Smells Like Team Spirit

Last evening, after all these many years I finally attended my first formal GOP meeting (of any kind). This was a small gathering held by the county Republican Party with a few local candidates and office holders in attendance.

To be honest I've never had any desire to involve myself in party business before as I always considered them functionaries long on enthusiasm and short on brains. Plus I don't really consider myself a Republican so much as a conservative/libertarian. Unpaid party folks always struck me as all "go team go" who would work their asses off for Nero if he were on the ticket. I am certainly not that guy.

That was the way I felt going into the meeting and that was the way I felt leaving the meeting. Look, these are nice folks with good intentions. They perform a vital service for the party with little fanfare or reward. I appreciate what they do, I just don't want to do what they do. Stuffing envelopes or knocking on doors or manning a phone bank is time I could be spending productively in a sports bar somewhere, and furthermore I'm an ideas man NOT a grunt.

A quick example of the kind of groupthink I'm talking about: One of the county commissioners was talking about the need for a new jail. Apparently with the huge influx of Nuevo Leonians moving into the area illegal hat dancing has quickly gotten out of control. But just this past year the county gave a European drug multinational a HUGE incentive package the benefits of which are dubious at best. So the county is strapped for cash (what county isn't?) but they give away money they desperately need for a fistful of promises. Do you think there was a word mentioned about that? Forgetaboutit! One guy asked about borrowing the money to which the commish agreed would probably happen. I almost fell off my damn chair.

See what I mean? It's all about the team, let's pull for the team, GO TEAM! And being the loud-mouth som-bitch that I am, this is NOT the environment for me. But I ain't giving up yet. I will attend another meeting or two, if for no other reason than out of spite. You see I was thrown off their FB page for not abiding by the rules (e.g. nothing critical, only positive happy talk). The party FB page is run by what could only be described as a couple of schoolmarms who have very little patience with a guy like me (the one in attendance last evening gave me the evil eye). But that's ok, I'm a big boy. Plus I've never been thrown out of a political meeting before so I'd like that on my resume.

The point is ideas and policies and performance must be vetted and defended. That's how you separate the wheat from the chaff and THAT'S what I bring to the table. I am the critic, not the actor, the pundit, not the policy maker. I don't like people well enough to be an effective politician but I can smell bullshit a mile away. I would very much like to influence my local government as I think they make some pretty hair-brained decisions on occasion and God-damn-it, it's my money too! But with people like this at last nights meeting the vibe was all Amway presentation.

So I'll give it a couple more goes and see what happens. I'm not optimistic however. Sheep tend to herd up and protect each other and I am definitely not a sheep. I am the WOLF.