Tea Partiers Taking Over the GOP, Precinct by Precinct

Ahhh... now this is more like it.

I am less concerned about the detailed particulars of what platform we unite behind than that we do in fact unite behind one.

People might wrongly get the idea I'm a big fan of our current apparatchiks. No, I'm not. But we do need apparatchiks, and we need Indians, and we need Chiefs.

So long as we do have Chiefs and Indians willing to follow those Chiefs, I'm comfortable swapping out most of the old apparatchiks for new ones.

I just don't want a power struggle or third-party spoliers.

So here's three cheers for a newly engaged and activist citizenry.

The Tea Party movement ignited a year ago, fueled by anti-establishment anger. Now, Tea Party activists are trying to take over the establishment, ground up.

Across the country, they are signing up to be Republican precinct leaders, a position so low-level that it often remains vacant, but which comes with the ability to vote for the party executives who endorse candidates, approve platforms and decide where the party spends money.

A new group called the National Precinct Alliance says it has a coordinator in nearly every state to recruit Tea Party activists to fill the positions and has already swelled the number of like-minded members in Republican Party committees in Arizona and Nevada. Its mantra is this: take the precinct, take the state, take the party — and force it to nominate conservatives rather than people they see as liberals in Republican clothing.

posted by Ace at 01:34 PM

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