Webster County is one of the smallest counties in Georgia, located in Southwest Georgia, it’s primary economy is forestry and agriculture. Kristi Blankenship is a local pharmacist, small business owner, and helps with the family farm. She is also the Republican party county chairman and the 2nd District Vice-Chair for Rick Jackson for Governor.
I got a call from Kristi the other day to let me know of the latest effort underway by Democrats. Friends, this is what is called High Probability, High Impact in the risk mitigation world.
Before you get all huffy and start stomping around the desk about dirty tricks – what I am about to tell you is not dirty tricks, it’s just hard work – and it is not limited to Webster County. It is statewide. We had better work smarter and harder.
The Voter Participation Center out of Washington, DC is the organization doing this. Just what are they doing? They are sending out applications for absentee ballots with pre-addressed, pre-paid envelopes. The recipient of these mailings only has to fill out, sign, and put the request in the mail.
The Voter Participation Center has done their homework. They are following the letter of the law. They are doing the work that we need to be doing.
The Republican candidates are working hard to get out signs. We should be getting out signs, but signs do not vote. We are doing a good job getting our message out on social media. Rick Jackson’s campaign sends out Facebook messages every day with instructions on how to share them. That’s great – but Facebook posts don’t vote.
My point is that we need to do all these things and not leave the other undone. The other being to vote.
In 1840 Abraham Lincoln sent a letter to a friend of his with the clearest, strategic message on winning elections that cannot be excelled. It was before the Republican Party came into being and was about the old Whig party. Millions of dollars in consultants won’t replace Lincoln’s advice. Here it is:
“The whole state must be so well organized that every Whig can be brought to the polls. So divide the county into small districts and appoint in each a committee. Make a perfect list of the voters and ascertain with certainty for whom they will vote. . . . Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters and have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence. . . . On Election Day see that every Whig is brought to the polls.”
That last line, “see that every Whig is brought to the polls,” is the key to winning. When Republicans show up to vote, we win – every time. It is only when we get slack and presumptuous that we lose. This election will be disastrous if we lose.
The work of The Voter Participation Center is not a non-partisan effort for better civic involvement. It is a Democrat operation to get Democrats elected.
This is the kind of project that normally would be right up the State Republican party’s alley. Whether it is them or Rick Jackson’s campaign, somebody needs to match and exceed.
We cannot be complaining about people not voting. We’ve got to encourage, exhort, and downright harass if necessary our voters to get them to the polls.
I’ll close with this final quote from me. “Our job is not to convince people to vote for Republican candidates. Our job is to identify those voters who will vote Republican and convince them to go vote.”
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your taking the time to read. Let me put in one shameless plug for my recent book, Shaped in Life’s Quarry – shapedinlifesquarry.com. Get it on Amazon. Thanks again.
