MayAGA Day 20: Wink and a Nod

I have been wearing my MAGA hat everywhere I go for about 20 days now. When I first started this challenge it was awkward to put that hat on my head and go out of the house. I worried about what others would think or do when they saw it.

So far that worry has been unfounded and those who comment on the hat have been positive. Now I put the hat on my head and forget that I am wearing it. The places and people I see frequently seem to not notice anymore. It has become common place.

Nothing really exciting has happened and that is why I have not had anything to write about. Honestly that is exactly what I wanted to happen.

A Wink and a Nod

I was out walking the dog when I noticed an elderly lady working in her yard. She saw me down the street and walked toward me.

 

At first I was a bit nervous, not because I was worried about this lady but because my dog has a bad habit of jumping and he is a big dog. She approached me and from a safe distanced asked if she could pet my dog.

I explained to her if he starts to whine or get nervous then the answer is no, but if he is okay with it than yes. She put her hand out, he smelled it and immediately leaned against her for some pets. She loved on him for a minute, getting her fur fix she said, and we talked about dogs.

At the end of the conversation she leaned in and looked up at me sideways and said “By the way I like your hat.” Of course I smiled and said thank you and she went back to her friend to continue working in the yard.

The next instance was at a local Albertsons. I was walking through the store and as usual I could tell people noticed the hat but were largely going about their business. I passed an employee who was talking with another customer but I could tell his eyes followed me for a second longer than usual.

I brushed it off as him just thinking I might need help. I was looking for a product I did not know exactly where it was, so I figured he picked up on my lost expression. A few seconds later I heard he call to me from behind.

“Excuse me sir.” He said standing by the door leading to the back of the store. I turned and looked back and as we made eye contact he said “I like your hat.” I again smiled big and said thank you. He nodded and went back to work in the back of the store.

Silent Support

These two instances are not the only time someone has commented on my hat. I have not had anyone get upset, just positive feedback. I took some time to think about those encounters and what they meant.

In each of those encounters the comment was made in a public space but was meant to be a private conversation. It was almost as if they said they supported the hat but did not want to wear one themselves. Or that they were thankful that someone was doing something they wanted to do but felt they could not.

Before I took on this challenge I felt the same way. In fact I probably would have been one of those people who gave a quick positive comment in passing if I had seen someone in a MAGA hat.

I have often wondered why people felt they had to stay silent. For the most part I think people just want to avoid conflict. For me I left a very real social pressure that being Republican, Conservative or wearing a MAGA hat made me a bad person.

I knew Conservatives, Republicans and people that wore MAGA hats and they were perfectly normal, regular, good people. They worked hard, loved their families, and helped their neighbors. So why should these good people feel ashamed to be themselves?

I do not have the answer to that question outside of social pressure. Thankfully I have spent most my life being socially awkward and have had to build up an inner strength that can stand against social pressure when needed.

Even with this practice I had a hard time taking that step. But if my experience is any indication the only thing that holds people back from taking that step is themselves.

If you want to wear a MAGA hat or get involved with the Republican Party, do so. Go to a meet up or join a Facebook group (Here are a couple groups I am a member of Oregon Republican League, Young Republican’s of Washington County). Check it out, talk to people, and make the choice that is best for you.

Thanks for reading and hope you all are having a great MayAGA!

MayAGA Day 2 – 5: Double Takes and Bravery

As I look at the MAGA hat on my kitchen counter I think to myself, will today be the day someone gets upset or will people even notice? I take a breath and steady myself as I pick it up and place it on my head.

The more I wear the hat the more I forget that I am actually wearing it. There is a part of me that says ‘Maybe you just don’t wear it this one time.’ I admit that voice is tempting but I must stick with this challenge to the end.

Largely my experience so far has been positive but I do experience moments where I am very conscious that I am wearing a MAGA hat and people have noticed.

Day 2

The second day wearing the MAGA hat was largely uneventful. I wore it to work and got stopped by a coworker. He took a look at the hat and asked if that was a MAGA hat. I said yes it is with a smile. He replied, right on, and we both returned to work.

