Dakota Beacon

Since I left the scene of ND politics about three years ago, I have tried to stay out of the fray.   But as often as I’ve tried to make politics a thing of the past, it seems something happens to draw me in.

And I have a confession to make.  I went to a non-sanctioned district GOP meeting (something I haven’t done in awhile) and what I was confronted with was a full-blown case of Deja vu!  Roll back the calendar to an experience I had on the North Dakota State Capitol grounds.  The Tea Party “movement” had started to organize, and I attended a rally as an onlooker.

I’m not sure what I was expecting to find on either occasion, but what I experienced last night had an impact on me and I think it’s worth sharing.  I came in a little late, looked around and of the 40+ people in the room, I saw only one couple I knew; I didn’t even see the couple who had invited me (they came later.) 

The meeting started with prayer by someone who seemed to know who he was talking to. The Pledge of Allegiance followed along with a video (turns out to be the same one I shared in my last email) of Ronald Reagan at the 1964 GOP National Convention.

From there it went on to become a well-planned and thoughtfully presented series of informative vignettes on the characteristic’s of a district GOP organization and political processes.

As I settled in, the visceral sensation of deja vu translated for me into thoughts (and now words).

These were the same people I remember from the rally at the capital over 10 years ago.  

And I was one of the crowd.  They were farmers and ranchers and small businessmen and women.  Mothers with young children and concerned parents of older kids.  They were solid citizens, most whom had never been involved in politics before, but were willing to read and get informed and to take the time to become acquainted with the issues and the process.   

When I listened to their questions and heard the answers others gave, I couldn’t help but hear the voices of the Founding Father’s reinforcing their desire to understand their freedom and how to preserve it.

These were Reagan-Republicans, conservatives committed to “staying close to the Script;”  whose faith in God and country inspired a passion for the Republican party platform which identifies and unites its adherents.  Multiple times throughout the night they displayed the NDGOP Platform and discussed how it drew them in and now binds them to these set of principles.

No state-wide candidate or a powerhouse campaign manager or an outside consultant could take responsibility for this kind of grass-roots, organic groundswell of support for the Republican ideals (as stated in the platform) which Ronald Reagan firmly believed were the foundations of America.  

There was no mention of a third party or the Bastiat caucus (my guess is, that if I asked any of them they would have had NO idea about the Bastiat Caucus) or any move towards the disruption of the party process. 

Lastly one of the speakers apologized for not having been involved for the past 40 years while he raised his family, started multiple businesses and worked at his job.

It was truly a blessing to have attended...

I am hopeful...

P.S. I have received 100's of replies to my past few emails and it appears this type of thing is happening all over the state and my hope is the GOP party leadership will listen and embrace these Patriots!

Parting Thoughts:

Ron Reagan in his Farewell Address said:

"There is a great tradition of warnings in Presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts of the things I'm proudest of in the past 8 years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years grew up in a different American. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture.

So we have to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important - why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant.

If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I am warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.