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When I first started on the Natrona County Republican Partys Executive Committee, I had come home from volunteering with College Republicans and on campaigns. I was bright-eyed and energetic to help further the Republican Party in my home state.

A couple years later I was elected to serve as State Committeewoman. What I witnessed shocked my eyes and crushed my spirit. Party leaders routinely abandoning principles and ethics, abusing procedure and rules, intimidating and railroading.

I had thought, If I play exactly by the rules, speak truth, have the votes, the people will prevail. Then I learned better.

You see, the party chairmans position is to act as a servant leader not a dictator. He is supposed to make sure the will of the body is carried out, according to the bylaws.

Joe McGinley mightily confused his role to the NCRP. He had the chance to do what is right, and instead chose darkness.

Because of what McGinley did, he was removed from his chairman position by the Central Committee in accordance with the bylaws.

I encourage all Republicans to get involved and see for yourself. The party needs anyone that is honest and forthright. You will be bullied, lied to, threatened and become very unpopular for questioning leadership. But you will learn with endurance.

We will debate. We will bicker over views and what the party should stand for. We will vote against each other and be upset with the outcome at times. And that is okay, as long as the will of the body is carried out truthfully and according to bylaws. There is no room left for more corruption. Help us bring darkness into the light.

Though I am convinced these experiences have probably taken 10 years off my life, I am thankful for the experience now. It made me question everything -- my party, my beliefs, my legislators, my purpose. It opened my eyes. I ask questions now. I look further and dig deeper. I read bills. I look up voting records. So truly, thank you. Thank you, for curing my blindness.

HOLLY BURROW, Birmingham, Alabama

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Burrow: Republicans need to get involved - Casper Star-Tribune Online

The GOP is becoming the party of Andrew Jackson, and some conservatives arent happy about it.

Until recently, Jackson was a bit of a political free agent. Democrats, who once celebrated Jackson as one of their own and championed how he stood up for the common man, have almost entirely purged the seventh president from their list of honored figures. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb appears to be one of the handful of remaining holdouts, however, hes currently little more than a relic within his party.

Jacksons notoriety hit a low after the Treasury unceremoniously announced it would strip his visage from the front of the $20 bill in 2015, with few voices of protest. But Old Hickory has received a remarkable surge in interest since President Donald Trump began adopting Jackson as his model. Trumps Oval Office contains both a portrait and a statue of Jackson, and though Trump rarely demonstrated ideological convictions on the campaign trail, he has wholeheartedly embraced the legacy of the White Houses first Democrat.

So should Republicans and conservatives follow Trump and adopt Jackson as a model president? Not so fast, says National Review Editor-in-Chief Rich Lowry, who wrote in POLITICO that the GOP already has a perfectly acceptablenay, altogether superior19th century champion in the person of Abraham Lincoln.

Lowry noted that Jackson belongs in the pantheon of great Americans, but wrote that he should be left on the political party waiver wire now that Democrats have given him the boot; Lincolns model of personal responsibility and striving is a better fit as the cornerstone creed of the GOP. Jackson has too much baggage, according to Lowry. And besides, Lowry wrote, the Whig ethic was passed into the DNA of the Republican Party, since the partys founding, not Jacksonianism, and politics should stay that way.

Democrats have long wanted ownership of Lincoln, Lowry warned. And now the GOPs hold on the Great Emancipator is getting cross-pressured by [Trump].

While Lowry is correct that Lincoln rightfully has the most honored place in the history of the Republican Party, hes wrong about the need to jettison Jackson. Lincolns political creed could best be described as Hamiltonianafter Founding Father Alexander Hamiltonwhich political scientist Walter Russell Mead defined as being pro-business, for stable markets and promoting trade abroad.

However, both Hamiltonian and Jacksonian ideas were present and essential at the Republican Partys creation. And it so happens that in the modern political landscape they must once again work in tandem to correct each others shortcomings and create a dynamic governing creed.

