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    Tag: empowered grassroots operation (page 2)

    Speculation, Scuttlebutt, and Surprises


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Mon Jul 15, 2013 at 05:58:12 PM EST
    Tags: Michigan Banana Republican Party, 30th Biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, poisoning the party brand, creeping progressivism, executive-grade arm-twisting, constitutionally-restrained government, Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, integrity argument, causa provocare, liberty-minded network, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, sending a message, politician paper training, corinthian scales vs. absolute standard, "Mastermind" vs. "Oracle", Rick Snyder, GoverNerd, Nerd King, Slick Rick, mister thirty-six percent, Mr. 36%, MIGOP convention rule 22, MIGOP Policy Committee (all tags)

    I've been a more-or-less regular contributor to this site since June 28th, 2008, and more than once I've referenced John F. Kennedy's admonition that those who insist on making a peaceful takeover impossible ultimately make takeover by revolt necessary.  Without variation, that reference has been in the context of yet another ham-handed move, by the blueblood elites that populate the state party's halls of power, to shut down the voice of the grassroots volunteers and convention delegates.

    Just in case the bluebloods weren't paying attention, the August 2010 State Convention, the May 2012 State Convention, and the February 2013 State Convention sent a pretty consistent message that the rank and file are beyond fed up with party leadership (both internal and publicly elected) behaving like their priority is staying in power rather than in delivering results consistent with the party platform.  However, what came out of the State Committee (specifically, the Policy Committee) over the weekend didn't do anything to advance a détente.  Realistically, the net result may have been to provide the liberty-minded network with a primary target that heretofore wasn't even on the radar.


    (1 comment, 1137 words in story) Full Story

    That's Unfortunate . . . Now We Play Hardball


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Sun Jun 23, 2013 at 07:53:39 AM EST
    Tags: 2013-HB-4714, House Roll Call 241 (2013), 2013-HB-4111, House Roll Call 11 (2013), Michigan Banana Republican Party, heavy-handed bifarceisanship, poisoning the party brand, illusion of state control, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, creeping progressivism, executive-grade arm-twisting, Supremacy Clause abuse, U. S. Constitution Amendment X, State Sovereignty, constitutionally-restrained government, Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, integrity argument, causa provocare, liberty-minded network, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, sending a message, naming names and identifying targets, politician paper training, corinthian scales vs. absolute standard, "Mastermind" vs. "Oracle", Rick Snyder, GoverNerd, #OneRoughTurd, Nerd King, Slick Rick, 30th Biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference (all tags)

    I grew up as the second of six siblings.  My parents were absolute geniuses at molding natural sibling rivalry into six sets of well-honed competitive instincts.  We were taught that if someone's keeping score, then winning's important, and you either play to win (within the rules of the game) or don't bother playing; full-contact euchre is a regular event at family get-togethers.  We also were taught how to be both considerate winners and gracious losers, and that once the final score is on the board, you shake hands, go have a beer, and get over it.  My three now-adult children were taught the same concepts, as were most of my two-and-a-half-dozen-or-so nieces and nephews (including the in-laws).

    It would appear, however, that the GoverNerd never learned the same lessons.  If you can tolerate listening to all of the logical fallacies and factual misrepresentations, the money quotes start at about 5:01, 11:17, 21:47, 22:24, and 23:19.


    (55 comments, 2257 words in story) Full Story

    A Message To Our Legislators - Beware False Choices

    Richardville's Charge


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 12:29:14 PM EST
    Tags: 2013-HB-4714, U. S. Constitution Amendment X, State Sovereignty, constitutionally-restrained government, Supremacy Clause abuse, illusion of state control, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, liberty-minded network, empowered grassroots operation, heavy-handed bifarceisanship, politician paper training, creeping progressivism, Michigan Banana Republican Party, integrity argument, causa provocare, naming names and identifying targets, Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, corinthian scales vs. absolute standard, "Mastermind" vs. "Oracle" (all tags)

    We're a shade under two weeks from the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1st thru 3rd).  And as I was mulling over what I've learned about the Michigan Senate Republican Caucus this week, one track of my mind started comparing what's expected to happen on the senate floor today to the final Confederate assault of the battle, popularly referred to as "Pickett's Charge."  Without overly belaboring the analogy, I think it appropriate.