Toward the end of the day I was finishing up some work when another coworker asked me a question. He wanted to know if anyone has complemented me on my hat yet.

I explained to him how people have said they liked it or have given me a positive response. To this reply he made a face. I did not understand the question and he was thinking how he could phrase it differently.

After a moment passed he said that I was a brave man for wearing this hat. That there are a lot of people who are afraid to do so out of fear for a number of things. I was stunned. I had dismissed the thought that wearing a Make America Great Again hat made me a brave person.

I understood it took a bit of courage but it was not as if I was running into a burning building or storming the beaches of Normandy, I was simply wearing a red hat with the slogan for the duly elected president of the United States.

When I first came up with this idea I ran into people who thought it was a bad idea. They said they would not wear a MAGA hat because they did not want to open themselves to the possibility of being attacked. I understood their concern and hesitation, I was also frustrated that they were so afraid, but it only made me want to do it even more.

While I do not think that wearing a MAGA hat should be considered an act of bravery (I do not think I am any braver than the next person) I can understand why people would think of it that way. There are people who want or have wanted to wear a MAGA hat but have felt the social pressure not to.

I hope that sharing my experience here shows that you do not have to give into that social pressure and we all realize we are not as divided as the media and Facebook would have us believe.

Grocery Shopping

I had gone to the grocery store on day one but this time I was going full out grocery shopping. I know it seems like a normal thing but I must admit I was a little hesitant. I was going to be in a big public space for an extended period of time with lots of people coming and going.

I took comfort in the idea that most people won’t notice, busy with their own lives. As I grabbed my cart and approached the produce section I saw a young man look at me, look away than turn and look back for a second longer.

 

He continued to shop with the girl he was with and I continued to select the items I needed. Every so often I noticed that people would look at me for a second longer than normal but would than go about shopping.

Normally when in public I make eye contact with the people around me and smile at them if we make eye contact. While in the store I noticed that I had stopped doing this and instead would look straight ahead. I paused to think about this for a second and understood this was my way of avoiding inviting people to talk to me.

It was that feeling you had in school when the teacher asked a question you did not know the answer to so you averted your eyes and hoped they would not call on you. I was surprised that I had found myself acting differently than I normally do and resolved to act as my normal self.

As I continued shopping I notice that young couple I had seen in the produce section again. The girl stepped up and said that she liked my hat. I said thank you and we both kept shopping. I never considered what to do if people would complement me on the hat and later realized that people who were commenting were probably open to a conversation.

I missed this chance but in the future I will stop and make conversation with someone who complements my hat, at the very least I will tell them why I am wearing it and what I intend to do.

I want to also say thank you to the people who have responded positively to my MAGA hat, it might not seem like much but that small act of kindness is a great balm against the division and outraged obsessed media.

Observations

This weekend I mostly worked around the house and spent time walking and running my dogs. I did go out to a few places briefly. I went to grab some lunch and could tell that the people working behind the counter did not like my hat but they did a great job providing excellent customer service.

To me it was proof that the spirit of we don’t have to agree but can be civil to each other still exists. I also entered a retail establishment where normally the employees greet you as you enter the store. They took one look at me and then ignored me.

I am not sure if they were surprised, upset or just busy as I just kept walking and soon after left. If that is the worst thing I experience that would be fine with me.

 

I have noticed that wearing a MAGA hat in the part of Oregon where I live draws attention to yourself. It is just not something that you see outside of the internet or on the news. It seems to open you up to conversation and to have people take a longer look at you.

I suspected this was the case and while the extra attention is a little strange at first it has all been positive so far. I am open to having more conversations with people and want to try and engage a little more with people who approach me.

I have also observed a couple changes in my personal behavior and thoughts. The first thing I noticed was that I now ask myself if I want to really go to some place with my MAGA hat on. There is a part of me that says ‘go, but don’t wear your hat.’ I then ask myself the question, would you go if you were not wearing a MAGA hat, and if the answer is yes than I go with my MAGA hat on.

