Who do you think you are?

An open letter to RPA and elected officials

Dec 16, 2024

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We’re posting this on Arkansas 1^st News, and then on Arkansas Political Blog, as the content is really Arkansas-centric and both sites serve Arkansas. This is the first of several posts to Arkansas government and elected officials. However, we believe, with no real proof, that the same conditions exist in all 50 states. Let us know if you share our experience. As always, comments are welcome.

Here’s a question for you. After the Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA) kicked out all of Saline County, kicked out Jennifer Lancaster, voided the results of a legal Convention, and lied time and again to cover the inept response to all of this, why would anyone in their right mind continue to think about being a Republican? Or write about it, or much less support, such an obviously corrupt an inept group?

There are so many answers to that I don’t know where to start. Because injustice was done and there seems to be no end to RPA’s perfidy, RPA is easy to pick on, I enjoy calling out those who do wrong, and We the People do claim to be in our right mind. There are so many more, but this isn’t a list of reasons, it’s an explanation to those who, for whatever reason, believe they’ve been treated badly or their rights were taken away.

Let’s start with those who believe they were disenfranchised. Elected Republicans.

I’ve heard from several of you, heard statements from many more, and all that I’ve heard from believe you were mistreated by the Convention results.

I know you may find it difficult to hear, but we elected you. We had faith that you would go to Little Rock and do exactly what you promised when you ran for election. Did you? Some of you did and others not so much. Did we kick you out by running someone against you in the primaries, or not waving your signs, or not giving you our hard-earned money to support you candidacy? No to all of those. We supported you because we had faith in you to do the job we sent you to do.

There’s a term that’s popular right now in MAGA circles, “promises made and promises kept.” You should remember your campaign promises, and if you can’t keep them, tell us why.

The operative term there is “sent you to do,” whether you realize it or not. We sent you. You are a very important cog in the machine whose product is supposed to be “Regnat Populus” however your complaints about us removing your State Committee vote are both wrong and counterproductive. Sometimes an important, but defective, cog can’t be repaired and must be replaced. The same goes here.

If the People rule, how come we have so little voice in who runs our party? We elect the Governor and all of you, yet we have no input into how the RPA is run, whether it follows its own Rules, or who leads it. That isn’t “the People rule,” that’s “the elected rule.”

You fail to see that you actually serve at our pleasure. Not the Governor’s, not Joseph Wood’s, not the Democrats’, no one else except the Republican voters determine whether you serve or not. You seem pretty convinced of your own importance, yet you’re dependent on the good will of a bunch of people you insult by your actions.

We didn’t take your vote away, we allowed you to qualify to vote the same way we qualify to vote in party matters; we have to run for a party position, and you should too.

Being elected does not put you in charge in any Federal Republic we’ve ever heard of, it means you serve. If you aren’t up to serving, resign or don’t run for reelection. We won’t stop working to take our power back. You should stop trying to block us.

You’re either with us or against us. We’re sorry it’s come to that. It was easy to put up with your superior but wrong attitude when we still thought you knew where your power really came from.

You see, we’re old enough to remember the TEA Party and all we did for you back in the day. All we asked for was a seat at the table. You accepted our donations, praised our sign waving, told us we were important to making Arkansas red, at least until the elections were over. Then you didn’t know us from a hole in the wall. You kept asking us for money and time, but never offered the seat at the table we asked for in the first place.

Well, many of us are veterans of the TEA Party, and we don’t believe anything but actions now. And your recent actions don’t make us confident we’ll get that seat at the table if you or your bosses have anything to say about it.

Yes, the governor can stifle any attempts to change how RPA runs as long as she has a PAC big enough to buy or sell any candidate in the state. Yes, Joseph Wood can lead a corrupt gang at RPA that will use whatever means necessary to enforce the governor’s will and then lie to you and say he defended your right to vote. But the voters still have to vote for you.

By virtue of depending on us to get the job you ask for, you serve the electorate. You don’t serve us individually, although some would like to think so. You serve the voters, the public, the citizens. And just like the military, there is civilian leadership. In this case it’s us and not you.