Let’s Start the Conversation: Close the Michigan Republican Presidential Primary

The time is now to start the conversation among grassroots volunteers in the Michigan Republican Party, to move to a closed primary or a caucus, to stop the Democrats from picking our Presidential nominee.

An important nugget of information has been glossed over by the Republican Party in Michigan during this, at best, “meh,” election year.  The Democratic nominee for Governor who is running against incumbent nerd Snyder, voted in the Republican Presidential Primary in 2012.

I’m told the MIGOP is allowing this information to get pushed aside, and I’m not surprised.  After all, any discussion about the 2012 primary race for President would have to include the mounds of evidence written by and at RightMichigan.com (scroll the tag ) that proved that Mitt Romney did not win Michigan’s primary until the credentials committee changed the rules after the vote.  In fact, that rule change was won mostly because of Communist the willingly corrupted Saul Anuzis.  Anuzis lost his RNC chairmanship over the rule change, outright lies and marathon B.S. that came from his work as an operative for the Romney campaign.

So Schauer, the Democrat nominee, admitted he voted in the Republican primary in 2012, because , “There was nobody to vote for on the Democratic side of the ballot,” Schauer said. “I try not to miss any elections, and so no, I don’t encourage that, but I think that’s up to every individual voter to decide. Michigan is full of crossover and independent voters.”

Someone might want to tell the all-day, every-day, for whatever reason whatsoever abortion rights reactionaries, that Schauer voted pro-life just two short years ago.

But part of the reason the MIGOP shuffled Romney’s extra unearned delegate through, is because they insisted that the votes for Santorum were illegitimate, because they knew it was the Democrats that voted for him in order to prolong the primary season.  They knew that because the Democrats said so.  Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, Senate Minority Leader , ““Don’t be surprised if we cross the ballot and play games,” a challenge that was  Republican Senators Meekhof and Jones, the video of which was used by Democrats to help them organize.

So, it’s not surprising that the radical liberal activist Schauer voted in the Republican primary for the express purpose of lengthening the primary process and making it harder for Romney to win the nomination.  What also happened though, was conservative Democrats responded to Santorum’s understanding of the rust belt and his social issue stances, and they also voted for him, leading to the logical reality that all Democrats hate Mitt Romney.

Everybody says Michigan is a Democrat state, even the Republicans do, in fact, the dominant Republican mentality here is one of reactionary politics, paralyzed by the fear of what the Democrats will do or say.  They insist that without cross-over Democrat votes, a Republican cannot win an election, and that is true, but why would they want cross-over votes during a primary?

As a conservative, I encouraged my church-going, hard-working, Democrat friends to vote for Santorum in the Republican primary because there was an ability for Reagan Democrats to vote in the primary.  But had the primary been closed, I would have been out months before and registered my conservative Democrat friends as Republicans, because they already knew that their party had been taken over by radical leftists like Mark Schauer and Lisa Brown.  If there was not an ability to cross-over like Schauer did, liberal activism wouldn’t enter the primary process because there is no way liberal activists would register as hated Republicans.  If we had a closed primary, the precinct delegate, the party member at the grassroots level, the person who knows his or her township or precinct better than anyone, would be the most important and powerful person in party politics.

Why does the Republican Party try so hard to stunt the growth of the grassroots?

The MIGOP has now, an open primary, and a winner-take-all rule which wipes out all grassroots work, and lessens the need for the existence of local parties, since all that is needed is high-population areas to work on auto-pilot in sync with the national party.  There would be no visits by Presidential candidates in rural areas, away from the three large southern cities.  There is little excitement for anyone in smaller communities to do much of anything because Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit Democrats inevitably pick our nominee.

Michigan’s First Congressional District vice-chair Adrian Poulisse has put together a resolution pending a special meeting, that would address the problems associated with our open primary system in Michigan.  It also addresses the need for proportional awarding of delegates, in order to get the true voice of the electorate starting at the grassroots level, and would strengthen the party in the long run.  RESOLUTION OF OPPOSITION TO WINNER-TAKE-ALL OPEN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES (1)

The grassroots must demand that they not be silenced.  The tea party members who are also involved in the Republican Party, the conservatives who remain in the party, and other long-time Republicans will have to push the MIGOP to understand how they will soon become a permanent minority party if they continue on the path they are on.  It may just be that the past four years of a Republican Governorship, Senate and House will be looked back upon as our golden years, if we continue to let radical leftist Democrats like Mark Schauer determine our nominees for every elected position on our docket.

In a Presidential primary, the precinct delegate wants to know if their vote and their hours of work in getting out the vote are worthwhile, will they be counted, and will they matter.  A television commercial can direct people to vote Republican, but it is the personal contact by committed volunteers, strengthening relationships and growing the party, that builds a strong future for a conservative majority, and a Republican Party committed to rescuing the country from the destruction that the Democrat Party caused.

In open winner-take-all primaries, the grassroots die off, and you lose so much.  You lose your most committed, loyal people so that you can gain weasels like Schauer.  You give the opposition the strategic advantage, and it feeds into in Mississippi.  No self-respecting Republican should allow these trade-offs.

The dialogue started by Mr. Poulisse is important and couldn’t come at a better time.  The Republican grassroots needs to have a conversation about the future of the party, and they need to demand that open winner-take-all primaries become a relic of the past so that the dream of a vibrant Republican Party becomes reality.

• Close the primaries and grow the party at the grassroots level.
• Change hearts and minds on a one-on-one basis.
• Dust off the platform and proudly stand upon it.
• Win on Republican values, not Democrat tricks.
• Make Michigan great again.