Letter to the Editor (& Voters)

After this morning's fiasco at the GOP caucus in McDonald county, I've decided to write a "letter to the editor." Since I wrote it in a self-depreciating, humorous style someone might actually print it. they like that sort of thing.

(And, for the record... If you are concerned that "me" personally making such negative remarks about this are damaging "our" chances to work within the party... Let me assure you that it was made quite clear that "they" regard "us" as "the enemy" and no amount of sucking-up would change their minds, even if we wanted to.)

While it is worthwhile to "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." - It is best that we all personally recognize the enemy for who they are, and not delude ourselves into thinking they may become our friends.

With that in mind, enjoy the editorial...

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Dear editors of the Press and McDonald County voters,

(Caution: Place tongue firmly in cheek before proceeding...)

Yee-haw! We sure have some great representative democracy 'round these parts. Especially, it seems, in the Republicrat party.

Why, y'all should'a seen it, it was a sight to behold at the recent county caucus of registered Elephants. (The "Gamey Olde Partie" as they are affectionately known.) Probably the biggest turnout for them in living memory, a full house packed the courtroom, each and every one in attendance eagerly anticipating some participation in their local party's decision-making process. Not.

But wait... Turns out that the Missouri State Elephants sent out an urgent missive to their registered party hacks (um... I mean "senior party members"):

Beware the Ron Paul Republicans!

The word is out that they might actually attend and try to interject some of their freedom & liberty-lovin' pro-property rights nonsense into the sacred tomb of our party platform. (Even though it is just symbolic - after all, the "platform" is just a pretty thing that elected party thugs can point to with pride, whilst they go ahead and do whatever the heck they feel like doing anyway.)

Yep, the word got out just in time so the hardcore party loyalists (affectionately known as the "know-nothings") could round up enough warm bodies to drag out of bed and away from the cartoons on the tube Saturday morning, to sit for a few minutes and raise their hand when told to.

Yes, it was quite the contingent of the "Barely-Legal Republican Girls Gone Mild" this year. (Perhaps coerced to attend and cooperate under threat of losing the use of daddy's Gold Card this summer? I suppose we'll never know.)

And along with those compliant new recruits (they aren't considered "newcomers" if they are willing to play ball); there were bleary-eyed scruffy looking spouses aplenty, who by their expressions clearly resented missing their morning coffee clutch with their pals to attend this shindig. But all that matters to the party faithful is they did manage to get together just enough patriotic Elephantine rubber-stampers to drown out any trouble them pesky liberty-loving Ron Paul supporters might have caused.

Good for them.

Hear that bell tolling in the distance? That's the death knell of the dominance of Lincoln's Party in ol' Mac county. Democrats, rejoice! You may actually be able to take advantage of your so-called opposition party's mistake of alienating nearly half of its constituency, and win your boys and girls some more seats next time around.

That is, unless enough people have come to my conclusion:

A pox on both your houses!

There's not a dime's bit of difference between the Donkeys and the Elephants, and fortunately, more voters are waking up to that fact every time around. Look at the poll numbers for independents, climbing higher every election cycle whenever there is a choice to be found. Expect that trend to continue sharply upward.

This latest party circus was highlighted for myself personally when I had enough of the rubber-stamping of the party hacks (um... I mean "loyalists"), and moved that the written suggested amendments to the party platform be read, rather than just tucked away in circular file #13 never to be seen again. (All such amendments were suggested by that obnoxious intellectual-constitution-quotin' Ron Paul crowd anyway, as no true believer in the heavenly-granted supremacy and divinely-inspired wisdom of the State GOP would dare question their perfectly written platform.)

But the crowd had already enjoyed enough of that dreadfully long meeting. Gosh, they must have been there for a whole 40 minutes already, and their hindquarters musta been all sore and itchy by then. We certainly don't want to waste up to 5 more precious minutes to hear what about a third of the audience had proposed. They're just the "newcomers" anyway.

Definition: "Newcomers" means "infiltrators" in party hackspeak. After all, these "new" people had only been voting Republican for most (if not all) of their lives, what do they know?

So even that small, symbolic gesture was defeated by the Pachyderm party-loyalist majority. Not that it made any difference, but I was cheered by the fact that I'd managed to at least elicit a single win for "Nay" that day. Too many "Ayes" had me dizzy from all the bobblehead votes that preceded it.

But to be serious for a moment: It says a lot when a party is too scared to even take a few short minutes to hear the opinions of many (not just a few, even if still a technical minority). Whenever you see someone, and especially a group of people, stick their fingers in their ears, close their eyes, and start chanting "blah, blah, blah" quietly to themselves - you know that "they" know "they're" wrong, and are just too afraid to hear the truth. It is the classic sign of impending doom of any organization, when the powers-that-be have their heads stuck firmly...

...In the sand.

Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves. Next time, bring your brain or stay at home.

Most sincerely,

Bruce Arnold
disgruntled republican
McDonald County, Missouri