Part of this experiment is to wear my MAGA hat while I do everything that I would normally do. To show that people who wear MAGA hats are regular people too. That they are your neighbors or the guy who holds the door open for you at the restaurant or the lady who is selecting fruit next to you at the grocery store.

I think this feeling will fade over time as I commit myself to this challenge. I have also noticed that normally I make eye contact with people in public and if they return the contact I would usually smile or say hello.

It was something I taught myself to do a long time ago because I thought that sometime we are all in such a hurry that we ignore everyone around us. That is was a simple and nice way to brighten someone’s day ever so slightly. Since taking on this challenge I started looking straight ahead and avoiding eye contact.

I understand this is my way of avoiding opening myself up to comment and attention. This is something that I will work on as the challenge goes forward. I do not want to change who I am simply because I am wearing a MAGA hat.

Overall I would say my experience has been positive so far. While I have felt a little strange at times and have noticed that when I go out I am drawing attention to myself. I hope the rest of the month goes this smoothly and will write another update in a few days.

Happy MayAGA and hope everyone is having a great month!

MayAGA Day 1: A Good Start

Today is the first day of May and the start of MayAGA. This is the challenge for individuals to wear a MAGA hat every day in the month of May everywhere they go. It is not a march or rally but rather a demonstration that there are normal everyday people, some are your friends and neighbors, who are Republican, conservative and/or supporters of President Trump.

It is not an attempt to trigger or upset people but to show that you refuse to believe the hype of the media about how bad the world is and to say that you will refuse to allow your choices to be dictated by those who are willing to use violence and social pressure to silence you.

The First Step

After a lot of thought and reflection I decided that I would try wearing the MAGA hat for the whole month. I wrote a couple blog posts about it, clarifying my thoughts and intentions, and waited for May to arrive.

I would be lying if I said I was not nervous. Chief among my fears was that I would create more problems than I was trying to solve. I worried about how others would react to my choice. The media narratives did have an impact on me, but I had thought it through and steeled myself as I placed my MAGA hat on my head and walked out the door.

As I started my car my mind started to race with the uncertainties the day held for me. As I approached the grocery store I realized that this would be the first interaction. How would it go? Would anything bad happen? Would anyone even care? I hoped for the last one.

Early Morning Surprise

The store was mostly empty and I held my head up and looked forward, set on getting what I needed for breakfast and snacks for work. I grabbed a couple apples and oranges and some yogurt and headed to the register.

At this point I walked passed a few people but nothing happened. I placed my items on the belt as the cashier spoke to the person ahead of me. The cashier grabbed my items and started to scan them when she looked up to greet me.

I smile and stepped forward, more calm in my actions than in my mind. She said good morning and smile back at me. I moved over to the debt card machine and that is when she noticed the hat. A red hat with white letters causes people to take a second look.

To my surprise the cashier just nodded and said “Good for you!” We both knew she was talking about my hat and I grinned.

“Thanks.” I said as I put my card into the debt machine “I figured if I want to wear it I should be able to.” She agreed with me and asked where I got my MAGA hat. I told her I had to buy it online and that it was very reasonably priced. She told me that her husband was looking to buy one too.

We completed our transaction and wished each other a good day. I smiled as I walked to my car, seems I was worked up for nothing. Now on to the next challenge, time to go to work.

Work Day

I work for a small company and knew most everyone and thought things would be pretty safe but sometime you never know. I walked into work and punched the time clock and headed to my desk. The first few hours no one noticed a thing, I looked at my emails, did some work, and got my morning cup of coffee.

I had told a few people that I was going to wear my MAGA hat for the month of May, but saying it and showing up are two very different things. Slowly, as more people arrived, people started to notice.

At first it came in the form of second glances. Than people laughed, not at me but in that way you laugh when you are excited or interested in something. A few people complemented me, some were a little surprised that I was actually wearing a MAGA hat publicly, and one person made a joke about it.

Even the joke was lighthearted and my experience was positive. It was a bit uncomfortable at first to realize that I was drawing attention to myself, but that wore off and everyone got back to their work.