    (2 comments, 662 words in story) Full Story

    Ballparking The Whip Count


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Mon Jun 17, 2013 at 11:14:14 PM EST
    Tags: 2013-HB-4714, House Roll Call 241 (2013), 2013-HB-4111, House Roll Call 11 (2013), 2011 Senate Bill 693, Senate Roll Call 663 (2012), integrity argument, causa provocare, Michigan Banana Republican Party, U. S. Constitution Amendment X, State Sovereignty, constitutionally-restrained government, Supremacy Clause abuse, illusion of state control, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, liberty-minded network, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, sending a message, naming names and identifying targets, heavy-handed bifarceisanship, politician paper training, "Mastermind" vs. "Oracle", corinthian scales vs. absolute standard, Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, creeping progressivism (all tags)

    According to the Michigan Campaign For Liberty:

    "Urgent: getting this information to activists depends on folks sharing this. Please help.

    Currently (1:37 a.m.) all of the websites for Republican State Senators are down.  This is very curious considering the democrat sites are all working and the fact that not having email or a contact form will disenfranchise a lot of people, greatly reducing the number of grassroots activists who contact their legislators.

    Today, massive numbers of limited government activists will be trying to contact their senators to tell them to vote no on ObamaCare.

    To help activists, we provided all contact info on our website."

    And I've provided it below, along with some additional intel.


    (7 comments, 3197 words in story) Full Story

    Benchmarks and Targets


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Sat Jun 15, 2013 at 10:04:14 PM EST
    Tags: 2013-HB-4714, House Roll Call 241 (2013), 2013-HB-4111, House Roll Call 11 (2013), 2011 Senate Bill 693, Senate Roll Call 663 (2012), integrity argument, patronage system, equality of merit, cleaning out closets, causa provocare, Michigan Banana Republican Party, NFIB v Sebelius, U. S. Constitution Amendment X, State Sovereignty, constitutionally-restrained government, Supremacy Clause abuse, illusion of state control, bogus opt-out clause, "bait-and-switch" federal pitch, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, liberty-minded network, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, sending a message, naming names and identifying targets, heavy-handed bifarceisanship, politician paper training, Rick Snyder, GoverNerd, #OneRoughTurd, Nerd King, Slick Rick, lower house losers, selective focus, 30th Biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, "Mastermind" vs. "Oracle", corinthian scales vs. absolute standard, Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, creeping progressivism (all tags)

    As House Bill 4714 (2013) was rapidly transitioning from "read a second time" to "substitute H-3 adopted and amended" to "placed on third reading" to "read a third time" to "placed on immediate passage" to "passed; given immediate effect" . . . yes, transitioning just that quickly (the proof starts on page 24 of House Journal # 59) . . . I was in conversation with, among others, Dara Bailey (Vice President & National Vetting Director of iCaucus National).  She offered to commit national resources to help the liberty-minded network in Michigan do what needs to be done to visit political punishment on every single legislative turncoat next summer.  All that we need to do as a statewide movement is to use Joanie's screencap of 2013 House Roll Call # 241 as a motivator to set aside our nationally infamous internecine squabbling, and work as a cohesive machine toward a larger goal.


