Republican Party has been in control of the Bushies for far too long and is the cause of unrest in the Party across the country for example Michigan-Jen Kuznicki

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"The party has been under the control of the “Bushies” for far too long, and it is why there is such unrest.  The top-down authoritarian nature of those in control of the party is foreign to the liberty-lovers within it."
 
2/26/14,  "My Declaration of Independence from the Republican Party," by Jen Kuznicki
 
"I got involved in the Michigan Republican Party in November 2008, right after Obama was elected.  Having identified with the Republican Party my entire life, I wanted to find out why we nominated John McCain and why our side seemed to not be able to tell the truth about the man who is now our president.

I must step down as chair of my beloved Presque Isle County Republican Party,
but not because anyone has asked me to, nor because I do not like the Republicans in my locale. I have to step down to be able to continue to speak the truth.
 
The leadership of the party, paranoid about the insurgent tea party, have changed national rules to shorten the presidential primary process, a key to moving an establishment pick forward with less time for conservative contenders to mount a decent primary challenge.  The primary challenge is what Reagan used to create a choice for those who believe the establishment pick was not at all what the country needed.  The primary challenge is what the tea party uses in races big and small, and certain moves by the state and national party have desecrated that avenue, and it needs to be addressed.

For instance, as I mentioned, shortening the primaries is the opposite of what you would do if you wanted a robust debate on where the party is headed, and how current officeholders are reneging on their election promises.  It is a top-down authoritarian action by a party increasingly becoming as intolerant and controlling as its supposed counter-part, the American Left. The other thing the party has done to desecrate the primary process, is put paid members of incumbent Congressmen in district chair positions, like here in the First District, namely Jesse Osmer.

Jesse is being paid quite nicely by Congressmen Benishek, so, actually, he’s getting paid by us, since the Congressmen draws a check from us.  I was very helpful in the installing of Benishek in office in 2010, and if I had my way, I’d take it all back.  Benishek has gone back on every campaign promise he ran on, even the one where he promised only to be in office for two terms. 

There is speculation he changed his tune to wanting three terms because his pension would vest after 5 years of service, which he would be eligible to draw in 2016, if he is re-elected.  Now, I can hear the screaming of every member of the Republican Party, asking me why I’m trying to help the Democrat.  I am not, I’m simply telling the truth, and that is why I can’t be in the party anymore.

But I do not believe Jesse should be chairing the district either, because the information I and others have on his boss would be useful to a primary challenger, and Jesse’s job is to protect the incumbency of Benishek.  If Jesse was not employed by Dan, he would have to take a neutral position on any primary challenges, and as you can see, he cannot do so.  He is in charge of the message of all the county parties in the First District, and since he is, and since he works for the Congressman, a primary challenger has little chance, which is why they set it up that way. These types of moves by establishment types prove they are not confident they can win on the field of ideas.

Not only that, but Jesse destroyed the Alpena County Party by his strong-arm tactics there, criticizing people who would use the primary to draw a contrast between conservatives and moderates, and bragging that he was able to commit far-leftists to vote Republican when those lines are not drawn.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want far-leftists to vote Republican if they are coming to us because we show ourselves to be leftists like them.  We don’t want them to come to us on their terms, we want people to come to us on ours, the principles of limited government, a civil society, strong national defense, family, and honor.  But if people like Jesse have their way, more fine lines and leftism will continue seep into our direction as a party.

The American Left has a completely different idea of governance.  They want to control the people, not allow them to control themselves, and that should be a key difference between us and them.

Jesse and others are doing some destroying in the district now as well, whether it is his idea or his Congressman boss’ idea, by using tactics to silence conservative insurgency, clearly trying to have every conservative purged from the state committee, and the district executive committee. 

I am sure if they could find a way to remove me as chair, after my criticism of Snyder and Calley, Benishek, Camp, Miller, Upton, (my gosh is Upton terrible) Casperson, Walker, Foster, (he’s another one that’s gotta go) Pscholka, Bolger, and the rest, they would have by now as well. 

But the party’s problem is that there are few who even understand how many of their own policies hurt everybody because their policies head us all in the same direction as the Democrats, just a tad slower.

It comes down to a simple truth.  Either the Republican Party remains a home to conservatism, or it doesn’t.  And if it doesn’t, it will never be a viable party again.