I went out to lunch, taco bell (there goes my diet), with no problem and returned to work to finish out my day. One of my coworkers, on his lunch break, created a meme for MayAGA (Picture at the top of the article).

Making the Leap

I started the day a bit nervous about what was in store for me. As I went forward with fortitude and prudence I realized that the media and online hype was just that, hype.

I understand that this was just one day but so far everything has been positive. It was a bit uncomfortable knowing that people will look at you twice, but I understood that by wearing the MAGA hat I was inviting people to comment and talk to me.

In fact that was the point, I wanted people to talk to me and realize that just because someone wears a MAGA hat, supports President Trump or has different ideas does not mean that they are a bad person.

I would recommend people who want to take part in MayAGA to do so. But I would also recommend they examine their reason for doing so. If you just want to piss people off, do not do it.

But if you have used sound reasoning and moral wisdom and understand that you will face social scrutiny, a hostile media, and are willing to accept that you will be used as a representation of everyone who wears a MAGA hat and that your every word and action are important and must be chosen carefully, than please join me in taking part in MayAGA.

Wearing a MAGA Hat: Foolhardy or Courageous

I was doing a YouTube live stream when a thought came to me. What would happen if a bunch of people wore Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats without going to a protest or march but just in their everyday lives?

Often times a story will make the rounds in the media that someone in a MAGA hat did something bad. Sometimes these stories are pure fabrication, such as the instance of the Covington kids, drummed up by big media companies desperate to stay relevant. Other times they are legitimate people doing bad things while wearing a MAGA hat.

On the other side you will also see stories of people being harassed, assaulted, or discriminated against for simply wearing a MAGA hat. It is these stories, about the fringe people in our society, that forms most people’s opinions of someone wearing a MAGA hat.

This realization led me to ask the question, what if regular people wear MAGA hats and go about their lives as normal? What if people have regular everyday interaction with someone in a MAGA hat that is not only calm and peaceful but pleasant?

What would happen if regular people wore MAGA hats for a whole month?

The Idea

I first pitched the idea to a group engaged in spreading the ideas of liberty. It was received well but ultimately turned down due to requirements around their non-profit status. Next I spoke with individuals within that group who would be interested in working on this project on the side.

My idea was to promote the idea of getting people to wear MAGA hats for a whole month and just go about their daily lives. After some discussion we thought it would be a good idea to include an activity that each individual could do to Make America Great Again. This could be anything from improving your own personal life (stop smoking, clean your room) to volunteering at or organizing a charitable event.

The reasoning behind this idea was that if you want America to be Great than you need to adopt the responsibility of making it so. These acts could be shared (but don’t have to be) under the #makingamericagreatagain.

The Problem

The problem with this idea was that my friends and I had no real way of promoting it to a wide audience nor did we have the time necessary to get everything rolling. I wrote a blog post outlining the general rules and ideas and encouraged engagement but it got lost in the internet shuffle.

I created a few memes but they did not take off. We came up with the name March MAGAness (a play on March Madness) but decided that we needed more time to generate interest in the idea and participation. We moved it to May and came up with the name MayAGA.

Again we all had full time jobs as well as other obligations (family, non-profits, and live streams) that we had to attend to. The idea did not catch on. People thought it was either an interesting idea or a crazy idea. I was told that it was stupid because it opens you up to being assaulted or that it put you in danger.

I took those criticisms to heart and almost gave up the idea at that time. It was then that I made a choice. I admitted to myself that I did not have a big reach and that I might not be able to promote this idea well but there was one thing that I could do.

I could do it myself.

My Experiment

I have made the choice that I will wear my MAGA hat for the month of May. I will wear it around the house, when I go around town, and while at work. Part of me is worried about what will happen but I did not come to this choice improperly.

I asked myself hard questions and gave myself honest answers. Am I just wearing the MAGA hat to trigger people? No, while the hat may upset some people that is not my reasoning behind wearing it. I am wearing it because I want to say that I will not be intimidated into keeping silent. I will not be told what I can and cannot wear or what I have to say.

