First, even though we Republicans have had a rough time over the last few years, we each have much to be thankful for in our own lives. Both our shared experiences and our personal experiences—and the good and bad in both—are part of what gives us strength, nurtures our character, and builds wisdom. I believe that from this developing strength, character, and wisdom will come the foundation for seizing opportunities in the coming years.
Second, for me this has been a year of challenge, but also one of promise. It has been a year since I challenged the incumbent Chair of the HCRP to fix the problems with the party organization or step aside to allow new leadership to do so. Since I made that challenge, there have been a lot of days when I, and a few of my closest allies, have felt quite alone in this struggle. However, I recently visited with a group of people in which a precinct chair referred to me as the “acting chair,” because I had been driving the agenda of the party for months. Though I was taken aback by the statement, I appreciated the gracious nod to what we have been trying to accomplish.
Beginning last December, through meetings with young activists and established party leaders, I helped nurture and support young leaders who formed new organizations such as Raging Elephants, Conservador Alliance, and the local Tea Party Society, which are building relationships in our African-American and Latino communities, and providing a voice to a new conservative activism in our community. I also worked to gain support for our strategic vision throughout our party. Our efforts have led to phenomenal results so far:
* Raging Elephants successfully placed a billboard promoting the GOP in a traditionally African-American Community, conducted workshops on how to expand the GOP into new communities, and its leader has gained a growing local and national following;
* The leader of Conservador Alliance recently was named by the Republican National Committee, and the Republican Party of Texas to serve as the statewide director of a new party-affiliated organization: Latino National Republican Coalition;
* Two activists, who helped coordinate our early meetings, went on to form and lead the local Tea Party movement;
* At least five county GOP parties across the State of Texas have referenced my proposed strategic plan, and discussed it with me, as they have revised their own written mission statements and strategic plans;
* Our local GOP leadership, after seven years of inaction, responded to our efforts with an aggressive communication blitz that has included emails, social-networking training, townhall meetings, public discussions of its own plan for the future, an audit of its finances and financial reporting, and the re-opening of an East Side satellite office with the purpose of engaging in community activities that we have been proposing all year; and
* Two more candidates have joined the first real competitive race for Chair in almost 15 years, all three of my opponents are discussing issues and goals that we have been discussing all year, and there are now 9 scheduled or proposed debates during the month of January, 2010.
Not bad for just 12 months of agitating from outside the party organization--and I want to thank everyone who has helped me, and who are joining our ranks daily (I will start posting on this website next week the substantial endorsements I have received already). I think it is fair to ask whether any of this would have happened had I not posted that challenge to the incumbent a year ago. Even if I don’t win this race, we will have accomplished more to improve the party organization in the last year than the incumbent did over his first 7 years—and just think what we could accomplish together if I win.
Finally, I want to leave you with a thought based on my reading of a New-Testament verse that always touches me. In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul makes the following challenge:
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself’”
When you read this passage, think about those settlers who came to this continent in the 1600s and established families, churches, schools and neighborhoods based on this challenge; think about Jefferson’s reference to God’s gift of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and what the words “liberty" and "happiness” meant to our forefathers before the French Revolution; and think about the monumental struggles our ancestors waged to try to meet that challenge here and abroad over the last three centuries. Then, ask yourself: what have I done to meet this challenge? If you find your answer to be like mine, then let’s commit ourselves in the coming years to meet this challenge—in our families, our communities, and in our country—not just to regain the liberty we are losing, but to then use it correctly, so that we can pass on this gift to our children better than we received it.
Happy Holidays to all!
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