As the Republican Party convention approaches, it is critical that all GRA members are acquainted with the plan of action and understand the vital importance of their involvement. One of our goals is to reform the GOP from the inside (so that the GOP truly advances its professed principles,) and the conventions are an opportunity to make progress toward that goal. At the convention there will likely be a competition to see which faction of the party can successfully get more of their people into positions of leadership and on the delegate lists. 

At war in the GOP are two groups which we often call “the Establishment” (or “the Uni-Party”) and the Patriots.

Step 1: Know Your Opponents – The Establishment Activists

The Establishment (“Uni-Party”) is largely made up of RINO politicians, lobbyists, bureaucrats, staffers who work for politicians, consultants and printers who produce campaign materials for politicians, and also a few well-intentioned but misguided patriots. Nearly all the members of the GOP Establishment are people who work for the political industry in some capacity. 

This Establishment group marches on dangerously because they have an inherent conflict of interest. The fact is that people who receive a paycheck from the industry are going to be far less objective in their evaluation of politicians’ behavior and their voting record, and far less likely to bring accountability to that entrenched industry. These Failed Establishment Operatives (ie. Karl Rove ad nauseum) have a strong incentive to remain in the good graces of the powerful political industry, because “after all,” an Establishment activist concludes, “they write my paycheck. If I offend the political class, I could lose my job, then how would I support myself and my family?”

These folks might have the best of intentions, but they have a strong incentive to protect RINOs from accountability, that is often too strong to overcome.

RINO politicians typically find implementing the principles of the GA GOP to be either “too extreme,” or just “not a good idea at this time,” because there is always an election approaching and we have to be “cautious about offending voters, ya know”… or any number of excuses like that. 

The Establishment group is obsessed with protecting the reputation of politicians whether the politician deserves it or not. An Establishment activist makes it their goal to ensure that everyone thinks the politician is wonderful. Whatever excuses they provide for their inaction, voting for Democrat policies, ignoring election fraud, ignoring the continued slaughter of babies, etc., is propagated to the broader GOP base in the most favorable, believable light possible.

Their loyalty is often entirely with the politicians, or at best it is divided between the principles of the Republican Party, and the politician they work for or lobby for while on the clock. They don’t want anyone to know the dirty little secret that most Republican officials vote contrary to the Republican Party platform about half the time as you can see on our Legislative Vote Scorecards.

They think wistfully, “If I’m loyal to this RINO now, and he is successful at climbing the ladder, maybe he will appoint me to a prestigious position (or a higher position) some day.”

Step 2: Know Yourself – The Patriot Activists

We call this group of GOP activists “Patriots” because, like the Founding Fathers they sacrifice time, toil, and treasure to make America more principled and more constitutional for the next generation.  They usually never make a dime from their political activism (in fact, they usually sacrifice many dimes,) and they are okay with that. They believe there is a transcendent source of law, as the founding fathers did when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence about the “laws of nature and of nature’s God.” They are not ashamed of America. They labor out of passion for the principles of the Republican Party (principles displayed in our founding documents) which have made America great. They are often infuriated by the outcome produced by Republican politicians who don’t do what they campaigned on when they get into power. 

People in this camp generally cling to the GA GOP platform; so that they can have a “measuring rod” for determining if officials are doing well or poorly at advancing Republican principles. You can see those here: https://gagop.org/resolutions/ 

This group is typically oriented toward accountability. 

When officials don’t advance Republican principles and instead govern as “Republicans In Name Only” (RINOs), activists in this accountability group call out the RINOs and expose their bad behavior in hopes of convincing enough of their fellow Republicans to vote them out next election. This group can often be seen circulating petitions, leading citizen lobbying, phone call & email campaigns to persuade Republicans to do the right thing.