    (8 comments, 5420 words in story) Full Story

    At Least One Grassroots Organization Is Through Messing Around


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Mon Mar 18, 2013 at 02:14:36 PM EST
    Tags: 2013-HB-4111, House Roll Call 11 (2013), nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, sending a message, empowered grassroots operation, iCaucus Michigan, 2010 endorsees, Justin Amash, Pat Colbeck, Kevin Cotter, Ray Franz, Dave Hildenbrand, Tom Hooker, Ruth Johnson, Dave Robertson, Tim Walberg, 2012 endorsees, Dave Agema, Kerry Bentivolio, Bill Brinkman, David Grant, Scott Harvey, Dale Pomeroy, Jon Rathbun, Jay Spencer, Rob VerHeulen, disciplinary action is necessary to protect those who didn't screw up (all tags)

    First off, let me remind all of my readers that the very fact that 2013-HB-4111 is still sitting on the Senate Schedule means that Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville can call it up for a vote the second he thinks that the grassroots aren't looking (assuming that he has the whip count necessary to ensure passage).  So we need to keep the pressure on our state senators (by all lawful means, including face-to-face discussion when possible) until this Trojan Horse is at least referred to a committee.  However, we also need to keep in mind that the progressives aren't stupid, and will take advantage of our focus to accomplish other things while we're not watching "the other hand," and so in addition to raising a royal stink about the alleged party of smaller government caving to the single biggest expansion of federal government intrusion in our lifetimes, we must keep our other eye on everything else that's going on in Lansing while we're at it.

    You may remember me mentioning a couple of weeks ago that the grassroots are just a tad ticked at 29 "republican" squishies who caved on House Roll Call 11 and brought this state one step closer to what is perhaps the single biggest government intrusion into private lives that I can recall in my lifetime.  While I'm not going to go into too many technical details here, I will say that one particular organization isn't screwing around.

    (1250 words in story) Full Story

    Wish We'd Known This A Couple Of Weeks Ago


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Thu Mar 07, 2013 at 11:09:03 AM EST
    Tags: 2013-HB-4111, "republican" talking points memo, Supremacy Clause, State Sovereignty, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, liberty movement coalition, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, causa provocare, inattention to results, sending a message, twenty-nine turncoats (thus far), House Roll Call 11 (2013), 2011 Senate Bill 693, Senate Roll Call 663 (2012) (all tags)

    Let me start by saying that it's not even certain right now whether the Senate vote will or won't be taken today on 2013 House Bill 4111.  Yes, the vote is on today's senate schedule (backup copy available here), just as it was yesterday (for which I also have a backup copy).  Yet a press statement from Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville plainly stated that there would be no vote this week at all.  I translate that as Richardville knowing that he currently doesn't have the votes to pass this thing.  If that's true, then it would mean that the coordinated outrage of the liberty movement grassroots, directed both at calling our state senators and also apparently at flooding the phone lines at the Michigan Republican Party Headquarters, had the desired immediate effect.

    Nevertheless, Michigan Votes indicates that the bill was forwarded directly to the Senate floor as soon as it was reported over from the House, and Joanie Fabiano is pretty sure that a deal has already been brokered to make the vote happen, so I guess we need to stay on our senators about this . . . and I think that's a good idea anyway.


    (12 comments, 1310 words in story) Full Story

    They Weren't Listening


    By Kevin Rex Heine, Section News
    Posted on Tue Mar 05, 2013 at 11:41:01 AM EST
    Tags: 2013-HB-4111, Supremacy Clause, State Sovereignty, nullification vs. enabling, legislative malfeasance, liberty movement coalition, acta non verba, empowered grassroots operation, causa provocare, inattention to results, sending a message, twenty-nine turncoats (thus far), House Roll Call 11 (2013), 2011 Senate Bill 693, Senate Roll Call 663 (2012) (all tags)

    You would have thought, based on how close the Michigan Republican State Party Chair results were, that the party would've got the message.  The liberty movement means business, and they won't be ignored.  You'd think, based on that, that the state legislature would be extra careful to not tick off a motivated grassroots network.

    Apparently, 29 republicans in the State House didn't get the memo.  It's as yet an open question as to whether 13 republicans in the State Senate did.

    (8 comments, 2046 words in story) Full Story

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