Will I take the hat off? No. I will not be hostile about it but I will refuse to take it off unless I make the choice to do so. I will not allow the government nor the mob to intimidate me into doing something that I don’t want to do.

I asked myself these and other questions but ultimately I made the choice to wear my MAGA hat for the month of May. I live in Oregon, near ‘Progressive Portland’ and I know that I will face challenges for doing this. I also have confronted the idea that this might either be foolhardy or courageous.

But I have determined to try and walk that line.

Happy MayAGA everyone, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Mr. Wheeler Has No Clothes

In a Republic the public elects and imbues representatives with certain authority and responsibility. This is the people willingly giving up a piece of their rights and liberty in order to make their lives a better place.

When an elected official abandons their responsibility to the people, that imbued authority is also abdicated.

An elected official also abdicates their authority when their responsibility has become corrupted. If they only feel responsible for those whom they share an ideology their sense of responsibility has been corrupted.

It is with this corruption or abandonment of responsibility that the authority can no longer be claimed by the elected official. The constitution is clear in this situation, if the authority has been abdicated it is to return to the people.

Losing Faith

Mr. Wheeler has refused to support his police officers, instead he favors the ideologically possessed activists who are only interested in exerting power over others.

Why should they break up a fight among two people if ideological activists will spin it to make it seem like a legitimate exercise of authority is an abuse of power and the media will gladly fan the flames created by those lies simply because it feeds their ideological desire?

Then the Mayor, the person who is supposed to represent them and support them, sacrifices them for his own personal and political gain all while wearing the mask of compassion.

This is how you get violent thugs in the street blocking traffic and attacking cars while the police watch and do nothing. This is how you get masked groups of vandals destroying property and attacking groups who have a legally approved and permitted protests with mortars all under the guise of 'protest.'

Businesses have lost faith in the mayor as well. A mayor who supports the homeless person urinating on the sidewalk of a business to the point where no amount of water will rinse away the stench.

 

A mayor who not only supports the homeless people who aggressively harass employees but promotes the very activists who would love nothing more than to see these businesses destroyed either out of misguided sense of outrage or an actual hatred of anyone possessing a shred of competence.

Abdication

It seems that Mr. Wheeler believes that if he exercises his authority he is doing something wrong. He seems to be on a campaign to seek approval from the radical activists in Portland and with that approval find someone with whom he can exercise his authority.

He is the one the people of Portland invested with the authority and responsibility of managing and maintaining the city. The people of Portland did not elect the activists who seem to have such a stranglehold on the mayor.

This would seem to imply that the mayor has not simply abandoned his authority and responsibility but has prostituted it out to the ideological activists on whom he seeks approval.

The people of Portland invested the authority in the mayor and if he is going to give up some of that power he needs to return it to all the people not just the radical activists who yell at him the most. With his latest interview the mayor of Portland seems upset that he does not have the power to oppress those who he disagrees with ideologically.

He says he wants to stop people fighting in the street but he believes that the only way to do that is to oppress Patriot Prayer or groups like them. The truth is those groups have the right to protest just as much as anyone else and that the real problem in the city are those whom the mayor agrees with on an ideological level.

I am talking about Antifa and the violent masked activists. They disrespect the police, the people of Portland (at the same time they claim to stand up for and defend the ‘community’), and anyone who holds an opinion different than theirs.

Mr. Wheeler seems beholden to these ideological groups even to the point where the good people of Portland are left to suffer. While these things might not have impacted you yet, it is only a matter of time before Antifa comes for your business or bash your head in for flying the wrong flag (even if you agree with them).

While they might not do these things at the express direction of the mayor they do so knowing full well that Mr. Wheeler will turn a blind eye to their activities. I would ask the people of Portland, put aside your political ‘group’ and take an honest look at the mayor of Portland. Does he stand for clear principles or does he simply try to please those who are loudest?

What is MayAGA and will you stand with us?

What is MayAGA? It is a month where liberty loving Americans say they will not be silent anymore, don a MAGA hat, and do what they can to Make America Great.

