Brian's Column: The Grand Shi of Nakagiri
Posted on August 24, 2014 by Brian Wright
Michigan Republican State Convention site of next big move on the weiqe board
Coming up slightly short in the vote count, but way ahead in the enthusiasm race, liberty Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in the Wolverine State, Wes Nakagiri, had the establishment forces all a-frazzled, wondering whether somebody forgot to grease the skids on the Juggernaut of State.
In the 2012 primary race, an excellent Forbes article described how Ron Paul was thinking in the long range strategy of shi (pronounced sure) as opposed to his opponents' shorter-range power-politics plan of attack, called li in Chinese. In the long run, shi, in service of the 'Freedom Philosophy'—especially when accompanied by the Gandhian global truth force, Satyagraha—is the superior philosophy. Shi, like water, always wins. It's just a matter of time. Do we have the time?
Yes for Wes' shi campaign for lieutenant governor portends victory… in time
What follows is my photostory with commentary of the 2014 Michigan Republican Convention in Novi… in which Wes runs the finest race, having the support of thousands of wonderful, freedom-loving people across Michigan. One for the books. Also I hope to show how, thanks to this central campaign—which many on both sides blew off as merely a nothing race for a second-banana office—the forces of freedom are closing in on the New Paradigm as the forces of darkness only barely manage to remain afloat.
It pretty much started years ago as key thinkers in the overall freedom movement realized that the establishment parties had an Achilles' Heel; the Progressive Movement of the early 20th century had tried to turn both smoke-filled-room-dominated political parties into 'public' parties. Meaning that any citizen could show up and run at the lowest rung of the parties' organization—precinct delegate—and by law be enabled to determine who runs each party. It is the ultimate power… but over the years seldom used to its potential, especially by those seeking political liberty.
In practice the parties remained for the most part in the hands of the bosses, who answered to the financial power and to the central bank's corporate beneficiaries. And that has been the case with the Republicans in Michigan in recent years: the practice was that during the primary election the number of precinct delegate positions open for election was seldom filled. Those who sought to become delegates did so as directed by the party leadership already in place. The PD purpose was to simply rubber stamp the top-down decision-making process… and have some fun in the bargain.
Well, no more. Since 2008, Ron Paul's first presidential primary election, freedom activists in the Republican Party have exploited the legal presentation of precinct delegates to run liberty-friendly candidates. Often they are unopposed. Of course the old party bosses are figuring out what's happening and trying to counter. But they are under significant handicap by not having any real or purposeful presence at the grassroots level. (They have never had to fill that many positions to retain control, which now requires getting out into the neighborhood and meeting with people door-to-door. Not something the party bosses like to do: it's hard work, and to pay someone to do it for them seems more trouble than its worth.)
But we'll see how it goes in the next few election cycles. Personally, I don't think the establishment has an answer. Further, as those of us pushing the liberty agenda achieve success in the Republican Party, guess who's next? Right: the Democrats. Party of Thomas Jefferson. [The photo above is an outtake of activism that occurred in between the county and state conventions, a lot of the same characters, and liberty is spreading like wildfire to all sectors of society now.]
So the day arrives, August 23, 2014, a Saturday, fairly hot compared to most of the summer this year. Location: Novi's Suburban Collection Showplace: "Michigan's premier exposition, conference, and banquet center. The facility features 214,000 square feet of exhibit floor, 25,000 square feet of prefunction space, and with the versatile Diamond Center, 19 individual break-out rooms." This state convention will cater to more than 2100 delegates and hundreds of alternates and guests. [In other words, roughly three times the number of people in attendance at the largest national convention ever held by the Libertarian Party (which the writer attended), in 1979 at the Bonaventure Hotel in LA.]
I'm a little late, but doesn't really matter, because I registered last night in order to avoid the need to stand in line for long periods of time in the morning to get my delegate badge. First things first. Scout out the surroundings. The size of the place is a bit intimidating initially, but does have homey touches. The overall commercial idea and I presume chief sponsor of the Showplace is selling cars and the Suburban Collection, a group of automobile dealers in Michigan (mainly), California, and Florida.
Upon entering the convention floor area, I note the dozens of literature tables, which are decently appointed. But frankly I would have expected greater variety and number. Don't know what table prices are, but many are for candidates' paraphernalia—thus I would guess on the high to extravagant side.
