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If you missed page 7B of Today’s Midland Reporter-Telegram, here is the op-ed that you missed.
You Are Electing More Than “Just A County Chair.”
NELSON SPEAR
County Chairman Candidate
“It’s just County Chair.” While campaigning for the privilege of representing Midland County Republicans, I have heard some people say those exact four words. Sometimes, the statement comes out in the form of a question like this one: “Now tell me why you are working so hard and spending your own money to get a job that hardly anyone wants and pays nothing?” I want to thank the Midland Reporter-Telegram for giving me a chance to explain why I feel that being Chairman of the Midland County Republican Party is a very important job.
This is a critical time for Republicans in Texas. While Midland County itself may not be in danger of going Democrat, Barack Obama and Wendy Davis have their own plans to turn Texas Democrat. It is clear that if Texas’ electoral votes do not go for the Republican nominee in the Presidential elections, no Republican can ever be elected President.
The Democrats know this. Following Wendy Davis’ infamous abortion filibuster, millions of out of state dollars poured into Texas to help her take the governorship away from the Republicans. The Obama-Davis timing is great politically because some Republicans have fallen asleep in their security of always holding certain offices Republican.
Remember, the job of the Republican County Chair is to help Republicans get elected. If you look at the maximum Republican votes in Midland County’s last three Presidential elections, you would not know that this was the hotbed of Republican politics. Despite a booming economy and a booming population, Republican voting has not been booming. In 2004, 2008 and 2012, net Republican votes were virtually unchanged. Specifically, for those three Presidential election years, no Republican candidate received more than 37,000 votes. Further, we lost Republican votes from the 2008 election cycle to the 2012 election cycle.
An active Chairman needs to have a specific plan in place to deal with this challenge. My seven-point plan to turnout more Republicans is found at my website www.NelsonSpear.com.
Due to space limitations, I will discuss just two of those ideas:
I am a conservative. I am pro-life. I support and defend the second amendment. And, I believe that the greatest threat to the United States’ sovereignty is the national debt. I also think that just stating my beliefs is not enough; therefore, I write about my beliefs. Besides being a former federal prosecutor and an active oil and gas businessman, I am also an active conservative writer. Many of my articles on topics such as the endangered species act, abortion, welfare reform, drug legalization and the national debt have been published on a variety of websites.
Additionally, as part of communicating the conservative message, my wife and I and several others formed Despierta Tu Voz in 2012. This organization is dedicated to helping minorities realize that they themselves hold conservative values and they should vote those values. In 2013, we held an event in Centennial Plaza that included many notable Texans including Senator Ted Cruz who headlined the evening’s events.
A county chair should be visible and accessible to the community. If you are a Republican and you don’t agree with me on all of my issues, you will still have a seat at the table to discuss the issues. I will return your phone calls. And for those of you who have been told by anyone in the Republican Party that we do not want your help, I will find a place for you to serve. And believe me, there is plenty of work to do.
So going back to the original question presented to me of why I am working so hard for the position of Chairman, I will conclude with this. First, I am not prepared to ask others to do what I am not willing to do first. That is why I am meeting people, putting up signs, and knocking on doors to personally ask for your vote. If I am elected, I will ask some of you to do the same. Second, there is a concerted effort to elect Liberal Democrats to state-wide offices here in Texas. Midland County is under-performing in getting Republicans out to vote. I believe I can do a better job than has been done in the past.
It may be “just county chair.” But I am choosing to take the job very seriously. The stakes are just that high. I would appreciate your vote and your support. Thank you.
By Nelson Spear with Dustin Hull
NOTE: This original article was first published on January 17, 2014 on the Texas GOP Vote website, found here. On February 14, 2014, I was going door-to-door for my campaign. That afternoon I met Dustin Hull and his family. Dustin invited me to sit down and talk with him about the current issues. I eagerly accepted his invitation. After meeting his family, we began to talk. When I mentioned that I was a conservative write, he asked what I had written. I mentioned this article and how the extreme environmentalists are like characters from a fairy tale. He chuckled and then he got real quiet. He thought for a moment and said, you know these extreme environmentalists are also like the Pied Piper of Hamelin who is now piping our voters away not with the truth but some magical spell. I reflected for just a second and realized that he was right. After talking the idea through with each other, I asked if could add his idea to my article. He said yes. So, here is the article redux with proper authorship accreditation.
