I'm Not Done Yet (RNC Part 2)

I wanted to make sure that this incident that happened at the RNC got specific attention, mainly, because it hit me hard on a very personal level. Many know that the military are supposed to keep a tidy separation between our military service and our political beliefs (especially when those political beliefs differ with the Commander-in-Chief). Many of us go years without being able to adequately express our disdain for government decisions. You don’t know what kind of freedoms you have until you lose them…

Ron Paul supporter speaks out in uniform while on Active Duty. We in the military knew his next stop would be NJP.

Enter the Maine delegation. 7 of the 10 delegates that were unseated from the Maine delegation were military veterans. I don’t care if they were supporting Gingrich, Santorum, Palin, whatever. They had earned the right to sit as a voting member of that RNC and have their voice heard. They were elected out of the largest State convention in the history of Maine. They went through the entire process of going to caucus, and moving up through the convention system to have their voice heard at the RNC. Not good enough apparently. The saddest part of this story, to me, is the parading around of service members under the banner “Support our Troops.” Have you ever heard a politician say they don’t support the troops? Of course not.

But do they support us? Maybe financially. They talk about military benefits, and what they are willing to pay the men and women that have suffered tragic injuries and disabilities. All financial incentives… but they don’t stand with us. Standing with us means giving us a Congressional Declaration of War. In 10 years, the Congress has passed tons of legislation, but not a War Declaration. This is important because it outlines where a Congressional Rep/ Senator stands on the issue of war. We keep being told that this war must be fought and that everything is at stake…. So why not declare it? Right now only one man is accountable in terms of the war overseas. The President. I can’t even begin to tell you how dangerous giving that kind of accountability and responsibility to one man is… besides the founders already did it. Declaring war at the congressional level makes them accountable to their War vote and to the people. What is happening now is a single-man is bearing the judgment for his decisions. The congress has washed its hands of this bloody mess. It was never meant to be that way. Sure, the President’s opinion matters when it comes to acts of war. But the power to make that determination resides in the Congress.

So when I see fellow vets being ousted by the RNC. It hits me. You won’t allow us to speak out while active duty, you don’t stand behind us and declare wars, and when we get out and participate in politics to have our voices heard. You ignore us. And for what? So you didn't have to call out Ron Paul's vote count? You say you support our troops? That starts with listening to them. The Maine delegation had it right, “SHAME ON THEM!”

Maine Delegation in solidarity after 10 of them were unseated by the RNC

What I Saw at the RNC 2012

Most of you have seen the RNC Powergrab. If not there are plenty of videos of the “Tampa Screwjob” (http://youtu.be/obz1OeUMdqU) that outlines the corruption that I witnessed.

The aftermath of the Screwjob led someone from that national committee to ask a group of us, “How can we fix this? How can we have party unity?”

It starts with listening. Like any group of people that are agreeing to work together, one has to listen to the other. Have the confidence in your argument that you are willing to listen to opposition to it. When you refuse to listen to the other side of an argument, how can you expect them to listen to your argument? Listening is a two-way street.

This is what listening looks like:

 A group of Ron Paul supporters listen to Dr. Paul. We were discussing currency problems, debt problems, indefinite detention, loss of free speech, and yet you couldn’t leave that building without feeling inspired that there is an option out there. Liberty.

NOT THIS:

Discussion was ignored, despite heavy opposition to both the Credentials and the Rules that were passed. Here is how they handled the dissenting opinions.

OR This:

Of all the Republican's talk about President Obama's teleprompter. They used theirs to railraod rules through without having to deal with a dissenting opinion. There was never a real VOTE (which I believe we had), it was a scripted shot to the face of the Grassroots within the GOP.

I have heard (from listening) time and time again that it is the Grassroots that win elections. A candidate can be short on cash if they have the volunteer support to pound signs, make phone calls, and get out the vote. It is a litmus test for energy, whether or not the voting block is voting FOR somebody or AGAINST somebody else. The differences are clear. What was made clear at the RNC, to me, was that Grassroots are no longer welcome or needed. We were replaced…

This is not “Grassroots”:

Delegates struggle to walk through all of the PRINTED “Pro-Romney” signs that were designed to give the appearance of handcrafted signs that were being handed out to the audience.

This is what Grassroots really looks like:

Handmade signs were all over the USF Sundome for the "We are the future rally". I made the comment that some of these signs must've taken hours to make and were very well detailed. I made the comment during the Paul Rally, "The GOP needs this energy if it's to move forward from the Bush years."

 

The day the rules were passed. Both the Tea Party and the "Paulers" met at Whiskey Joe's to discuss our options. We decided there that speaking out was the best course of action and that we needed to organize a press conference. Grassroots made this happen in under 24-hours.

Listening is what needs to happen for there to ever be unity. The second element to unity within the GOP is trust. We have to trust the GOP not to screw us over, and the GOP has to trust the “Grassroots” to be there.

In other words…. We have a lot of work to do if we want Unity.

In Liberty,

Jake Severance