There are three types of Republicans
The RINOs, the "America-First"... and the "Me-First"
America-First are like "The Few, The Proud, The Marines"
The RINOs are like "The 'View', the Shroud, the Machine"
Me-First are like "The Zoo, the Cloud, the Betweens"
The "Me-First" regime enlists figurines to intervene and submarine and be the go-betweens on behalf of the old RINO machine... until America ends up in the latrine.
Be "America-First", not "Me-First"
If you’re selfishly politicking to make a name for yourself, instead of selflessly working to stop the globalist Deep-State, who are hellbent on the Great Reset, it shows. Character and integrity matter. And, if you’re faking it, eventually people will wake up to that fact. Fakriots and Pay-triots have a way of exposing themselves, eventually.
Have you noticed that everything the RINO or Me-First EB of the Any County, USA REC, pushes for is what the RINOs are trying to do to keep the America First movement out of the Republican Party? Lee County, FL’s EB is “Me-First”, running as, and using the buzzwords of, The America First Agenda. Yet, watch their accomplishments; what they’re fighting for; everything the former RINO cabal fought for…
Limit meeting frequency - Every other month meetings, instead of every month. Do not meet.
Limit membership - Slow-walk, hand-pick, illegally vet, America-First Republicans. Do not invite.
Limit involvement - most interested people are pushed into clubs, instead of the REC. Do not attend.
Limit action - No resolutions, no policy, just worker bees. Do not act.
Limit decisionmaking - Thwart Motions and Points - Do not speak, unless spoken to.
Facilitator
The mark of an effective leader is being a facilitator for others to use their talents to the best of their abilities, for the benefit of the organization. This is especially true in a bottom-up organization, like the REC. Keep in mind, all of us are unpaid. We either do this for altruistic reasons, like saving the nation, and stopping the Great Reset. Or, we do this to further our personal agenda, like A) to get elected in politics, B) meet (and get a selfie with) those who are already in politics, C) oversee large budgets and/or sums of money, or D) all of the above.
A facilitator is a delegator, not a dictator.
People with real character and integrity know that when the entire team is raised, it reflects on their leadership skills. Delegators enlist everyone, fairly, and want to empower all members to freely pursue their particular political interests. This is what we fought for over the last several years. And, we didn’t do it just to hear “Welcome to the new boss, same as the old boss”.
Dictators stand on the shoulders of others, to appear taller. It’s a mirage. A grift. A long-con. Dictators sometimes appear to ‘delegate’, to a small select few; their tight elite circle of controllable sycophants. It may even fool a few people, but not many, and not for long.
Agitator
No. I’m not talking about paid actors, like BLM or Antifa. I mean real agitators. People who push back against bad actors, even within the Republican Party, to effect real change. Bad actors don’t stop acting inappropriately, just because you ask them nicely. Oftentimes, they are invested in acting the way they do. Be it financial gain, political exposure and advancement, personal glory, or just to get a selfie with a popular politician… whatever the reason, simply pointing out to them that you don’t approve of their behavior doesn’t pressure them to behave. We have tried that. Sometimes, exposing them publicly, is the only way. The reality is, if they would heed the private warnings, the public exposure wouldn’t be necessary.
Dictator
Unreasonable men make life more difficult than it needs to be.
Dictators work against those they claim to be a part of, for 30 pieces of silver; personal glory. And, when they act like children while doing it, they’re “Tator Tots”.
There’s a nickname for a "leader" who abuses good people, for the sake of retaining his own personal power and glory, even if he has to completely destroy those good people to do it...
"Mikeademus"
Changing the rules.
One sign of an authoritarian, who keeps getting caught breaking the rules to retain total power, is when you see them constantly changing the rules, in order to keep up. Inventing new rules, to advocate for their previous breaking of the rules, and act like it was always that way.
They might even tell you “We weren’t supposed to create standing committees, so the only fix is to dissolve them, and replace them with ad hocs”. The reality is that, just because the rules only require an audit committee, there is nothing prohibiting the creating of any number of other standing committees, which we did in Feb. In fact, the CMC directs that we MUST create Standing Committees to carry out the business necessary for the REC to function. Therefore, there was nothing improper in deciding to create the standing committees. No amount of Tara’s schoolmarm rants and word-salad, can ever undo our vote. And it never should. Otherwise, why have votes, if you just want the board members to do whatever they want?
This, by the way, is exactly what the RINOs have been arguing for, for years. To do whatever they want. In fact, until late last year, when we distributed the Red Books, the old cabal refused to provide the rues of the organization to members; refused to let you know who was in the REC; refused to let REC members communicate with each other.
You will have to decide what you call this current LCREC board… RINO, AF, or MF. As for me, if I ever get anal polyps, I'll know what to name them.
The Solution
From within the REC
No matter how bad things may seem at the REC right now, trust that these issues will get worked out soon. DO NOT LEAVE THE REC.
Change comes in the form of trying to reach the board members. Speaking to, or emailing, to try to get them to realize that they are on the wrong track, and getting them back on the Trump-Train Track. We have sent numerous emails , and had many phone calls, all to no avail. Sometimes, people just get too emotionally invested in NOT foregoing bad behavior.
So, if that fails, You must change out the board members whose egos have outgrown their britches. Remember… the REC is a bottom-up organization. Robert’s Rules define an “Executive Committee” as a deliberative body. That’s an organization that deliberates, makes decisions, sets policy, directs the Executive Board. An Executive Board is not the same thing as a Board of Directors. The CMC, Art. III, Sect. 8 states that “The Board Shall be subject to the orders of the County Executive Committee, and none of its acts shall conflict with action taken by the County Executive Committee”. This means that the EC, not the EB, is the rightful BOD, and the EB simply executes those orders. The EB is more like the officers of a corporation, such as CEO, Vice Prez, CFO. In the REC, these board members are chosen from among our ranks, to act as servants of, not masters to the Executive Committee. These ideals are not a foreign concept to our existing board… they campaigned on it. The old cabal was acting almost this bad, and we chose a slate to make the necessary changes, and take back our party.
What does it say to Tara, Leslie, and JD, that every member of the group to which they belonged last year to accomplish this goal, has now denounced the current behavior of each and every one of them? I mean, think about that. If every one of my friends that brought me to the dance, told me that I was dancing like a chicken with my head cut off, maybe I would be wise to do a little self-examination, or at least stop dancing until I did. But, all 3 of them insist that they are right, and everyone else is just wrong; that somehow the behavior was only wrong when the "other guys" were doing it; that somehow they are uniquely qualified to behave this way. One might define it as psychopathic authoritarianism or at least pathological.
From outside of the REC
In addition to remaining as a PC in the REC, there are other parallel organizations to the REC that you can join, to put pressure on the elected public servants to do the job that we hired them to do. The Lee County Republican Assembly is a great organization that will be holding candidate training, candidate forums, debates, result-based committees, etc. And, unlike the REC, the LCRA can endorse in the primary. As REC PCs, we can personally endorse any candidate in the primary, but not tied to our title in the REC. In the LCRA, we can look at candidates through a more discerning lens, and endorse the candidate with the best conservative values. Feel free to reach out to us at secretary@leerepublican.com for more info, or visit https://leerepublican.com/events/ attend our next meeting or event.
The Collier REC did endorse in the primary. Look up Rule 8 in the RPOF Rules and Procedures. I believe it requires a 2/3 vote of the Executive Committee.