Redefining the Drug War

 At this point, I am not willing to support a complete decriminalization of all recreational drug laws. In various writings of our founding fathers, we read the word "experiment" used to describe our new government. I see that same experimenting going on to this very day.  So it seems prudent to continually review our nation & state's public policy regarding issues which we are performing terribly at. So if you ask me about trying another tactic, I'll gladly take interest. But it has to produce practical results.
  So many libertarians miss a key component in persuading folks to rethink a strategy on various banned herbs.  If I was going to embark on a new course, it would start with the herbs. Here is how I would define the issue to the public:

1.  First of all, we will always need to be vigilant about public safety and the legitimate need to keep laws about endangering the public through personal intoxication. We need to speak passionately about the current inability to focus law enforcement assets on public safety because too much of our assets are paying for nonviolent simple possession incarcerations. Our courts and prisons are spending billions on exacting a punishment for things which are no more dangerous than a fella having a 6-pack in the refrigerator.
2.  Secondly, our juvenile population needs to be protected from exploitation by those who would distribute these banned herbs.We need to take a lesson from Bill Clinton's success with "soccer moms". He didn't just talk in "Washington speak" . Women 'felt' his compassion. He stereotype "I feel your pain" language was very effective. These moms want a safe society for their kids!
3.  A very strong argument can be made that our economy will have a HUGE SURGE of prosperity as this commerce is subjected to the same tax code as other retail items. The added revenues from this alone will fund extra cops who can patrol neighborhood schools, parks, & shopping districts. Kids can be much safer in our communities with a proper realignment of community and state policies on banned chemicals.
4.  The organized crime associated with the huge industry is causing so much secondary crime. Even unrelated conflicts are being settled among gangs through drive-by shootings and other hit squad activities. They won't call the police when their home is broken into, because they do not want law enforcement tipped off about their associations or possessions. So they hire someone to exact a punishment upon whomever they guess is responsible.Marijuana is the biggest cash-cow of the criminal underground. Just adopting a Colorado reform would help defeat organized crime in the same way Al Capone was brought down by the end of liquor prohibition.

  You can argue your personal rights all you want; but if your emphasis is selfish, the soccer mom will also be just as selfish in her demands that the whole society abstain for the sake of her own kids. I'm not saying the personal rights argument isn't valid. I'm just saying it isn't going to win over anyone except the guy who's already secretly consuming banned herbs.

  And it just might be better to call this an experiment with a new public policy. Folks might be willing to try this new tact on a temporary basis. A person who is convinced of the correctness of this new public policy ought not be afraid that the practical results won't make their own convincing argument within 3 years.

David Van Risseghem

Making Room for Conservative Growth

  As a transplant from Liberal Minnesota, I spent much of the early 80s being a college kid and active student of the Oklahoma lifestyle.  What stunned me most is that Oklahomans didn't try so hard to run each other's lives. We didn't see the same mandate for state controls, and we are generally insulted that the eastern liberals in Washington display such an arrogant smugness to dictate every aspect of daily life.
  Then I joined the Republican party when Ronald Reagan used his superior communication skills to help me realize that freedom meant more than just surviving a global cold war. It meant that my own government was a potential danger to my freedom. That I should resist the well-intentioned big govt. fixes, because they often become the worst intrusions. And we can't seem to get rid of added bureaucracy once it becomes entrenched in the federal code and budget.

  Then I joined the Pat Robertson campaign, in 1988. I was not alone. Robertson escorted masses of new Evangelical Republicans into local and state party rolls.
  Did the old party regulars like the new life-blood of social conservatives? Yes, and no. Many were the voices of folks who felt threatened that the OKGOP would become a cult. They were convinced that the Evangelical conservatives would usher in Ayatollahs to rewrite the party platform from a fundamentalist filter.
  The latter 80s & into the mid 90s were a time of uncomfortable party distrust. We overheard so many insulting jokes about our passion and values. but it was also the beginning of a massive wave of political success. It took 25 years, but we learned to get along (mostly) and find our mutual values.
  Now we are met with a new friend, who's really not new at all! the Goldwater Republicans became the base of the Reagan Revolution. There was a time when establishment Republicans (including GHW Bush) used scary rhetoric to seek to diminish Reagan from within party ranks. (remember 'voodoo economics'?)
It was Reagan's Libertarian principles which the moderate factions used in an attempt to paint him as a nut. But after 8 years of Reagan, they all claimed that they were really his allies all along? Hmmm?
  In a 2012 party battle over state delegates, I told several party leaders; 

"I recall a time when I and my social conservative allies were seen a a grave threat to the OKGOP. We were treated horribly by some and much maligned for the reforms we felt passionate about."

I went on to conclude; 

"I don't want to treat the Libertarian faction with the same disgusting behavior that I and my evangelical brethren were treated to!".

  I feel that the 80s & 90s Evangelicals added a lot to the party. And I know we all helped enact a political revolution of the Sooner State.

  I also feel the Libertarians of today are forwarding some good ideas in many areas. They warned us that the 'Patriot Act' could result in some hideous spying and taxing abuses of the federal agencies; which came to be true. They warned us our monetary and lending policy would usher in the 2nd American Great Depression long before the Fall 2008 crash. They warned us that the same social & behavioral morals which we sought to enforce by legal code could be flipped so as to force us to pay the bill for aborting babies, & other contraceptive aids.

