Moving the Party Forward
There’s plenty of reaction across the blogosphere to the election of Michael Steele as Chairman of the RNC. One particularly interesting take come from an open letter to the Chairman by Matt Moon over at The Next Right. Of particular interest to me are two reccomendations:
Hold campaigns and local parties accountable. Patrick and Mindy give specific goals for Congressional and Senate races when it comes to raising money and recruiting online activists. Here’s what I would like to see. Ask every state and local party to give specific grassroots, electoral and fundraising goals. Publish those goals online. Reward parties that exceed expectations. Hold accountable those parties that fail to meet their goals. Shame works just as well as potential victory when it comes to incentivizing hard work and smart strategy.
Amen! While I am a bit skeptical that the RNC is going to be able or even want to reach all the way down to the county level, I think it is high time that someone hold county parties responsible, and at the VERY least provide clear directions and goals to the parties. My best idea at the moment: make it very clear to surrounding units what the goals are and publish whether or not those goals are being met. This will mean that not only internal but external pressure will be placed on chairs to shape up. Too often units become the equivalent of Republican Clubs in metro areas, and I bet you even many of them do more grassroots work than some units in the country. The excuse that committees are simply administrative bodies charged with holding a Lincoln Day Dinner and nominating candidates and that they should not be held accountable when goals are not met should be absolutely unacceptable in Steele’s RNC.
I also wholeheartedly support the idea that the RNC should pursue a “vineyard” strategy to start at the very local level to produce not only good candidates but good ideas. Too often this is where troublesome politicians get their start. Take the case of Emmett Hanger, who started at the bottom and work his way up through the ranks based on his popularity and not on his ideas. We now have a Senator in that seat that is often extremely unresponsive to the ideas and suggestions of principled activists. However, we cannot expect the RNC to provide all the momentum here. I call upon all conservatives to PAY ATTENTION to local politics. These people will want to move up some day, but you need to be in the game to see if they are deserving of our support based on their principles, not just on their social network. Remember: Not everything that affects you and your family happens in Congress.
