Tag: Michigan Republican Party (page 2)

One such lesson that I remember well occurred when I walked into my mom's kitchen complaining that my brothers' and sister's bedrooms were absolute pig stys.  Because my mom was busy (canning vegetables if I remember correctly), my gran-ma - who was assisting - offered to take a look.  Sure enough, standing there in the upstairs hall, she was looking right through a pair of already-open doors into bedrooms for which the description of "disorganized" would have been charitable.  However, it also occurred to her to open the door to my bedroom and see what might be seen.  While my bedroom was noticeably tidier, it was nowhere close to her exacting standards.

This observation was followed by my grandmother fixing me with a no-nonsense look and saying rather sternly, "I should think, young man, that before you go complaining about someone else's room, you ought to first make sure yours is clean."  Point made; lesson learned; end of conversation.

And now, to apply that lesson, we should grab some coffee and duck below the fold.

On the other hand, there are those of us who have learned the truth that civic involvement in politics isn't a two month sprint held every other year.  The brutal reality of the matter is that it involves a great deal of behind-the-scenes work that goes on 52 weeks a year, every year.  And that there are conventions and elections, not conducted in the public eye, that set the tone and lay the groundwork for the upcoming election cycles.

Yes, our work is indeed just getting started.

But Mr. Schostak is a wise man, and he is well aware that the voting delegates of the Michigan Tea Party Alliance (who will carry considerable clout on the state convention floor) require some convincing before they'll buy into his candidacy.  It was with this very thing in mind that he scheduled a couple of events - occurring on December 28th - with the leader of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, Michelle Bachmann.

My "normal job" here at the Fix Michigan Center of West Michigan is as the Communications Coordinator, which means that I'm supposed to be cranking out one blog per week.  Yeah . . . not so much.  The brutal reality for me this particular election cycle is that I've been heavily involved in a leadership position for the Kent County Republicans in the ground game in Kentwood.  My work is impacting the 3rd Congressional race (Justin Amash), the 72nd and 75th State House races (Ken Yonker and Bing Goei, respectively), and the 12th, 13th, and 19th County Commission races (Harold Mast, Dick VanderMolen, and Shana Shroll).  Of those candidates, only VanderMolen is an incumbent; Mast and Shroll are challengers, and the others are running for open seats.

So far as I know, all six of those races are more or less safely in Republican hands right now, though some of them are tighter than we might care for.  On the other hand, there is one race in Kent County that will be closer than we'd like, that the Democrats want really bad, that the Republicans cannot afford to lose . . . and I've been working on the ground game (to a greater or lesser degree) since May.  Such is the life of a Precinct Delegate.

"Whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English."  He then asked, "Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?"

The American admiral didn't miss a beat.  "Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German."

End of conversation.