Cabarrus Cheap Seats

It’s not the people who vote who count.  It’s the people who count the votes who do. - Joseph Stalin 

If you missed the Republican Men’s Club meeting last Thursday, you missed a chance to experience what an election might have looked like in the Soviet Union.

The Constitution of the Republican Men’s Club clearly states that all members in good standing can vote.  All male, registered Republicans in Cabarrus County are eligible to be members.  To maintain “good standing” only requires that a member meet all financial obligations.  So, according to the Constitution - a male, registered Cabarrus County Republican could show up at the meeting when the elections are being held, pay their dues, and vote.

However, in a secret meeting held sometime in May, the Executive Board of the Republican Men’s Club decided to retroactively close the books on membership from May 1 until immediately following the elections on May 24.  They passed out ballots by reading from a list of names on an official roll of members.  This list was inaccurate on four separate instances causing much confusion.

Ironically, they wanted to limit the number of people voting as to “not cause a spectacle”.

The election itself was the funny part.  They already had a ballot printed out.  Some of them made a motion to accept the Executive Board’s slate by acclimation.  That failed.  There was a group there that had an alternate slate; but only made nominations for Treasurer and two of the Board of Directors.  So, they had to change all of their ballots by hand.

In spite of the rules being changed in secret - all people who were nominated from the floor won the election.

They won - in part - because the powers-that-were fixed the election all wrong.  First, they nominated three people for the Board of Directors when there were only two open slots.  Second, their candidate for Treasurer was the incumbent - and he stated he didn’t want the job anyway.

So, even when they worked against their own Constitution to fix an election while they still had power - they got beaten.

Oh, by the way, I’m the new Treasurer of the Cabarrus County Republican Men’s Club.

What does this mean to everyone else?

About a year and a half ago, Republican Cabarrus County Commission Chairman Bob Carruth wanted to expand the official amount of time that was allotted to general public comments at the Board of Commissioners meetings.  The catch was that these comments would not be televised as they are now.  This would not affect public hearings on matters like bonds, rezoning, etc.  Coy Privette and Harold Smith gathered a bunch of people to show up at the meeting complaining that their rights had been trampled on, that Bob Carruth was like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Dean Vernon Wormer.

The concept was dropped even though it would have given more people a chance to speak.  A variant of it is being tried now with the TIF bond debate. The current TIF bond debate takes equal time from proponents and detractors.  It gives both sides a chance to present their case – not just those that cajoled the greatest number of people to show up at the Pink Palace.  In another little bit of irony, Harold Smith probably would not have been able to speak on the TIF bonds, if rules like those set by Republican Commissioner Bob Carruth weren’t in place during the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioner’s Meetings.

Here’s the issue.  Give those same people who were complaining about being repressed just a little bit of power and they will ACTUALLY repress people’s rights.  If people like Harold Smith ran things - we’d live in a world of loyalty oaths, rigged elections, and mob rule. 

This past Monday, we recognized those Americans that gave the last full measure of devotion so that we can live under rule of law and in liberty.  A significant number of those who have died did so fighting authoritarian regimes that held elections much like the one that was conducted at Troutman’s Barbeque.  While we often focus on countering totalitarianism abroad, we must remain vigilant that we don’t let it slip into the governmental and political organizations right in our own backyard. 

I commend those who showed up at Thursday’s meeting and at the County Convention earlier this year to help the Republican Party true to the positive, inclusive example set by people like Ronald Reagan; and away from the paranoid, authoritarian example set by people like Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon.