Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 11:58:56 -0500
From: Chatham Matters
Subject: Re: Chatham Chatlist #3665
We need real change in Chatham, to get there we need to work together.
Our county has approximately 50% registered Democrats, 25% registered Independents, and 25% registered Republicans. We cannot win against the incumbent county commissioners unless we unite Independents, Republicans, and conservative Democrats.
Chatham County has traditionally been run by Democrats, who, until recently have been fairly conservative. The saying goes vote for Democrats locally, and Republicans nationally. But times have changed, our local elected officials are anything but conservative, they are cut from the same cloth as the crew currently running the country and the state, this must change or we are in deep trouble.
So what must change?
Republicans must run candidates who are real conservative/libertarian Republicans, who are not the say-anything-to-get-elected office seekers, nor can they be “Democrat Lite” – accepting “a little socialism” to win a few extra votes has been disastrous on every level – and a whole lot of trust was lost over the past 8 or so years, this must change at all levels within the Republican party. They need to run issues oriented campaigns, not party campaigns or personal attack campaigns – to do otherwise is to turn off Independents and conservative Democrats with whom they agree on the issues.
Independents must either be willing to run themselves, or support Republican candidates who are willing to run… but only if the Republicans running are committed to the same conservative/libertarian values as they are.
Conservative Democrats have a more difficult choice – they can try to re-build a party whose infrastructure and leadership are now wholly owned by the far left (yes it is ok to say Socialist these days, their policies and actions name them, I don’t have to). They can remain Democrats, but vote Republican or Independent, which is fine, but harder to justify when it’s now “vote Republican nationally… and locally”. The other option is to re-register to either Independent or Republican. There were no conservative Democrats challenging the current leadership for these county seats, hard to go up against that machine in a primary and have any realistic expectation of winning.
Finally, no matter what party you are from, please look up the candidates, go to their websites, find out what they believe and how they think, if you like em, support em. It is long past time when it is ok to just sit and yell at your TV and hope others will solve this mess for you.