A more thoroughly Jacksonian party would focus on: Peace through strength and reorienting foreign policy to focus on narrower American interests, better trade deals for the American people, preventing crony capitalism, curtailing the bloated and out-of-control administrative state, and returning policies decisions back to the states.

An infusion of Jacksonian ideas into the party of Lincoln will ultimately be a net positive, especially in a time when populist discontent is roiling the country and the West in general.

Jacksonian Origins of the Grand Old Party

Twitter was aglow with hot takes and pseudo-history after Trump suggested in a recent interview that had Jackson been a little later he could have possibly have prevented the Civil War. The statement brought howls of derision from the media who were quick to remind the American peopleafter a quick Google searchthat Jackson had, in fact, been dead for sixteen years when the war started, and he was a slave owner to boot.

Trump later tweeted that Jackson saw the war coming, was angry about it, and wouldnt let it happen.

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The Republicans Should Be the Party of Lincolnand Jackson - The National Interest Online

House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters listens as Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling speaks on Capitol Hill on May 2, 2017, during the committee's hearing on overhauling the nation's financial rules. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption

House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters listens as Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling speaks on Capitol Hill on May 2, 2017, during the committee's hearing on overhauling the nation's financial rules.

There's a famous story about how Lana Turner was discovered: sitting in a Hollywood drugstore, sipping a soda. Next thing you know, she's one of the most sought after "It" girls of the 1940s.

There may be some key details left out of that account, but one can assume, at least in theory, that it makes sense.

What doesn't necessarily make sense? The recent fever pitch over 78-year-old Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who has been adopted by a new generation as "Auntie Maxine."

Waters has spent more than four decades in public service but it's only now that she's become the political crush for young progressives. That's due to her fierce attacks of President Donald Trump and his new administration. While other politicians practice staid soundbites, Waters is extemporaneous and unpredictable. But usually her message is along the lines of "Impeach 45!"

That has made her deep raspy voice and withering facial expressions almost inescapable recently.

Although she's been a staple of cable news shows on CNN and MSNBC, Waters' popularity and reach have surpassed the traditional political audience and grabbed ahold of young left-leaning hearts and minds.

In the past month alone, she's appeared at the MTV Music Awards where she basked and curtsied in the roaring applause of a standing ovation that went on and on. She's been featured in the Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, Ebony and The Washington Post's "Cape Up" podcast.

But it was probably a January article by humor columnist R. Eric Thomas on Elle.com that catapulted the septuagenarian to stardom with the selfie-taking set and led to her new, familial nickname.

Apparently, Thomas, who has a Lana Turner story of his own he was hired by the magazine after being discovered on Twitter was home watching C-SPAN, when Waters serendipitously appeared on the screen.

Thomas had found a new muse.

Rep. Maxine Waters, left, and Tracee Ellis Ross present the award for best fight against the system at the MTV Movie and TV Awards on Sunday, May 7, 2017, in Los Angeles. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP hide caption

Rep. Maxine Waters, left, and Tracee Ellis Ross present the award for best fight against the system at the MTV Movie and TV Awards on Sunday, May 7, 2017, in Los Angeles.

If you haven't seen the performance that launched hundreds of thousands of tweets, take 30 seconds to watch the whole thing. But if you don't have the time, here's what you need to know: Waters had left an intelligence briefing with then-FBI Director James Comey. She was not pleased with what she had heard.

"Yes, can I help you? What do you want?" is how she addressed reporters.

Thomas can't help laughing as he recalls watching it unfold in real time. "I was like, 'Who is this person?'" he said, "She walks into a press conference like they're already on her last nerve."

He was delighted, flabbergasted and inspired and that led to this unforgettable paragraph:

"I have never seen anything like this outside of a family reunion. Rep. Waters is definitely that auntie who got rich selling Avon and doesn't really like your father. Or any of these low-rent people. But you sit by her so that she can stage-whisper critiques with a mouth full of potato salad."

So, technically, the words "Auntie Maxine" may never have been strung together by Thomas, but he takes full credit anyway.