  Now we know there are good and bad ways of implementing any ideas. There are brilliant thinkers in every movement. Without good communicators, however; even the greatest principles will fail to be implemented because trust is essential to a democracy. Citizens need to know that a leader cares about the fears and aspirations of folks who feel vulnerable to the effects of the public policy of every level of government.

   So intellectual debates alone, will not win the day. We need to learn from Reagan's legacy and make every effort to communicate in a far superior way, so that all the rhetoric and demagogue of the left will fail to dissuade the public from their trust in conservative policies for governance. 

David Van Risseghem

RNC Sets New Rules For Presidential Race

  National Review recently reported on little-known rule changes made by the Republican National Committee members.

1. States selecting before March 15 will be restricted not to allow winner-take-all. All statewide delegates will be awarded proportionately.
2. States selecting after March 15 can award winner-take-all statewide delegates.
3. Caucus states must award statewide delegates proportionate to Caucus night results.

  While the first 2 rules we  listed seem to support candidates with lasting power (well-funded/dedicated following), the 3rd item seems to reward movement candidates with broad popularity within conservative party circles.

  Oklahoma was run by similar rules in 2012. While Rick Santorum led throughout the primary campaign, his win only garnered slightly more than 1/3 of the delegates. Gingrich came in 3rd, behind Santorum & Romney, but collected nearly as many delegates as Santorum. Ron Paul did not meet the threshold for receiving state delegates.

  Efforts to mount a state convention coup will result in less real benefit to an ultra-committed small band of activists. 

  Iowa was a hotbed of scandal in 2012. First, the Romney campaign benefited from a willful refusal to report the most accurate totals (which put Santorum over the top). That led to a State Committee party fight and resignations. Then the Ron Paul team won everything at the state convention, and even removed the elected leadership from office a year early.

Read a detailed report at National Review,here.

David Van Risseghem

A New Kind Of Precinct Meeting

Several Precinct Meetings Will Look Much Different, This Winter.

After meeting with lawmakers, precinct members break
into groups at a central meeting of several precincts.

  A growing trend of change in the OKGOP county organizations will be effecting many active Republicans, this year. The State Executive Committee is granting broad approval to County Executive Committees, to move precinct meetings down the road a few miles and coordinate numerous clusters into an event which will give voters greater access to lawmakers and party officials.

  Several Legislative members are hosting events at Libraries, schools, & churches. this will take a good amount of hosting pressures off local precinct committees and make a more inviting atmosphere for new voters and potentially active party members. The county leaders of the party are looking for ways to better publicize the events and give newly organized precincts more on-site assistance for turning dormant precincts into new growth in the GOP.

A portion of the letter from the OKGOP leadership, to county leaders.

  The Sooner Politics research team scoured the pages of the OKGOP Rules and we are now convinced that the move is on solid ground with the stated rules of the party. The state leadership included an instruction for this, in their call for Biennial Precinct Meetings. Their wording is a bit inaccurate, in that they believe a county has this authority, but the rules state that only when the state executive committee grants this latitude (which they have) does the county leadership have authority to move Biennial meetings outside the precinct boundaries.
  Other regular precinct meetings are completely governed by that precinct's own leadership, but when the county issues delegate credentials to attend and represent the precinct's voters at a county convention, then the county can stipulate a number of requirements for how that precinct meeting is conducted. OKGOP Rule 5 seems to contradict the action, but the Biennial Precinct Event is governed by Rule 16.
  Like any other new initiative, this effort will have some resistance to change. Human nature being what it is, a few folks will see a sinister plot or a power-grab. But this is a discretionary act by county volunteers who are seeking ways to address both problems and opportunities.

David Van Risseghem

  Sooner Politics is looking forward to hearing from participants and several have said that the Oklahoma City Republicans have been using this format for several years.

Join the Party!

JOIN THE PARTY

The Oklahoma Republicans
Want You To Join
& Make the Party Bigger, Better,
& More Enduring

  Next month, the Oklahoma Republicans will hold a massive number of local meetings to elect new leadership for your neighborhood, your county, region, and state. Almost every office is open for party elections.

  We will compile a public policy document (platform) elaborating the guiding principles we promote. you can help us write it!

  We will send delegates to the larger conventions and in most cases, you can be a part of that delegation (we do open delegations).

• Do you have an issue you want to see changes in?
• Do you want to run for political office some day?
• Do you want to support political reform?

  The Oklahoma Republicans have county organizations run by good people who want to hear from you and invite you to your neighborhood's next meeting. But we need to hear from you, soon.

... We aren't  controlled by union bosses,  mob rackets,  or Ayatollahs

  All of the neighborhood (we call them a precinct) meetings will occur sometime in January and there are thousands of them, so I can't post them all on this page.

  We aren't controlled by union bosses, mob rackets, or Ayatollahs. We are a massive bunch of diverse folks from every age (some are in high school and some are in nursing homes). Some will meet at coffee shops while others meet in mansions. But all of us are dedicated to a better government which better serves the great people of Oklahoma.

  We love the freedom our nation was founded upon, and believe in the goodness that drives us to help carry the burdens of others, that can't be carried alone.
  Call your county leader, today. Refer to this link for your county's organizers. http://goo.gl/SOfV5C
   We will save a seat for you!

David Van Risseghem