While the MAGA hat is linked to President Trump I ask that you consider looking deeper at the meaning of wearing a MAGA hat. I am not asking people to wear it in support of President Trump, rather wear it as a symbol that you will not be afraid anymore. Afraid that if you dare to speak the truth as you see it you will be attacked and ostracized.

Participation

The basic level of participation is to wear a MAGA hat during the month of May and go about your life as normal. Wear it to the grocery store, to the movie theater, or out to a restaurant. Do not make a scene or big deal about wearing the hat, just wear it and act normally.

The next level is to do something during the month to Make America Great. Organize a food drive, accomplish a personal goal, pick up trash in your local community, or help an elderly person carry their groceries to the car. We are not asking you to change the world only do something that makes something slightly better for yourself or someone else.

Anything more beyond that is up to each individual to decide.

The Rules

I.          You must remain 100% non-violent. Meaning even if you are attacked physically you do not fight back. You protect yourself, take the attack, stand up, dust yourself off and refuse to back down.

II.        You must be 100% non-racist. MAGA does not know skin color, everyone is welcome.

III.       Speak carefully. Tell the truth as best you can and if you wouldn’t say it to or in front of your mother don’t say it. Remember the media is hungry to take you out of context to sell their narrative.

IV.       Do not wear a MAGA hat if you WANT TO piss people off or trigger others. Rather wear it as a sign that you will not be told what to say or believe.

V.        Ignore the haters. Some people might call you names, shout or yell at you. Do not engage them, they are not interested in a conversation and not worth the time or risk.

VI.       Always remain calm and never back down or apologize for your MAGA hat.

VII.     Treat everyone as an individual not as a representative of their group. One man does not speak for all men simply because he is a man.

VIII.    If someone is afraid of you or your hat offer to have a conversation with them. If they refuse do not push the issue or mock them.

IX.       Do not chastise, name call, or play the shouting game with people who spew hate at you. Most of them simply do not understand or are enslaved by their ideology.

X.        If someone takes your MAGA hat, demand it back but do not attack them. They can take or destroy the hat but they cannot take or destroy your liberty.

XI.       Do at least one thing during the month to Make America Great Again. Personal and local community betterment make bigger impacts than you think.

Concerns

I understand people have concerns about participating in MayAGA. The main concern is that people are afraid they are going to be attacked and hurt. While this is something to worry about I do not believe it is as common as we all believe.

The truth is that liberty is not safe and that this is a legitimate concern. The real question is what do you do about it? Do you allow yourself to be silent out of fear, enjoying the temporary security of obscurity and bondage? Or do you face it directly and ultimately become stronger for the struggle?

Participating is going to take a certain amount of courage and risk. If someone comes to hurt you remain calm but do not back down. Ultimately they want to silence you and make you afraid to be you. Do not give them the satisfaction.

If this happens you need to understand that the many eyed media monster will be watching you. How you act in this situation can determine how this whole project will be viewed. Remember most of the media wants to make you out to be a villain for standing on your own.

It is not just the media who will be watching your actions. Other liberty centered Americans will be watching too. They will be watching and waiting to see if they want to stand with you or if you are just another provocateur looking for self-aggrandizement. Act in such a way to inspire others to stand with you and join the cause of liberty.

The other side of this concern is if people who claim they are participating do something unsavory. This is always a possibility with any movement, but some safe guards have been built into this project to protect against this.

The chief among these are the clearly stated rules. Violating these rules breaks the association and the person or persons violating them will be barred from official participation.

The media will not care about this, they have a narrative they want to sell at any cost. The truth is we are not doing this for them or their praise or approval. We are participating for our own individual reasons and to answer the call to do something courageous. You are not guilty for the actions of others and if someone does something you do not like you can disagree with them.

We are not a collective, we are an association of individuals capable of making up our own minds and making our own choices and living with the consequences of doing so.

If you have other concerns feel free to contact me and we can address them together.

