Dear Chairman Steele:
As we approach what is without doubt the most crucial General Election in the history of our great country, I find myself becoming more and more what might be called an “existential” Republican. In other words, like millions of other lifelong Republicans, I find myself asking, “Does the Republican Party really exist and does it have any leaders capable of leading?”
The reason I ask that question is because, day after day, month after month, we see Barack Obama and the leaders of his party all but inviting us to respond to their actions and their plans, but we see no viable response from the loyal opposition, either at the RNC or in the Congress. To cite just a few examples:
Illegal Immigration – Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet on illegal immigration. When he met with Senator Jon Kyle in the Oval Office this past summer, he told Senator Kyle that the border states… Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas… can have the forces necessary to control the border with Mexico, but only when congressional Republicans agree to “comprehensive” immigration reform. That’s a nice way of saying that he will do nothing to stop massive illegal immigration, human trafficking, and drug trafficking until such time as Republicans allow Democrats to swell their ranks with a new voting bloc made up of millions of new Hispanic voters… in the same manner that they bought the loyalty of black voters in the 1950s and 60s with a massive onslaught of welfare state programs.
Vote Fraud – Lives there a man or woman… rich or poor, young or old, black or white, Republican or Democrat… who thinks that Democrats will not attempt to steal elections in November with massive electoral fraud and intimidation? Just as cats chase mice and dogs chase rabbits and squirrels, Democrats steal elections. It is what they do; it is the nature of the beast. The strong-arm goons of the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, ACORN, and a host of other unions are all primed to cheat and intimidate in every possible way on behalf of Democrat candidates.
White House Campaigning – The headline in the New York Times of Monday, September 20, reads, “Obama Aides Weigh Bid to Tie the G.O.P. to the Tea Party.” Never in American history has a president spent so much time and effort on purely partisan political activity. And never in American history has any president been so over-exposed that his daily appearances before the TV cameras with his teleprompters became a national joke.
For the Republican National Committee to attempt to take more than three such issues and turn them against Obama and the Democrats would be a major tactical error, but to fail to take advantage of even one such issue represents a level of incompetence that demands immediate attention. So exactly what is it that the RNC should be doing to turn the immigration issue against Democrats? Why not try putting ourselves “on the side of the angels?”
One of the most successful of Democratic propaganda tools is their much-used tactic of telling the American people what they (the people) believe, on any issue, and repeating the process until tracking polls begin to show that the people have actually come to believe what they have been told they believe. Republicans could, and should, adopt the same tactic where Hispanics are concerned, but with one major difference: Unlike Democrats, Republicans have the ability to capture a major portion of the Hispanic vote without having to resort to the big lie.
According to Census Bureau figures of July 1, 2009, the total Hispanic population of the U.S. is roughly 48.4 million, or 16 percent of the total population. However, Hispanics differ from non-Hispanics in some very important ways. For example, Hispanic families tend to be much larger than non-Hispanic families. Some 25% of Hispanic families contain five or more people, while only 10% of non-Hispanic white families contain five or more persons. Hispanics are also predominantly Roman Catholic and maintain much greater fidelity to their religious beliefs than non-Hispanics. These characteristics, coupled with the fact that Hispanics are generally very hard workers, make them a natural constituency for Republicans.
If the RNC were to undertake an intensive program, positively asserting that most Hispanic citizens are… because of their family values, their religious beliefs, and their work ethic… every bit as opposed to illegal immigration as the majority of non-Hispanics, the Democrats’ grand strategy could be substantially neutralized. Why has the RNC not launched such a program?
Regarding the Democratic Party’s reliance on fraud, violence, and intimidation in the electoral process, the RNC and the Republican congressional leadership act as if instances of election irregularities are rare. They appear to be unaware of the extent to which Democrats use fraud, violence, and intimidation in every state, in every election.
If the RNC were to announce the creation of a national lawyers task force, consisting of several thousand volunteer lawyers, whose job it would be to seek out and prosecute Election Day crimes, guaranteeing that wrongdoers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, a great many rank-and-file Democrats could be dissuaded from participating in such lawlessness.
As just one example, recent research by the RNC has shown that about 46,000 people, most of them Democrats, are illegally registered to vote in both New York and Florida. Some 850 New York residents are suspected of having voted in two different states in the 2000 presidential election, including 402 in both New York and Florida where the Bush victory was paper thin.
Such crimes are a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
A highly publicized prosecution of a number of elderly “snow birds,” culminating in heavy fines and some jail time, would be a major deterrent. But has the RNC undertaken such a program? If they have, we in “fly-over” country have not heard of it.
And finally, as reported by the New York Times in its September 20 edition, “Mr. Obama has largely limited his campaigning to fundraisers and small events. That will change soon as he plays a bigger role to rally the flagging faithful…
“To mobilize younger voters who supported him in 2008, Mr. Obama will hold four big campaign-style rallies, the first Sept. 28 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, with satellite transmission to campuses in other states. The later rallies will be in Ohio, Philadelphia and Las Vegas. He also will send e-mail and record robocalls to spur voters, and conduct a national “town hall” Webcast in October.”
According to the Times, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer has said that, “These events are about activating the Obama grass roots to help organizationally in terms of volunteers… We’re not going to get all the 2008 Obama voters out. We may not get most of them. But in close races, it can be decisive.”
The Times report continued, “Mr. Obama will also step up his efforts to draw contrasts between the parties, in particular by pounding away on his call for extending the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, except for ‘millionaires and billionaires.’ Republicans want the tax cuts extended for people of all income levels, not just incomes below $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families, as the president has proposed.”
The Obama plan is clear evidence that he and his advisors are completely out of touch with the mainstream. They seem not to understand that the vast majority of Americans no longer trust Obama and that the more they see of him on TV, the less likely they are to vote for Democrats in November. He is by far the most over-exposed politician in all of American history.
It is not necessary for Republicans to debate Obama on the issues. He and his congressional allies have already lost the debate on the issues. What Republican candidates across the country must do between now and November 2 is to solidify the repugnance of the American people at seeing Obama on their television screens every single day. And if the RNC and the campaign committees have not convinced GOP candidates by now that, in every stump speech and public appearance, they must not fail to mention how over-exposed Obama is and how the voters no longer trust what he has to say, then you, Mr. Chairman, are not doing your job.
Those of us who are regular long-time contributors are tired of having every dinner hour interrupted by a solicitation call from one of the many Republican fundraising organizations. If we are to continue sending our hard-earned dollars to fill those coffers, then we have a right to expect evidence of some real creativity and effectiveness in our party leadership. Time’s a-wasting. Let’s get ‘er done.
Respectfully,
Paul R. Hollrah