March 19, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Local support for Jeff Frederick

The Augusta County Republican Committee (ACRC), or what is left of it, anyway, passed a resolution last night to express support for embattled RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick. Chris Green hails the resolution, saying "this is all about the Grass Roots having a say on the matter!" He also worries about "rumours [sic] of deals being cut with State Central Members." (Is he British?) Meanwhile, as Steve Kijak notes,

It appears that many members at the "Grassroots" level are being left out of the matter and that it will be left to the State Central members to decide what is "Right" for the Republican Party as they see fit(?)...

To put it more bluntly, this is a circular situation in which the people expressing support for Frederick were selected by the pro-Frederick leadership themselves. It's like a musical performer choosing his own audience. The grassroots faction uses party machinery to control local activities in a "top-down" fashion, while pretending to represent the genuine, freely-expressed will of the general public. They know who the "real" grassroots are, or they think they know, and they won't put up with anyone questioning their (underhanded) methods or their (unattainable) goals. As the result of procedural tricks pulled by the local chieftains last summer, sanctified by higher party authorities -- in a highly prejudicial manner -- many long-time members were excluded, which is why the current composition of the ACRC does not reflect majority sentiment from Augusta County Republicans. The self-proclaimed "grassroots" are good at getting people riled up, but not so good at retaining dedicated party workers, raising funds, or -- most importantly -- winning elections.

Waldo's feelings on this matter are well known, and I think the recent cartoon (#10 of 14 this month) in the News Leader by Jim McCloskey likewise captures the Democrats' take on the situation just about perfectly. The donkey prays, "Oh, please, God ... Let the G.O.P. keep Jeff Frederick ... Please!!!" smile

This evening the ACRC held its mass meeting to choose state convention delegates. I happened to see one of the members at the Staunton library this afternoon, but he told me that not much of interest was likely to happen there, so I decided not to go observe it. The one saving grace in Augusta County right now is that there are a fair number of honest, well-intentioned leaders and members who are trying to resist heavy pressure from "the usual suspects." Things are bound to get better, eventually.

Fed injects $1.2 trillion cash

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard it on the radio this morning, but it's the lead headline of today's Washington Post, so it must be true. (Right?) The Federal Reserve is in the process of injecting $1.2 trillion into the money supply. This will be accomplished by massive buying of U.S. Treasury Bills and Notes, flooding the financial markets with liquidity, but putting the Fed in an exposed, highly leveraged situation. Apparently, the U.S. economic outlook remains very shaky, and the credit markets need a major cushion to start lending again.

Two quick observations:

1) No one in the government, at least no high-level officials, will admit that this move will cause the rate of inflation to accelerate.

2) Almost everyone in government and the private sector who follows economic trends knows that it will, sooner or later. Buy gold!