The Oregon GOP: Criticism and the Path Forward

The Oregon Republican Party has some serious thinking to do after the 2018 election rout. Our party has been relegated to practical uselessness in Salem and we are forced to ask ourselves does the Republican Party have a future in Oregon?

I think it does but only if the party is willing to make some changes and address the issues put forward by its members. With the end of the election we have seen the return of Sam Carpenter who has brought fresh criticism about the party.

The Carpenter Criticism

Sam Carpenter, like him or not, is addressing something that the Republican Party is not. The current prevailing wisdom is that Republicans need to be more moderate in order to win in Oregon.

 

If we learned anything from Knute’s campaign it is that is absolutely not true. You might be able to gain some support, but at what cost?

Let’s take this strategy to its logical conclusion. Even if you are 100% exactly the same as the Democratic candidate on every issue and the only thing that separate’s you from them is a letter next to your name, you will not win. In the end some people will believe you are a bad person simply because you are a Republican.

Carpenter is unapologetically Republican and that is why people like him. All too often individual Republicans feel like they have to hide the fact that they support the Republican Party. I even had someone once tell me my neighbor was brave because he had a Trump bumper sticker on his car.

Is it now an act of bravery to put a political bumper sticker on your car? Sadly yes. That is not a criticism of the current state of politics but rather of the current state of cowardice among Republicans. Let me be clear, this is not an insult. I have been guilty of this personally. Rather it is a call to action on an individual level.

Carpenter’s solution is to burn everything down and rebuild it. Only he wants to rebuild it in his image. This might seem to work in the short term but in the long run it will fail. Sam will one day leave the party and we will be left with an empty shell that will collapse in on itself.

I do agree we need to start the fire but we cannot allow it to burn down everything. Instead we need to burn off the dead wood. It is going to be a painful process, change always is, but a necessary one if the Oregon Republican Party is to remain viable in the future.

Stop Trying to Appeal to the Left

On the surface it would seem like appealing to those on the left would increase the Republican Parties chances of getting elected in a left leaning state. Except we have tried this already and it has only resulted in the Republican Party becoming the minority party in the state to the point of becoming a non-entity.

 

I am not saying we cannot try to win over those on the left, rather stop trying to BE the left. It seems disingenuous, like we are afraid to be ourselves. This disingenuousness comes across to the voters, even if it is not clear that is what it is.

This type of appeal feels like the person who is trying too hard to get others to like him but only comes across as annoying. They lack confidence in who they are and they try to be someone else. The falsehood ultimately comes through and forms into the negative feedback loop.

They believe they are disliked because too much of who they truly are is showing, so they try harder to be someone they are not and only making the problem worse. This is the negative feedback loop in which the party has been stuck.

How can we expect anyone else to believe in our values and the truth of our message if we are constantly trying to distance ourselves from them? Never apologize for being Republican or holding Republican values. If you feel like you need to apologize for holding a Republican value then you need to ask yourself if you really believe in that value.

Our leadership is not appointed or chosen from on high but is a reflection of our choices as individuals who are members of a larger group. Our leaders reflect us and if we do not like our leaders we need to start by taking an honest look at ourselves.

Deadwood

Sam Carpenter is not the problem, rather he is simply a symptom of the greater problem. We can try to ignore him or say we do not like how he does things but we still need to address what he represents.

Carpenter represents those in the party who feel like they are not listened to and who are told the only way to win in Oregon is to become more moderate. If they are ignored people like Sam Carpenter will continue to gain support.

These people need to be taken seriously because their concerns are serious. The way things have been done for the last 30 years is not working and it is a time for a change. We are the minority party, we need to start acting like it.

One of the benefits of being in the minority is that we can take risks as we have little to lose. We can try new things, bring in new people and become a contending party once again. Yes our party might be in chaos now, but it is in chaos that we find opportunity. Do we allow this chaos to get worse until we fade away into obscurity or do we trim the deadwood regardless of the pain and become stronger for the experience?

The choice is one we all need to make as individuals. It is a choice that requires acting out in the world, for a choice that is not acted upon might as well not have been made at all.