"It's on my business card!" he bragged.

Asheya Warren is among Waters' legion of fans and says the congresswoman's frank style and "shade"-throwing skills are what appeal to her.

"It's the way she says what she says," Warren said. Older women like Waters get a pass to freely speak their minds, added the 30-year-old.

Once a woman is over 60, she said, "You're able to say whatever you want to, whenever you want to. My mom does it, her two sisters do it, my grandmother did it, and again, that's why that 'Auntie' moniker is so well received."

Waters is thrilled by it all.

"I am surprised and honored to be so enthusiastically supported by millennials," she said by phone from her office in Los Angeles.

She says millennials though she may be a little generous with that designation stop her on the street, at the mall and in restaurants, with the same cry. "Auntie Maxine! Oh my God, can I take a picture?" they squeal in excitement.

Waters recognizes she's filling a void left by today's professional politicians, who are sometimes afraid to state their genuine opinions fearing a backlash from constituents or the potential loss of their seat. "But I'm not afraid that," she said defiantly. "I will speak my mind."

And if that makes you want to call her "Auntie," be ready. She likes giving hugs.

Read more from the original source:
'Auntie' Maxine Waters Is The Political Crush Of The Moment For Young Progressives - NPR

President-elect Emmanuel Macrons success in France against a far-right opponent suggests voters from different camps are prepared to rally around a moderate candidate from the centre. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

Will Hutton mentions creating a new party in a throwaway line at the end of his column on why the future for progressive politics looks less than inviting (Never in my adult life has the future looked so bleak for progressives, Comment).

This should not be an afterthought. It is the one bright spot of hope in a desolate landscape and one that progressive media outlets such as the Observer should be championing. If 8 June sees Theresa Mays Conservatives returned to power, then moderate Labour, Lib Dem and Green politicians should finally agree to form a single progressive party and stop splitting the anti-Tory vote, as they have done since 1945.

A beneficial side-effect of such a realignment will be that Jeremy Corbyns hard-left Labour will not join and can become marginalised by a much larger and more electable force. The left-of-centre party activists have become detached from their voters witness the haemorrhaging of support from the Lib Dems after entering a coalition with the Tories that was opposed by many and the way that lifelong Labour supporters are deserting Corbyn.

What we need now is undeniable evidence to confirm that voters are crying out for change and political leaders with the backbone to put country before party and listen to them.

David Vigar Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire

Britain is a country of the European Enlightenment, so I have thought, writes Will Hutton in last weeks newspaper. If only it was, we would not be descending into the mess of xenophobia and economic self-immolation that is the product and inevitable outcome of Brexit. But the Enlightenment was more at home in Scotland than it was in England.

In recent years, there has been a debate about the identity of the English, a debate that never produced a definitive answer.

The result of the referendum, however, has supplied one we are not Johnny Foreigner. For at least four centuries, the British, dominated by the English view of politicians, politics, society and the rest of the world, have been seen and understood through a prism of the dominant culture of a Great Britain. It is a culture of pomp, an unelected upper house, titles signifying social differences and a how we won the war media. There has never been a whole commitment to the European Union.

George Hudson Worcester

I agree with Will Hutton. David Cameron lacked judgment in holding the referendum, but also to blame for the result was the lack of Labour leadership in promoting a vigorous campaign to expose the distortions and lies the Tories were using to blame Europe for the policies they had instigated, which had damaged schools, hospitals, social services and housing needs.

Equally disastrous was the Labour leaders crass decision to take his MPs into the lobby to abandon the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, which had been deliberately designed to prevent opportunist governments from taking advantage of electoral swings to benefit their own party. He could have stopped Theresa May in her tracks by opposing her and prevented her from gaining the 67% majority required to change the act. Instead, he not only faces the self-devastation of his own party, but, even worse, it gives the Tories untrammelled power to do as they wish for the next five years, uncontrolled by the slender overall majority the party currently enjoys.