I am tired of all of the warning labels.
The latest one comes from California (I am not surprised. Are you?) where a local group is trying to get the California government to require notices to be posted on gas pumps that filling your car can cause … wait for it … yes, global warming. The problem with too many warning labels is that as the warning labels increase, our culture becomes desensitized to real issues like not smoking near a gas pump. I see it as a Chicken Little/Little Boy Who Cried Wolf Problem/Pied Piper of Hamlin problem.
It is a Chicken Little Problem. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. The American culture is bombarded and saturated with too many warnings (like the proposed warning). In fact, no credible evidence exists to support this particular warning. The sky is not falling. Most of these types of warnings are issued without little or no scientific basis. It is as if this obscure group who proposes the new warning had to find some new way to bring attention to their religion called man-made global warming. Reading the article about the proposed new warning carefully, this is what the group’s attention is all about.
It is a Little Boy Who Cried Wolf Problem. Every day we have a wolf alert about the environment when there has been no wolf. Extreme environmentalists, like Al Gore in particular, have lost lots of credibility with those that think and reason. Like other liberal extremists, the environmental extremists overstate the possible immediate consequences of their current target du jour. Unfortunately for those of us in the energy and mining business, we seem to be a frequent target. Some of their claims have been so wild that if there ever was something new about the environment that we should need to know, we could not and will not believe them because they have cried wolf way too many times. For example, in 2007, Al Gore predicted that the northern polar ice cap could be completely gone in as little as seven years, but at the most 22 years. That was seven years ago. Even by the most slanted scientific survey, the northern ice cap has not been diminished to the degree that Al Gore predicted. At present rates, every credible scientist would also agree that it would not melt in 22 years. Gore has yet to issue any explanation. Thus, the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf Problem can be defined as repeatedly exaggerating a specific problem. In this case, the people will stop listening to you.
It is a Pied Piper of Hamelin Problem. Most of us remember the story of the Pied Piper. As a reminder to those who do not remember the story well, here is a synopsis. The town of Hamelin was plagued with rats. A piper with a magical flute came into town and made a deal with the town that in exchange for payment, he would lure the rats of out of town. The town agreed and the piper led the rats of out of town. When the piper returned for payment, the town refused to pay. In retaliation, he used his magical flute once again but this time to lure the children of the village away. In this example, Al Gore and others like him are the Pied Piper and their flute is man-made global warming. And these extremists have come to expect that every time that they pipe their magical flute that we should all follow them blindly without thinking or asking questions.
Let us not be like lemmings that blindly follow those in front of them to their own demise by listening to the magical flute. Gore has made a fortune by piping his magical flute. He has also made a lot of followers. Now, I am ok with another man’s belief so long it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. Unfortunately, for the rest of us, it does pick our pocket, especially those of us in the energy and mining industry. Whether it is fighting increased regulations or defending mineral development plans, proponents of man-made global warming have cost the energy and mining industry millions. It also has cost consumers millions of dollars because petroleum based products and precious metals are found in almost everything we use on a daily basis.
Conservatives have tried to point out these failed predictions; however, the mainstream media seems to have forgotten Al Gore’s predictions. Let me encourage all conservatives continue to be vigilant to point out these failures no matter what the mainstream media says.
Getting out the vote (known by insiders by its’ acronym GOTV) is a highly specialized part of the election process. Many people within the political process have built very successful careers solely on getting one particular segment of the population out to vote. Many articles and books have been written on this subject alone. I myself have read a couple of the books and many of the articles.