[One way to keep out the various truth and justice causes, for instance, e.g. a table for Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth or Smart Meter Education Network or Geoengineeringwatch.org or half a dozen others of significance. Plus, I'll bet you have to pass thru a strenuous committee approval process to avoid anything too controversial. What chance would an organization have, regardless of money, to place a table if it were promoting an end to the marijuana prohibition laws??? Not an idle question, when the attorney general of Michigan, Bill "I don't obey no stinkin' statutes" Scheutte (the elected official of this very party, running unopposed for renomination at this convention), raids homes and bashes the heads of anyone participating in the voter-approved medical marijuana business.]
I also locate the food center, such as it is, and order a veggie sandwich. It's about 10:30 and nobody is with me ordering at the window, they're all on the floor nearby listening to the convention chair yell with a megaphone into a metal garbage can, while being displayed at the same time on a 30-ft.-high, dimly backlit HDTV screen. Two nice ladies behind the counter, one reminding me of my dear departed mother, venture to serve me. The other inquires if I know Governor Rick. She wants to improve the process of unemployment services in the state, make government less onerous, inconvenient, and predatory. I say, Hallelujah, exactly my thoughts.
"I don't know if Governor Rick is your guy, but I know a lot of the people in this room feel your annoyance… and will seek to do something about it, given the chance. Even moving the unemployment system over to more of a market function, like taking the department of motor vehicles and putting it into say a Walmart and/or Meijer, etc. Why do we need the government to do these functions? Plus they suck up productive resources that can lead to more jobs."
Over to the 11th District section. These are my people. Time to sit down and pay attention. I quickly get the lay of the land: the orders of the day call for going down the list of candidates for which this convention has responsibility to choose: secretary of state, attorney general, lieutenant governor, a couple of supreme court judges, and the educational boards (board of education, Wayne State Board of Governors, Michigan State Board of Trustees, University of Michigan Board of Regents). [Just why they call the positions different names for the three major universities—governors, trustees, regents—is a good question. My personal opinion is whoever was first making up these elected positions got high in a room with a large thesaurus.] Of course, we hear from our other key candidates in November, especially Terri Lynn Land (US Senate) and Governor Rick… both who were unopposed in the recent public primary.
First the bolded candidates, who are running uncontested, get their say. And that takes what seems to be an inordinate chunk of time (perhaps unfairly, my dim view of both these liberty-hostile persons makes a microsecond seem too long). Finally, the interesting contest, lieutenant governor, becomes the next agenda item. Nominating speeches and seconds. Wes is up.
Wow, I'm blown away by the demonstrations on the floor. I have put out the word to my liberty Republican friends who were there to send me a photo of Wes' demo. As yet, no responses. But it's a very large procession, maybe 100-200 individuals carrying the Yes for Wes signs, which are also liberally attached to hundreds of chairs, especially in the back where the alternates and guests sit. No balloons as I recall. Nor for anyone else. Perhaps prohibited. A serious and grassroots, heartfelt, NOISY huzzah for the man in red! Calley's demo was a pale second in comparison.
We still have the educational boards and another hour or two before actual voting. You want to talk about boring! One thing becomes strikingly clear: If you ever voted in favor of a) Obamacare exchanges, b) Medicaid Expansion, and/or c) ObamaEd (Common Core)—or if you even had a dream of maybe considering voting for these abominations—at this convention you most definitely pass over that error in silence. Nobody must know that you are a Rollover Republican on the record. Just keep your mouth shut and mumble generalities like, "I'm a Reagan Republican, have good conservative values, love the troops, love my mother, adore children, etc."
Any vocal proponent of any of those three devastating public policies will be going down in flames, no matter how many deathly quiet establishment Republicans (stabbies) are present in the voting ranks today. The stabbies know these policies (and votes for these policies) are the third rail in this crowd; maybe the bosses' agendae can slide by one last time. But comes the next convention, absolutely nobody will be nominated who has ever so much as glanced fondly at the Aye lever when anything like a), b), or c) roll around.
Fair warning. And it's obvious everyone here in the stabbie ranks knows the obvious truth: the days of Rollover Republicans are done and dusted. The liberties will mop up the floor with any remnants who fail to get the message. No matter what the result today or in November.
