants with a proven history of failure. You will also see a plethora of yard signs everywhere stating, Joe Blow for Congress/City Council/Dogcatcher. Nothing else. The assumption is that passersby will be so awestruck by the name they will automatically vote for him/her.

Candidates will go to Republican gatherings and preach to the choir, rarely outside their comfort zone.

In the last local city council election, I contacted the candidates and urged that they pool resources to put an ad in the metropolitan newspaper that reaches 800,000 readers, reminding them of the covid restrictions, the mask mandates, the lockdowns, the censorship, things that liberals were responsible for and, at the time of the elections, they were desperately hoping people would forget. Even though it would have been a mere $2K for the ad, they did not do so.

None of them was elected.

Again.

Another example. Regardless of the administration, email newsletters are boring, boring, boring, boring, with occasional vanity items. Several times I strongly urged chairmen/women to include popular hilarious, sidesplitting memes that were sharp darts aimed at leftists in order for recipients to at least look forward to the next newsletter. I also urged that they routinely spotlight businesses that are conservative so that the rank and file can patronize them, whether the product is coffee, milk, films, soap, or songs.

At first, they were enthusiastic, very enthusiastic, but when the actual day came to implement the changes they stuttered and hem and haw.

Nothing.

Each time it has felt like moving a huge mound of Jello, and you push, and you push, and you push, and you’re making progress, only for it to rebound and you’re right back where you started.

Very frustrating.

Nothing-ever-changes.

One of the elements in this exercise in frustration are the prissy conservatives that one finds everywhere. These are the individuals who insist we do nothing effective, that insist we state or do nothing that will offend (the Democrats), that we have to appeal to moderates, the type that were scandalized by January 6 and called in to renounce membership in the Party, only to come back to undermine it. So they can hamstring every attempt at being impactful.

I often think that they are undercover Democrats.

To conclude, Republicans at the local level must change, think outside the box. And then carry out reforms. Otherwise, the string of failures will continue to get longer and longer. Unfortunately, many of their brains are calcified.

 

Armando Simón is a retired psychologist, author of The Book of Many Books, Very Peculiar Stories and The Cult of Suicide and Other Sci-Fi Stories.