Like those other writers, I too have more than one idea about getting out the vote. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Midland County needs to step up its’ game when it comes to turning out the vote. Additionally, both the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) and I share a very strong opinion as to which group that the GOP really needs to focus on for the next several elections. And that group is the Hispanic population.
As the RNC and the RPT have been saying for the last two years, the current demographic of Republican Party has to change in order to survive. All of the party activists have been told that in just a few short years, whites will be a minority in Texas. That trend is undeniable with the numbers of Hispanics moving to Texas and their birth rates outpacing whites. And, not only are Hispanic population numbers booming but their salaries are booming as well. The booming economy in Midland County is evident. But, don’t just take my word for it, the US Census reports that from 2008 – 2012, median salary in Midland, Texas jumped 13.2%.(Source: US Census)
I see this population trend as a tremendous opportunity for two reasons.
First, as the Hispanic population prospers, the more likely that their taxes will significantly increase. At some point, they are going to realize that the government is taking way too much money for what they worked so hard for.
“Latinos are Republican. They just don’t know it yet.” – Ronald Reagan
Second, Hispanic values tend to be more in line with Republican values than Democrat values. Just recently, the Midland Reporter Telegram reported that local Hispanics are more likely to identify as Republican than the other major party. Thus, the RNC and the RPT is encouraging the local Republican parties to do all that they can to reach out to Hispanics.
To no one’s surprise, Midland County has already led the way in courting these particular votes. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, in 2012, Nancy and I and several other Republicans started Despierta Tu Voz, an organization dedicated to helping minorities realize that that they are indeed conservatives. As part of our first annual event, I drafted the “Republican Values are My Values” handout. (Senator Ted Cruz attended this event in 2013, see picture below). With the help of the RNC’s representative at the RPT, we have Spanish version of the handout. The response of those who speak Spanish to the handout has been overwhelmingly positive. While the primary season is almost over, we have enough time to organize for this November’s vote to continue educating minorities about Republican values.
US Senator Ted Cruz at the Despierta Tu Voz event in Midland, September 2013.
There are many ways that we can build coalitions with other Republicans in other counties. Below is just one idea that came to me the other day.
While working the 2010 primary for Governor Rick Perry, I had the pleasure of hosting a phone bank at my office in Midland. We had a good turnout; there were probably eight of us making calls that Saturday morning. However, on reflecting on it this last weekend, I now realize that we probably missed an opportunity to coordinate with our neighboring counties of Ector and Andrews. While Governor Perry easily won the primary, I now reflect what kind of impact that we might have had had the volunteers of those three counties conferred a little on phone calling and walking lists.
This brings me to the point of today’s post – building coalitions with other counties. The purpose of building coalitions with other counties is not only to build camaraderie with the counties, but it is primarily to help our Republicans get elected. Thinking locally, I can envision how Midland County and Ector County can work together especially on their shared border. For example, we can have central locations within Midland County and Ector County where volunteers can pick up maps and walking lists and yard signs. Further, we can also delegate the organizing of phone banking to one county and the organizing of events to another county. Can you imagine the outcome of any general election voter turnout with this type of coordination? I certainly can. And it is this kind of vision that we are going to need this November to defeat the plans of Wendy Davis and Barack Obama and their Battleground Texas plans.
This morning I found this story about Senator Rand Paul’s trip to Texas this past weekend. I found this particular coverage of Paul’s visit interesting:
Speaking to the county Republican organization in Houston Saturday evening, Paul warned that Texas “will be a Democratic state within 10 years if you don’t change.”
“That doesn’t mean we give up on what we believe in, but it means we have to be a more welcoming party,” Paul said, as reported by CNN. “We have to welcome people of all races. We need to welcome people of all classes – business class, working class.”
“We need to have people with ties and without ties, with tattoos and without tattoos; with earrings, without earrings,” he said. “We need a more diverse party. We need a party that looks like America.”
More to the point, that means attracting more Hispanics, who make up nearly 40 percent of voters there.
