Get out of our Comfort Zones – says our keynote speaker

Allen West was the keynote speaker at our 2013 Holiday Party.

Members and other guests were eager to hear from former Congressman West at our year-end meeting.  Outgoing President Cindy Tindall described the evening’s events and then after the invocation by Howard Parmet, and the Pledge of Allegiance and a song of thanks, there was a mad dash to the sumptuous Turkey buffet.

Colonel West had several messages to us for 2014:

• It’s not enough to keep the majority in the House – we need to expand it.
• He asked 3 questions of us – had we read Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”?  Had we read “Rules for Radicals”?  And had we read the GOP’s Growth and Opportunity Strategy report?  Many had read the first two, none had read the latter.  How are we going to win if we hadn’t even read the document?
• We in Palm Beach County need to get out of our comfort zone and get out to communities like Belle Glade and Pahokee
• DO talk about social issues with the black community.  School choice is the top issue there as is abortion.
• The Republican Party was formed to fight slavery; now we are fighting economic slavery  Reject being called racist.
• We have a war for/on behalf of women, not a war on women
• The ‘other side’ never stopped campaigning.  Our party has to step up.
• Obamacare is going to fail.  The strategy will be to blame the insurance companies and then move to Single Payer – “Medicaid for all”.
• He ended with an oft used quote about combat “If you find yourself in a fair fight then your tactics suck!“

After a question and answer session – Allen had to leave for the TV studio in Boynton Beach for a segment on the Kelly Files on Fo News Channel.

Cindy conducted the election for the 2014 Officers’ slate.  Marilyn Parmet was elected President; Linda Gore – First VP, Jane Pike – VP; Treasurer – Jeff Holtzman, and Linda Stoch, Membership Chair.  The position of Secretary remains unfilled and members are encouraged to volunteer for the Board- just contact Marilyn.

After the elections – candidates for office were given a few moments to speak.  Speakers running in the GOP Primary for Congressional District 18 against Patrick Murphy were:  Ellen Andel,  Beverly Hires, Carl Domino, Alan Schlesinger and Ilya Katz.  Calvin Turnquist also running for the seat was not present.  Also speaking was Henry Colon, the only Republican candidate running against Ted Deutch in District 21.  Paula Prudente handed out cards for a new GOP candidate running against Alcee Hastings, District 20.  You can keep abreast of all the 2014 by clicking on the 2014Voter’s Guide button on the first page of the website.

Thanks to all who came and Congratulations to the new Officers!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!

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Some pictures from the event:

October Meeting Featured Senator Joe Negron

Senator Joe Negron, was our October Guest. Representing District 32, which includes all of Martin and St. Lucie Counties, as well as the far north (Jupiter / Tequesta) of Palm Beach County, Senator Negron has represented the Treasure Coast in either the House or Senate since 2000.

Senator Negron spoke of the things that unite us rather than a division of ideas. State and local governments have the most impact to each of us, yet national security, taxation and regulations should be the big picture. We should “always with kindness, and respect, appeal to our elected representatives” to consider the impacts and both intended and unintended consequences of their actions.

Our state has a great example in our Governor – we must work to re-elect him to continue the economic stability we are experiencing.

Senator Negron is currently running for re-election in 2014, and has drawn a Republican challenger (Brandon Cannon) for the August Primary.

Some pictures from Jane Pike:

Words of Wisdom from Sid Dinerstein

Our guest speaker for September was former PBC GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein.

Explaining in clear terms why Republicans are not on a winning path, Sid laid out some simple Zen-like truths.

The path to victory is not through finding a bunch more white guys to vote for us. Hard core Democrats are never going to accept our worldview, so why waste time trying to convert them. Find natural conservative constituencies and make your case.

As an example of the latter, he used charter schools. Lots of them in Florida are really helping their students, many of whom are minorities, but the local teachers unions and school boards hate them. Solution: have the Governor appoint an education coordinator for charter schools and give them some Tallahassee weight.

Another example of a “natural” Republican opportunity would be Detroit – show the residents of that city what Democrats have done to them and that there is a better way. Closer to home, there is the Haitian community – with their political clubs and radio stations. Sid has made inroads with the Haitians and offered to the Governor an opportunity to address a meeting of a couple of thousand but was rebuffed by staff. For 2014, the Haitian Republican clubs that are forming could be a real asset in the St. Lucie County areas of CD18.

As usual, he left us both challenged but encouraged.

The meeting saw the addition of several new members and the participation of Gardens Mayor Bert Premuroso.

Coming up next month will be Senator Joe Negron.

Reasons for Optimism – The “Defending the American Dream” Summit

This past weekend in Orlando, Americans for Prosperity Foundation hosted a conference for grassroots activists from around the nation.

With informative breakout sessions in the mornings to highlight successes on the state and local levels, and “big tent” events in the afternoon with national conservative leaders, there was something for everyone, including ample free time to “network”.

The “malaise” that affected many of us locally after the bitter results of the 2012 Presidential election has been pretty widespread, and organizers from many locations reported falling attendance at many of their events. Hopefully, that is now starting to change. Although we are still licking our wounds, conferences like this one demonstrate that there is still life in the conservative grassroots, we have leaders in the movement that “get it” and have the fortitude to take it to the President – to lead the fight against the train wreck that is Obamacare, the endless debt and deficits, the administration that cares little for the rule of law, the separation of powers, or the role of the states in our constitutional republic.

