Monday, May 14, 2012

Re: GOP Establishment makes a mockery of the democratic process in Oklahoma

MJ i ask are we to hold our noses and let big government republicans neocons continue with big government policies and back romney? i voted for ron paul in our primary.and i will vote for romney in the general election but i would vote for a viable third party if it got rid of obama what do you think?

On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 3:06 PM, MJ <michaelj@america.net> wrote:

May 12, 2012
GOP Establishment makes a mockery of the democratic process in Oklahoma
Kevin Kervick

The GOP in Oklahoma has some explaining to do.

As of this writing, the GOP convention in Oklahoma is being continued in the parking lot because the temporary chair ended the convention illegitimately before a roll call for delegate selection could take place. Party rules state that a convention can be ended if two thirds of the attendees approve dissolution. Apparently that did not happen, but the temporary chair adjourned anyway before scheduled business was completed. Consequently, a group of disenfranchised attendees decided to continue the proceedings outside (video) in what is known as a Rump convention.

Instead of conducting a roll call vote, which is required by Party rules, the chair asked for a voice vote for a predetermined delegate slate that was favorable to Mitt Romney, despite objections from the floor. The reason provided for this decision according to the chair, apparently oblivious to influence from the audience, was that 'It was the way they always did it'. This appears to be a clear case of Establishment GOP corruption because the insiders wanted to select a slate of delegates that was not supported by the majority of attendees at the convention.

This turn of events came at the end of a long afternoon during which there was a lot of animosity in the air. This video contains a conversation with a Ron Paul supporter who witnessed some violence perpetrated against a fellow Ron Paul supporter by a person who was identified as an older 'Establishment guy'. According to this report, the older gentleman hit the Ron Paul supporter in the back of the head. The Sergeant at Arms intervened to remove the Ron Paul supporter but apparently did nothing to the man that hit him.

Later, an observer at the scene said that after the convention prematurely ended, the lights were immediately turned off and the walls to the convention center started to close in on the attendees. One person in attendance told me he believes the portable walls were rearranged in a manner that made it possible to exclude voters from affected districts from the ongoing process. Roberts' Rules of order, which are supposed to govern the convention, were flatly ignored as the GOP pushed its autocratic agenda.

Contrary to popular belief, nominees for the Republican Party are not selected when the state holds its local caucuses. That vote is nothing more than a beauty contest designed to gauge the popular support for candidates. The delegates that select the eventual nominee are selected at state conventions. In this way, the candidate that has the best grass roots support and the most invested supporters often sees improved chances when the state conventions convene.

This is the way the Founders envisioned the process working because they wanted the citizens that were most invested in the outcome to have the greatest influence. They feared the tyranny of the majority, which is a flawed pure democracy system in which a special interest could galvanize a majority of voters to select a poor candidate who might be supportive of a particular popular agenda or be a favorite of a big money interest that can buy a lot of votes. This is precisely what GOP operatives seem to have attempted to orchestrate in Oklahoma in an attempt to force Mitt Romney on a group of delegates that wanted to vote for Ron Paul.

In Oklahoma, the party leaders made a complete mockery of the democratic process. According to many witnesses on the scene in Oklahoma, and with verifiable evidence from a live video feed from the event, the following violations to Roberts' Rules of Order occurred.

·       Delegate credentials were never verified.

·        A convention chair was never appointed, which is required by Party rules.

·        Many motions on the floor and calls for division were ignored by the existing chair.

·        The temporary chair adjourned the convention even though the vote to adjourn was rejected by an estimated two thirds of the attendees.

When the meeting was adjourned after the corruption that had ensued previously, a group of stalwarts decided to take matters into their own hands and take over the process. They gathered people inside the hall and summoned them to meet in the parking lot. This is entirely consistent with the rules of order, which allow for participant action when the presumed leaders act with impunity to operate outside of the rules.

Consequently, the real Oklahoma Republican Party convention occurred after many of the participants had already left. The parking lot convention elected a convention chair who conducted the proceedings with confidence and dignity. After several hours of procedural meandering and roll call votes, the real slate of delegates was selected.

As the parking lot convention waned, participants started cheering and chanting 'Ron Paul Ron Paul' and 'We cannot be bought', which was an obvious reference to the Romney campaign which has been repeatedly accused of paying people to endorse the Governor and to serve as his delegates. All of this was captured live by a feed that sent the proceedings around the world on the internet.

Preliminary estimates are that Congressman Paul captured 95% of the Oklahoma delegates. This was an amazing feat and a political coup of epic proportions.

The Ron Paul Revolution continues.

https://www.examiner.com/article/gop-establishment-makes-a-mockery-of-the-democratic-process-oklahoma

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