In my view, and after last weekend’s State Committee meeting I clearly could see I was right, that there will be no coalition-building going on in the Michigan Republican Party.  Jesse, after a cordial relationship these past many years, would not even look at me, deliberately avoiding me for daring to put up a conservative to fill a district executive position.  That sort of childish behavior is easy for a mother to spot.  This is not how we build coalitions.  A person in such a position shouldn’t play favorites, and ostracize.

The Republican Party as a whole has a difficulty fighting for principle and a difficulty telling the truth.  If they did both, they would operate from a position of strength and that would invigorate the party and attract newcomers.  As it stands, the platform is being ignored and the testing has commenced to do away with key principles within it.

Rick Snyder is singing Hillary Clinton’s song on government-run healthcare.  He is awful.  I couldn’t support him after Medicaid expansion.  But now all the Republican leaders and cheerleaders say that I must or I can’t be a Republican.  I think differently. I don’t support him because his policies are dubious as Republican policy, they are more like Democratic policy, and when a Republican acts like a Democrat, they lose conservative support.  If Rick didn’t want to lose conservative support, he wouldn’t have strong-armed legislators to vote his way, heck, he wouldn’t have entertained the thought in the first place.

Not to mention the fact that Rick isn’t strong on pro-life matters, which is why the grassroots of his own Republican Party had to scramble to get enough signatures last summer to do what he should have done if he wanted this party to unite.

So I’m not so sure he cares if people like me don’t support him, and that’s a problem for the party going forward.

I’m leaving my positions in the party to be able to speak the truth, but I would be back if this party openly welcomes the tea party or constitutional conservatives, and embraces the policies of limited government.  I applaud all of the conservatives suffering in their positions now, and hope their involvement will turn the party toward a more conservative path.

I have not stopped being a Republican, I’ve stopped voluntarily promoting the Michigan Republican Party.

I feel it is important to make this point.  When Reagan ran against an incumbent in ’76, and the establishment in ’80, he too was ostracized and treated very poorly.  They withheld matching funds, they played little games all through both battles, but in the end, Reagan’s conservatism resonated with the American people with two landslides in ’80 and ’84.  When Reagan picked George Bush, an establishment Republican who was not a conservative, and mistook conservatism for being mean-spirited, the same tripe heard from liberals of both parties today, it was seen as a very bad day for the future of conservatism, but needed to unite the party.

Since then, the Bush family, has continued in the leftward lurch of this party, continuously refusing to draw lines where they should be drawn.  G.W. Bush was quoted as saying that there is no “conservative movement” because he “whooped Gary Bauer’s ass” in his ride to the top.  Since G.H.W. Bush, and the influence of people like Karl Rove, this party has gone so far left, that we actually have GOP Senators who stand for corrupting the 2nd Amendment, and the whole of the establishment wanting amnesty for illegals.  We have Bush acolytes in Washington DC declaring that limited government is an impossibility and are embracing the massive expansions of FDR and LBJ even as these programs and policies are consistently described as unsustainable.  A few years from now, they too will accept all of BHO’s tripe as “the new direction” of politics they will happily try to build a political home within. Too many don’t understand the problems with Common Core, or central planning or the liberty extinguishing government/private partnerships. Reagan knew we needed to get back to our constitution and our nation’s founding form of limited government, and the fastest route there is to decrease the size and scope of the federal government, and give the power back to the people. Too many forget he wanted to abolish the Department of Education, and because he had Republican “rabbits” instead of conservative “tigers,” he couldn’t get it accomplished.

The party has been under the control of the “Bushies” for far too long, and it is why there is such unrest.  The top-down authoritarian nature of those in control of the party is foreign to the liberty-lovers within it.  The power should come from the grassroots and move up, since it is the people who represent the party in each city and village, who know the folks, and who can reach out to them better than the one-size-fits-all power being consolidated in Washington DC, and distributed downward.

The tea party represents the Reagan coalition of disaffected conservative Republicans, conservative Democrats, Libertarians and constitutionalists– they are well-informed and frustrated with the Republican Party for their refusal to fight the far-left who now control the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party today, instead of representing one philosophy to all people, as conservatism well articulated does, are looking at the differences between us, whether race, gender, or ethnicity, and trying to give us some piece of the pie.  They are too busy mimicking the Democratic Party to realize that the winning philosophy stands in sharp contrast instead.

Bring on the primaries."

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