“It’s amazing what is possible in America“, said Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, when people are free – free to make their own choices, free from the suffocating regulations of intrusive government. He talked about education as the key for the jobs of tomorrow, and the success they have had in his state in shutting down failing schools and greatly expanding the charter school system which has done a lot to improve the lot of minority children. Last week, unfortunately, Obama’s Justice Department has decided to sue Louisiana to roll back these reforms and return students to their failing schools. Judging by his fiery critique of the President and his policies, it is clear he will stand up against our rogue Attorney General and fight to retain the success they achieved.

Our own Senator Marco Rubio declared “There is nothing wrong with America – but there is something wrong with this President“. The good news, he said, is that “we still have time to save the American Dream“, by reforming the tax code and eliminating regulations. “We don’t need Common Core”, he said, and he will not vote for any budget that funds Obamacare or to increase the debt ceiling without a balanced budget amendment and specific cuts.

Unfortunately for Senator Rubio, there is still a lot of anger in the movement about his role in passing the “gang of eight” Senate immigration bill. In the hall were members of Flimen with pink shirts that said “Pink Slip Rubio”, and throughout his speech you could hear sporadic calls for “No Amnesty”. Although he avoided this issue in the speech, he did address it in a smaller group that met with him prior to the session. In a hotel suite with about 40 supporters, after answering some questions about Syria, Obamacare and other issues for which he was among friends, someone in the back asked “what about immigration”. A hush fell across the room at this point and he had no choice but to address it with a somewhat lengthy justification that amounted to “the status quo is unacceptable so we have to do something“. To me it sounded like doubling down. Not good.

Then Arthur Brooks, President of American Enterprise Institute, succinctly summed up the Obama message: “Rich people have your stuff and I’m going to get it back for you.” This shouldn’t have worked as envy is not American, but unfortunately all our side had to say to his supporters was “You’re a moocher” – no wonder we lost. The words “fairness” and “compassion” have been kidnapped by the left and we should take them back and own them, because progressive ideology is neither fair nor compassionate. As a humorous and memorable side comment illustrating our difference in values, he recalled a bumper sticker seen in San Francisco – “Your body may be a temple but mine is an amusement park”.

Next up was Governor Rick Scott, gearing up his re-election bid with a positive jobs message. Recalling his 2010 pledge to create “700,000 jobs in 7 years”, he reported us as on-track, with the likelihood of 900,000 jobs created by 2018. Scott is still popular with the Florida grassroots, although his support for Medicaid expansion had a lot of heads scratching. We do still remember that he declined to create a state Obamacare exchange, though. A few hecklers in the audience periodically shouted “No Common Core”, reflecting dissatisfaction with the direction that our education system has taken over the last few years. Scott talked about his activities as a booster of the state’s business climate and his good-natured rivalry with Texas and Governor Rick Perry who was the last major speaker of the day.

A 2012 Presidential candidate until his campaign faltered early in the primary process, he is possibly gearing up for another run in 2016. Well known as a jobs governor, the record of the Texas economy on his watch has been very impressive. As he makes the rounds of the states selling the Texas miracle, he has gained the ire of many blue state governors who do not appreciate his pointing out the shortcomings of their performance or the failings of the Progressive economics.

On another theme, “All roads lead back to the states“, said Perry. One size fits all federal programs (like Obamacare) are anathema to the founding principles of this country. A favorite target of the Obama administration, whose ideology sees the power in the states to be a roadblock to their big government agenda, Texas is now being sued by Eric Holder and the Justice Department as they try to end-run the Supreme Court and re-impose Voting Rights Act restrictions that require federal permission for such things as Voter ID laws.

On the final day of the conference, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, another possible 2016 presidential candidate and clearly the favorite of the gathering gave us reasons for optimism. With the success of Ron Paul’s filibuster on drones, and the failure of gun control initiatives after Sandy Hook, the President was forced to “listen to the people”, he said. On Syria, with Obama now going to Congress for authorization, on immigration, on common core, – the people are making their voices heard and throwing a wrench into the Obama agenda. His job as a Senator, he says, is to restore economic growth as the lack of growth is related to all of our other problems. Tax Reform (“Abolish the IRS“), and regulatory reform (“Repeal Obamacare – every single word“) are the key. He sees Obamacare as the greatest job killer of all time and sees de-funding it in the upcoming budget process as the key. In answer to skeptics that see that tactic as a political liability for Republicans, he says “You lose 100% of the fights you surrender at the outset.” Standing ovations were frequent for this speech.

All in all, the speakers reminded us that conservatism is not “in trouble” as the mainstream media may have you believe, but resurgent and full of fire. With his agenda in tatters, the Obama team sees winning back the House and holding the Senate next year as their only chance to have a legacy of anything but failure. Any thought of compromise or even dealing with a Republican House is not is the President’s wheelhouse. Although 2014 will be a harder slog than 2010 when we took them by surprise, at the end of this conference it was clear that we have depth, we have tools and we have a maturity that comes from adversity and learning from the losses of 2012. Thanks to AFP and organizations like them, the conservative grassroots will have help and structure that will amplify our effectiveness going forward.

2013 Greetings

Greetings Republican Neighbors in Northern Palm Beach County:

We’re not even through 2013, and we are already getting ready for the 2014 election cycle! We have a number of exciting races that will be important for Northern Palm Beach County.

If you have not already done so, please renew your membership, or join afresh, to the Republican Club of the Northern Palm Beaches. Your membership ensures that we have your latest contact details, helps support the club, and entitles you to discounted entry at club events.

Our club can again look forward to hearing from great speakers and candidates for our county and local offices. We look forward to seeing you at our Club and Palm Beach County GOP events. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your continued support.

Cindy Tindell
President
Republican Club of the Northern Palm Beaches
gopofnpb@gmail.com

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