Editorial: Crumbling of Confidence

I’ve been in the political game for many, many years. In fact, all told 46 years to be precise. I have been a Republican Precinct Committeeman most of those years, starting back when it was still okay to say Committeeman and Committeewoman, back when we actually knew, and were able to say we knew the difference.

When it comes to the political process I’ve done nearly everything there is to do, from canvassing door-to-door in support of candidates and measures, to manning (personning) fair booths, to going out and soliciting sign locations and then pounding “T” posts into the hard summer ground all over Oregon to hang those signs on. And I’ve certainly done my share of fundraising calls and get- out- the- vote calls.

The scope of my activities have included virtually every volunteer position you can imagine, as well as being hired staff including campaign management, and lead consultant. Campaigns that I have been involved with always been for conservative (or at least the most conservative)

Republican candidate in the field. Campaigns ranging from County Commissioner, to gubernatorial, congressional, even presidential. I was hired to be advance man for a Presidential candidate, surrogate speaker for three other Presidential campaigns, field director for a gubernatorial candidate, and been campaign manager and paid consultant for congressional campaigns. One memorable campaign was when I served as media manager for the Joe Lutz for U.S. Senate race in his primary challenge of Senator Bob Packwood, way back in 1986.

Packwood was known then as the leading proponent of abortion on demand in the U.S. Senate, and was therefore dubbed by many as “Senator Death.” Needless to say, that was a formidable hill to climb politically as Packwood had the endorsement of literally every elected Republican in the state, including the last Oregon Republican Governor, Vic Atiyeh, and had over $6 million dollars in the bank before we even began our campaign, and was at the time Chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

You might say we took on the big dog! And when we showed up at the Dorchester Conference that year, our reception was a bit chilly, but we persevered and won over some of the attendees. And no, that one wasn’t a victory, but we came mighty close to bringing about one of the greatest upsets in Oregon political history. And it wasn’t many years before Packwood would eventually step down in disgrace. But our challenge of the political elite drew the national press, including the New York Times. We even had Howard Phillips, Chairman of the Conservative Caucus, come out for a big fundraising event. Ours was a true grassroots effort, you might even say a Make America Great Again campaign, before any of us had ever even heard of Donald Trump.

Oh, I could go on and on, but I needed to set a little backdrop to the thoughts that follow. And that backdrop is simply, there’s noting new under the sun. I believe that’s in Ecclesiastes.

And by nothing new, I mean politics has always been a rough and tumble game, and that is nothing new. But this year I have seen a level of nastiness and dishonesty which I have not encountered before. And as I mentioned I have been in some rather high-stakes contests.

But something has gone terribly wrong this election cycle. I think tensions are higher than I can ever remember. Some of this I’m sure is due to the crumbling of confidence in not just our candidates, but in our electoral process as well. I’m sure most of us cannot remember feeling so insecure about the prospect of having an honest and accountable election.

And if you were unfortunate enough to have gone on the record with your doubts, like President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell, Sydney Powell, or the unfortunate patriots who went to Washington, D.C., seeking answers and voicing their concerns about the integrity of the 2020 elections, you have paid a high price for doing so. Many of the public names mentioned, have been ruined financially and professionally as a result, and threatened with heavy fines and imprisonment.

And if you even had the nerve to report on this, ask the executives at FOX News who settled for $787 million with the vote counting machine makers Dominion, just for their reporting on it!

So, there’s anxiety alright about our elections. And in Oregon we have the added disadvantage of having the fraud ridden vote-by-mail system, further clouding our confidence in a fair and open process.

Then it comes down to the candidates, and those who once were aspiring candidates but are now in the ruling class, some of whom unbeknownst to them, have subtly changed, morphed if you will into the very establishment they ran against, who now cling to the office they have attained. Oh, the examples are nearly unlimited.

And you know many of them. But let’s just throw into the mix, one of the most prominent, House Speaker Mike Johnson. Many, myself included, are utterly dismayed at his performance and capitulation in an effort to appear bipartisan. Instead, he has just affirmed the existence of and power of the Uniparty.

But right here in Oregon we have seen the emergence of the same beast. We have elected republicans right here, in our State legislature, who in the interest of the happy, if elusive, concept of bipartisanship, find themselves voting over and over and over again for things they swear when back in their districts they are totally against! I know that you here in Oregon understand this, but it is absolutely true in the states many of you reading this, live in as well.

It used to be the deceit and the falsehoods, which inevitably come out, were subtle, or at least not in your face, and at least attempted to have a resemblance of the truth. But not so this season. I was talking to Kevin Starrett of Oregon Firearms Federation day before yesterday, someone I have known and respected for years, who said to me “This is the worst I’ve seen in 40 plus years of doing this.” By this he meant being in the political process, in his case primarily dealing with Second Amendment, gun rights, issues. But Kevin, having walked the halls of the legislature and talked to those crafting or supporting bills, knows who pulls the levers, and where most of the bodies are (metaphorically speaking) in this political contest, and who you can, and cannot trust. My response to Kevin was, “I hear that brother” (only I have 46 years).

Congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene said it best when on Tucker Carlson recently; “Everyone in the Congress should be thrown out.” She said it has gotten so bad that we need to start over. Well, maybe not everyone Marjorie, we need you to whip the freshmen into shape when we send them. I’ve said for years that we could fit all of the true patriots in the current Congress, whom we can trust, in a short bus. There may be a second bus full we could scrounge up, but I’m not sure.

During this last session in Oregon, because the Republicans in the House and Senate — except for a few, the brave ten who walked out — caved we ended up with some of the worst legislation in our lifetime. Legislation such as HB 2002B, which was signed into law by corrupt Governor Kotek, which allows for the surgical mutilation of our children, and allows girls as young as 15 to get an abortion at no cost and without parental consent! And these same legislators want to be sent back, to directly participate in or allow bills like this to come up next session.

Many of these members of the Uniparty are, almost to the person, the same ones who pushed and continue to push the filthy lie of Climate Change, who allowed for you to be locked down and separated from your families during COVID and allowed tampons to be placed in boys bathrooms in your government schools!

We all know we can do better than what we have settled for. And if we are ever going to restore confidence in the crumbling infrastructure of our civil institutions and our American way of life, we had better stop sending who we’ve sent before.