Charles Tyrie Nottingham

Hasnt Will Hutton anything cheerful to say? Im depressing myself enough think about the political and economic state of the nation without him making me feel even worse. Cant the Observer start a pre-election section full of humour, something to let readers feel a momentary surge of happiness and, shall we say, enlightenment? Ian Hogg Witney

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The big issue: progressives are crying out for a new party - The Guardian

posted at 5:31 pm on May 13, 2017 by Jazz Shaw

Heres an odd little story for you this weekend which I ran across in the local press out of San Francisco. It really wouldnt merit much national attention were it not such a sterling example of enshrined, liberal tribal beliefs being carried over in the real world to the point of self-ridicule. This story in the SF Weekly deals with a commercial property in the Haight-Ashbury district which became a local bone of contention after some redevelopment work. The address on Steiner St. was, for many years, the home of a locally owned coffee shop called Bean There. (Trs adorable, nest-ce pas?) It was popular with the locals, but following some earthquake mitigation work by the owner of the property, the lease to the coffee shop owner was not renewed. Theres some debate over why that took place, but thats not really the story here.

What came next was an ongoing fight to see what business would replace Been There. A profitable looking bid came in for a different coffee shop operated by Blue Bottle Coffee. As the linked article explains, having another coffee shop there wasnt going to be acceptable if it wasnt the right kind of coffee shop, if you know what I mean. Local community activists leapt into action without delay.

But behind the scenes, a battle against corporate coffee moguls was being waged

The process hands a fair amount of power to nearby residents, who are allowed to petition to the Planning Commission for or against a formula retail business moving in.

With this bit of power, Lower Haight got fired up. Neighbors United, a group formed by former District 5 supervisor candidate Dean Preston and his deputy campaign manager Jen Snyder, worked closely with the Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Association (LoHMNA) and local resident Hal Fischer to flyer the neighborhood and alert residents about the plan. On Thursday people flooded the Planning Commission meeting, voicing an overwhelming distaste for the chain coffee shops attempt to move into Bean Theres old spot.

And in the end, they won. The Planning Commission voted 2-4 in favor of the opposition. A final motion to officially block Blue Bottle will be held at a future meeting.

The locals apparently have the power to petition the planning commission and stop any development which doesnt fit in with the flavor (oh pardon me. Im sure thats probably flavour) of the Lower Haight neighborhood. They are also on the lookout to prevent gentrification and they certainly dont want one of those big, international chain operations moving in and diluting the local culture. So they shut down Blue Bottles bid. The people rejoiced over this great victory.

This is a huge victory for preserving the character of our neighborhood, said Fischer, who led a petition drive that gathered more than 1,300 signatures.

Congratulations, community organizers! You kept out that big, nasty, soulless international chain store. Except for one thing. Blue Bottle is a boutique coffee outfit which was formed pretty much next door in Oakland. Their mission statement tells you all about their horrible corporate philosophy. It was started by, a slightly disaffected freelance musician and coffee lunatic. He created the brand specifically to rebel against major chains like Starbucks and bring people freshly ground coffee made from (and this is the important bit) responsibly sourced beans.

And how big is this massive international chain which the locals were too exclusive to have in their neighborhood? They have a total of 34 stores. But thats more than the eleven which the local ordinance allows before you are considered a major international player, however. So Blue Bottles bid was shut down. And what did this victory deliver for the sensitive, socially woke residents instead? The property sits empty, as it has for over a year with the exception of a brief, failed attempt to open up a hair salon there. So the neighborhood used to have a coffee shop where people could gather for a cup of joe and mingle. Now they have an empty eyesore which is generating zero profit or tax revenue.

Well played, folks. Youve certainly struck a blow for hipster culture everywhere. Youve also managed to squeeze out even more of the remaining incentive to attempt to engage in capitalism in California. But whats the difference if you drove down the property values and stopped someone from providing some jobs to local folks and possibly making a profit? You managed to ward off the scourge of gentrification. Thank God you were there to save the union from falling into disrepair.

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This is how progressives undermine capitalism in the name of character - Hot Air