Flip4.org » Greg Knytych http://www.flip4.org/blog The front lines of American politics Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:09:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 What NH (and you) need to do… http://www.flip4.org/blog/2009/01/what-nh-and-you-need-to-do%e2%80%a6/ http://www.flip4.org/blog/2009/01/what-nh-and-you-need-to-do%e2%80%a6/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:55:39 +0000 Greg Knytych http://www.flip4.org/blog/2009/01/what-nh-and-you-need-to-do%e2%80%a6/ This past Saturday was the annual NH State Republican Party Committee Meeting (NHGOP) that I was able to attend as a voting member.
I have been to these meeting before as a visitor and they usually look like an old tired horse going through the motions. We normally get to see a lot of bickering between the different factions of the party and no clear leadership is shown. This is not to say that our past party leadership has been bad, it just seems that we get mired down in the mundane trivialities that surround us. That all has changed with the election of former Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu.
Outgoing Chairman Fergus Cullen did a lot of work to prepare us for moving forward and has some very good ideas on how we need to present the message to the people.
One of the things pointed out is that at there will be nobody under 30 years old that has any personal memories of Ronald Reagan. He was a great president and his words will stand the test of time but we need a new way of sharing those principles he spoke of so eloquently.
We as a party need to move beyond saying “we need a smaller government”, “trust the free market”, “reduce taxes and spending”, and “we will fight to protect our rights”. These are very good principles that we absolutely have to stand by but these things have been said so much that we are viewed as the party of old people and ideas. We absolutely have to prove that we are the party of ideas and solutions. That involves identifying the key threshold issues that are at the forefront of the public’s mind and starting the conversation with positive steps to solve these problems.
Take, for instance, the issue of global warming. I for one do believe in the science that has shown global warming to exist since the beginning of time but will never believe that it is ALL MAN MADE, as presented by the left. That being said, I also believe that we need to be good stewards of our environment. This means that the steps we can take to be more environmentally friendly need to be brought forth for debate. The solutions we present must be viable and conform to our principles. We need alternative solutions to subsidies for ethanol and café standards for vehicles. Solutions need to be viable without competing against free-market businesses by using OUR tax dollars as a prop.
Most people agree that the health care system in place does not work the way it should. Universal Health Care is going to destroy what we have, but people hear “it’s free” and don’t think about how much it will cost or what restrictions will be placed on it. We, as a party have been seen as defending a broken system and we need to put forth viable free-market solutions that will change the system. We need to explain in detail why our plan will work, how it is different from what we have, who will benefit from it and, most importantly what the defects are in the alternative.
It is important to get the youth involved and one way to start getting some interest is by sponsoring our-reach into the high schools and colleges. Local organizations can do some fundraising to sponsor an essay writing contest with a scholarship at the winning prize(s). It could be as simple as asking for 500 words describing “how lower taxes increase government revenues” or as involved as asking for 1,500 words describing “the proper role of government”.
I also imagine that the responses to the essay contest would help to refine the words we use in defining our positions, plans, policies and principles. The responsibility for getting this started rests on our shoulders and we need to gather locally to organize, spread the word and make this grass-roots effort catch fire. It is important to not take on too many issues. Three or four would work well and if you are unsure as to what issues to target look no farther than your state legislature. The bills they will be taking up in the current session will identify what we are facing. Study them to see what is proposed and how it can be changed to fit our principles or, if it completely violates our principles why it is being proposed.
It is time for US to roll up our sleeves and get into the trenches to make it happen.

]]> http://www.flip4.org/blog/2009/01/what-nh-and-you-need-to-do%e2%80%a6/feed/ 0 New Hampshire: The Granite State needs Granite Resolve http://www.flip4.org/blog/2009/01/new-hampshire-the-granite-state-needs-granite-resolve/ http://www.flip4.org/blog/2009/01/new-hampshire-the-granite-state-needs-granite-resolve/#comments Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:39:47 +0000 Greg Knytych http://www.flip4.org/blog/2009/01/new-hampshire-the-granite-state-needs-granite-resolve/ Welcome from the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, known as New England’s playground because of the beautiful surroundings of lakes, mountains and trees. It is said “this is what people move here for” but I have to tell you it’s more than that.

