We Saw the Opposition on September 3—Are We Ready for the Battle Ahead?

On the evening of Thursday, September 3rd, I put on a red T-shirt that said “Vote Republican” and joined the crowd outside City Hall in Downtown Houston.

The focus of the event was the health-care issue. Liberal interest groups held a “protest” rally for Obamacare, while others of us lodged a counter-protest off to one side of the steps and reflecting pool. I spent much of my time watching, listening, and talking to fellow counter-protesters. I want to share with you what I learned.

First, I want to congratulate John Faulk, Eric Story, Josh Parker and the Texas Tea Party Society of Houston, and the several “right to life” and religious organizations, who came together on short notice to coordinate the counter-protest. I also want to commend Roy Morales and Chris Daniel for coming and participating. Although we were out-numbered, the size and energy of the counter-protest successfully drained some of the time and attention of the speakers away from what they had planned to be a love-fest for Obamacare.

However, what I saw concerned me greatly, and underscored one of the many reasons why I am running for HCRP Chair: the GOP is still not ready to fight the ground battle against the Obama machine.

Although the polls show that public support for the Democratic takeover of the health-care industry is plummeting, only the Democratic Party and its close allies appear ready for this fight. The sponsors of the rally were Organizing for America (an official affiliate of the Democratic National Committee), ACORN, and several unions. Their participants were bused to the rally and signed-in, their signs were pre-printed and professional, and the media was pre-positioned to record the rally from a position that exaggerated the strength of their numbers.

Meanwhile, the courageous individuals who showed-up to form a counter-protest were denied a permit to use a microphone or bullhorn, and were physically relegated to one area off to the side opposite of where the media was stationed. Except for the Texas Tea Party Banner, and a few pre-printed signs and cards, the signs held by the counter-protesters were hand-made and hard to see from a distance. This ad hoc assembly was no match for the Democratic coordination.

The GOP needs a functioning party apparatus at all levels—local, state, and national—that is ready to go toe-to-toe with the Obama machine that the Democratic Party is operating. We won’t assemble this apparatus by co-opting the name and email lists of the Tea Party and other new organizations for use by our party leaders (nor will we get very far when our current chair sends an email out that correctly notifies the base about Al-Jazeera's inexplicable presence in our County Jail, but then threatens public safety by mistakenly asking people to call and clog an emergency phone line). A party takeover of these new organizations, especially by the Keystone Cops operation now in control of Richmond Avenue, is not the answer.

This is not a top-down war—it must be fought from the grassroots, by the grassroots. Rather than takeover or co-opt the new organizations, the party needs to invite these new activists—both the leaders and the members of these new separate organizations—into the party, invite them into empty precinct chairs and other positions, and invite them into our affiliated clubs and organizations (or encourage them to affiliate their new clubs with the GOP). Then, we need to support their energy and innovation by helping to mobilize them into a force to rival Organizing for America.

If we don’t take these steps this fall, and channel the energy of these individuals into our primary and to help elect our candidates in 2010, we may look back on this time as the greatest wasted opportunity the GOP ever had.

If we are brave enough to open the party to this new opportunity, and act boldly now, I am confident we will re-take what we lost in Harris County, preserve what we have in Austin, and eventually re-take Washington.