So, I’m interested in hearing from you, what you think about Senator Rand Paul’s warning to Texans?
I have two quick thoughts on this Principle:
First, when I first drafted the 7 Principles over five months ago, I should have made it clear that the county chair needs to be consistently writing, speaking and defending the conservative message. Effective communication can only be matured with practice and evaluation by other conservatives.
Second, the means to communicate the Conservative message is easier today than ever. Between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many, many blogging websites, the opportunities abound to spread the Conservative message. Yet, I think that we are squandering opportunities that are not related to the media. Specifically, I think that we need to return to the human touch.
We do this in two ways:
1). We need to go to where the crowds are. For example, about four times a year, Midland County has a huge gun and knife show. Thousands of people attend this. What a prime opportunity to not only meet people and talk to them about the 2nd Amendment, but also to register them to vote. See the picture below, I took this picture just this past weekend while I had a sponsorship table at the show. Look at all those potential Republican voters that would can potentially engage with, simply by showing up.
Midland Gun & Knife Show, February 1, 2014
2). We also need to create our own crowds. For example, in 2012, several of us organized with the Midland County Republican Women to form Despierta Tu Voz, an organization dedicated to helping minorities realize their conservative values. In September 2013, we had a phenomenal event with many honored guests and speakers including Senator Ted Cruz who was our headline speaker (see picture below). The event was so successful that many of the speakers have committed to returning to our function in 2014.
US Senator Ted Cruz at the Despierta Tu Voz event in Midland, September 2013.
Communicating the conservative message takes commitment. I have been committed to such an effort on behalf of my fellow Republicans, both in my writing and in my appearances in interviews and on panels. I hope to continue to serve our cause in this way as your Chairman of the Midland County Republican Party.
A seat at the table. Republicans constantly speculate why they lose certain elections. I believe that there are many answers to that riddle. But one answer for sure is that many Republicans feel like that they have been excluded from the electoral process both locally and nationally. Locally, some Republicans feel that the local party has no use for them or their ideas. Also, all of the “party jobs” are filled and there is no opportunity to get involved and serve. Nationally, some Republicans feel like that the “establishment Republicans” predetermines (or at least strongly influence) who the national nominees will be.
A County Chair’s job is to bring these disaffected Republicans back into the fold. A County Chairman achieves this by striving to make sure that everyone who considers themselves a Republican feel like that they have a voice in local party maters. Specifically, the County Chair needs to remind these Republicans of their value to the Republican Party. The County Chair also should find a place for everyone to serve who wants to serve.
As I write this, I am reminded of Ronald Reagan’s quote that “The person who agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend and an ally, not a 20% traitor.” Whether they affiliate with the Pro-Choice Republicans, Pro-Life Republicans, Log Cabin Republicans or even the John Birch Republicans, no Republican should feel or be made to feel like that they have been shutout of the political process. A County Chair who ignores these different groups is not only missing a lot of talent and networking ability, they also risk losing a lot more elections.
Finally, while building this coalition, the County Chair needs to remain committed to his or her core values. Additionally, whatever those values are, everyone in the coalition should know what those values are.
– Read the 7 Principles of an Effective County Chairman
Many folks are telling me they can’t find links to purchase tickets to the 2014 Bush Day Dinner featuring Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick. Further, when they do find the link, it’s too difficult to write down and it’s impossible to remember. Well, problem solved, please use and share this shorter, direct URL (or click here).
http://tiny.cc/MidlandGOP2014Dinner
Republican party technology doesn’t have to be so difficult. Again, http://tiny.cc/MidlandGOP2014Dinner
Interview with Captain Watchdog, Jason Moore
Back in September, I spent an hour in studio with Jason Moore, aka Captain Watchdog, on KWEL AM1070. We talked about my campaign, some of my beliefs, and about both the national and local politics of the day. Below you will find all three segments of my interview with Jason. There’s a lot here if you’re willing to listen. I think you will also find I was open and honest as I enjoyed the interaction with the phone callers.