As I am sure everyone knows, the political season is really heating up. That said, I have become convinced that we (and by “we,” I mean true pro-life, pro-family, limited government, pro-Constitution, Christian conservatives) must get involved in the political process.
A big part of the process goes on behind the scenes in the local political party meetings and conventions. Enormously important issues are decided in these meetings and conventions, and I am getting involved and I would encourage everyone else to consider getting involved as well. If we don’t, I fear that America is going to go the way of Europe. We have already gone way too far down this path, and the only hope is for large numbers of people to get active in the process at all levels. Voting, yes, of course, everyone should vote, but involvement beyond just showing up and voting is what is needed.
If you are interested in doing that, here are some ways to get active. First, you should attend your local Republican Party mass meetings. At these mass meetings, delegates to the 6th Congressional District Convention and State Convention are elected, often new party leadership is elected, candidates for various offices are nominated, etc. Here is a list of some upcoming meetings:
Campbell County: April 8, 2012, at 7:00 p.m., at the Board of Supervisors Room, Haberer Building, Courthouse Square, Rustburg, Virginia. (http://campbellcountyrepublicans.com/)
Lynchburg: April 3, 2012, at 7:00 p.m., at the Lynchburg City Library Public Meeting Room, 2315 Memorial Avenue, Lynchburg, Virginia.
Bedford County: March 27, 2012, at 7:00 p.m., at the main Auditorium of the Bedford Center for Science and Technology, 600 Edmund St., Bedford Virginia. (http://www.rpv.org/node/1203)
Botetourt County: March 22, 2012, at 7:30 p.m., at Lord Botetourt High School, 1435 Roanoke Road, Daleville, Virginia. (http://www.botcogop.com/)
Roanoke City: April 10, 2012, at 6:00 p.m., at Roanoke City Council Chambers, 215 Church Ave., S.W., City of Roanoke, Virginia. (http://roanokerepublicans.org/)
Roanoke County: March 22, 2012, at 7:00 p.m., at South County Library, located at 6303 Merriman Road, Roanoke, Virginia. (http://roanokerepublicans.com/)
The next thing to do is attend the 6th District Convention. At this meeting several important positions within the party will be elected, including the Chairman and Regional Vice-Chairmen for the 6th District Committee, one Presidential Elector, and three Delegates and three Alternates to Republican National Convention in Tampa Florida.
To vote on these important matters, you must be a delegate to the 6th District Convention. In order to be a delegate, you must be a member of local unit and get elected as a delegate from the local unit to the 6th District Convention. This is not hard to do. Basically, it just involves showing up at the local unit meeting, joining, and indicating that you want to be a delegate. (Some will require that you file a form in advance, i.e., pre-file, in order to be a delegate. If so, this requirement will be listed on the local meeting call.) Here is the information for the 6th District Convention:
6th District GOP 2012 Convention: May 5, 2012, at 10:00 a.m., at Rockbridge High School in Lexington, Virginia. http://www.sixthdistrictgop.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88:official-call-to-6th-district-gop-convention-2012&catid=36:from-the-chair
In addition, you could also go to the state and national conventions as delegates. You can find out more information on those meetings here: http://rpv.org/node/907
Finally, if you have questions, please feel free to contact me. I may not know the answers, but I might be able to get you pointed in the right direction.