Conservative activist Richard Viguerie is concerned that the Republican Party establishment is trying to change the rules of engagement in such a way as to shut out grassroots elements of the Party. He is urging the use of conservative talk radio as a means of resistance.
He said the rules are coming from the Washington leaders of the Party, and are being resisted strongly by Morton Blackwell of Virginia and Jim Bopp of Indiana, to name two.
The rule changes in question would:
* allow presidential campaigns to, in essence, “fire” duly elected delegates they don’t like and replace them with individuals of their own choosing;
* allow changes to the Republican Party rules between conventions, without a vote of delegates elected by the grassroots of the Party; andÂ
* undo the rules regarding the primary calendar that were designed to stop the trend toward front-loading the primary season and preserve the opportunity for Republicans across the country to have a say in who their presidential candidate would be.
Viguerie called on grassroots activists and Tea Party activists to battle the changes, and said a key element in the battle would be calling both local and national radio programs.
“To oppose this power grab by Washington’s permanent political class, call your Republican National Convention delegates, blog about it, email your contacts, post it on Facebook and other social media, and call your local and national conservative talk radio programs. We don’t have much time to rally the troops before Tuesday’s vote,” he said.
RBR-TVBR observation: This is a perfect illustration of broadcast’s ability to serve the public interest. Providing a venue for citizens to express their thoughts about the political process is about as pure as the concept of serving the public interest can get.