I am originally from the Phoenix, Mesa area of Arizona and I remember the conservative values of the state while growing up. Arizonans were a strong-willed people that weren’t afraid to jump into the middle of a problem and fix it. They are a very independent type that didn’t have a tremendous amount of friends, usually they were acquaintances. I always thought that the tough environment of Arizona’s desserts, mountains and plateaus built character but I was wrong. If you want to see a character building environment come to New Hampshire, especially in the winter months.

The people of New Hampshire are equally strong-willed and independent but they also have a strong sense of community. I have been to many different states throughout my life but I have yet to see politics in the most pure form than in New Hampshire. If you have attended any Town Meetings you will know what I am talking about. All of the members of the community come together in March to discuss the town budget, capital improvements, school budget, town and school staffing issues, etc… and nothing is done until a majority of the town residents in attendance vote for it. This is one of the main reasons people like me move here, you can actually have a voice in your government.Since the Civil War New Hampshire has seen a Republican majority in both houses of the Legislative Branch, Executive Council and Governors office more often than not. In fact the elections of 2006 gave the Democrats control over all the 4 main sections of the government, 2 Executive Branches and 2 Legislative Branches for the first time since 1874.
We have a history of conservative values, especially fiscal conservative. Ours is a place of no frills, you only buy what you need and can afford and nothing else. If there is something else you need then you better work harder so you can afford it. This fiscally conservative streak extended beyond party lines and is one of the reasons that we take pride in the fact that we have no sales or income taxes, because we control spending to keep taxes low.

In the 2007/2008 session of the State Legislature that was all changed. Democratic Governor Lynch, who has tremendous approval ratings because he never takes a stand on anything, presented his proposed budget to the House and Senate showing a 14.5% increase in spending. He made it clear that that was the most the state could afford without new tax revenues (sales or income). The Democratic controlled House and Senate decided on increasing the spending to 17.5% and the Governor never said a word. What is worse is that nobody from the NHGOP spoke out either. This should have been making headlines but all was quiet, until the economy started to tank.

Of course there was a lot of spin put on the shortfalls of the budget. “We didn’t know the economy was going to fail” or “This is the impact on NH from Washington’s mismanagement of the National Economy” and let’s not forget “This is because of George Bush’s War”, which at that time got a lot of press coverage. No matter how much we spoke out about the fact that this economic downturn was predicted by Charlie Arlinghaus from the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy months before the budget was passed we couldn’t get any traction in the media.

These budget issues were at the top of everyone’s list of issues during the 2008 campaign. There were also some social issues in there too. Our legislature passed laws that said you can’t drop out of high school until you are 18, because you aren’t old enough to make that decision. We became the first in the nation to repeal a parental notification law because; as my opponent in the campaign said “13 year old women are old enough to make this decision on their own”. We saw government chipping away at individual and property rights, new and increased fees (see taxes) and controlling more aspects of our daily lives.

This past election had some promising results. With 6 open seats in the senate we didn’t lose one. The NH Senate has the “status quo” that was in the previous session. We did gain 17 seats in the house, even though we didn’t take back the majority.

We now have former Governor John H. Sununu, Senator Sununu’s father, as the only candidate for the NHGOP Chair. He has already started attacking the Democrats on the fact that NH achieved another first. We are the first state in the nation to have a deficit greater than 15% when measured against the general fund. He is letting the people know that

NH has the lowest credit rating ever and explaining how the social agenda being followed is destroying NH.
In 2010 things will be much different. I see the party being unified, the message becoming clear and concise and the message actually getting to the people. Gov. Sununu is still very much loved in this state and that forces the media to report what he is saying.

We can’t leave the job to Gov. Sununu alone. It is up to all of us to work together behind the scenes getting everyone involved. Yes, 2010 will be much different because I believe we can win back the majority at all levels of government and put an end to this fiscal and social madness we are seeing.

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