Showdown at the Showplace
Now comes the time to stand and deliver, literally. We do not vote in place or fill out some electronic doodah to register our choices. No sir. We rise and proceed to the left of the body, where lines form according to Congressional districts—Michigan has 18 Congress members, used to be 19 as I recall. As I mention in the photo caption, there really isn't any advantage to standing in line. Also, the process is inefficient in requiring queuing by CDs (the 11th has something like 250 delegates, and will take you an hour or two to reach the voting booth). Best to find something else to do that's productive, then get back in line in an hour or two. It will still be here when you come back.
So I decide to take a stroll and get to the snack bar for my second veggie sandwich of the day, then take a walk, answer some emails on my Blackberry, just wander around and chat people up. That's one advantage of a largely attended convention of predominantly conversational, virtually all caring and loving people who want the political world to be genuinely better for their families and loved ones—even singularly intelligent persons with independent consciousnesses: mostly fabulous to talk with.
I have my cheat sheet showing my preferences for the contested offices. It isn't too difficult. Except for Rob Steele, whom I know from the conservative Birmingham-Bloomfield Republican Club and Docs4PatientCare.org—a wonderful Obamacare-alternative physicians' site, that I've heard Dr. Steele talk about on a few occasions—, I'm really not knowledgeable about the other educational board candidates. Much less the supreme court judge candidates.
So I indirect address: I go to the literature table of a candidate who is the most extremely anti-Common Core, then ask who the candidate sees as a good 'running mate.' For the judges, there appear to be three running for two slots: I go with the twofer where one of the judge's paragraphs has the word 'constitutional' in it. Very scientific. So who do I vote for?
Lieutenant Governor: Wes Nakagiri
Supreme Court Judges: David Viviano, Brian Zahra
Board of Ed: Maria Carl, Joshua Cline
Wayne State (my alma mater): Satish Jasti, Michael Busuito
Michigan: Rob Steele, Dan Horning
Michigan State: Jeff Sakwa, Melanie Foster
While I'm closing in on the actual polling area, many of the candidates up for grabs are working the long 11th district line especially. I remember Brian Calley in particular, a slight, handsome, sincere, and pleasant fellow. He sees my Yes for Wes t-shirt and stickers; we shake hands as he inquires, "I see you're for my opponent, but hope that if the vote should go the other way that I may have your support in November." Unprepared for this, I utter a perfunctory, "Sure." It seems reasonable to favor so nice and forthright a person.
Results and the Liberty Agenda
In retrospect, I should have looked him in the eye, smiled, and responded, "You bet, Mr. Calley, provided you truly make at least modest steps toward the Liberty Agenda."
Of course, the Liberty Agenda has never been defined. Why? Because no one has taken the trouble to spell it out. Also the so-called Tea Party represents is such a potpourri of sentiments from extreme red-meat pro-war/pro-life/Christ-is-the-answer/Israel-über-alles AR15-wielding antidrug crusaders (fortunately a tiny sliver… that the mainstream media loves to focus on) to constitutional conservatives (Ron Paul types) to constitutional liberals (secular libertarians and truthers like moi). As a writer, I'm going to take an action item to propose such a liberty agenda that 90% of the Tea Party can go with… which also I believe 85% of the general public will support. America has had it up to here with statism and tyranny of all shades and parties. Time for a system reboot. We may even have to format the C:\ drive and rebuild our system from its First Principles. [Don't worry, the right to self-defense by arms is core. This is America.]
Maybe Mr. Calley will do some thinking as a consequence of the close vote. Which gives away the story I'm afraid. I have sneaking suspicions that thanks to the bold, unqualified endorsement of Calley by one of our state's most celebrated and respected constitutional conservatives, Congressman Justin Amash, that Wes will lose. I truly find Justin's support astonishing, considering Calley's role in implementing the big three third-rail policies mentioned above. Many of the weaker Wes supporters will fall in line thanks to this act of, well, betrayal… of Wes and all of us, not to mention the Constitution. Can you say abject?
And who wins? Well, Wes actually comes up to the podium to concede and rather than convey the actual totals, he says, "let's make it unanimous for Brian Calley." I think "Bull effin' shit to that. What are the numbers? How in the world does Wes, who has the most enthusiastic following in the building, lose without at least a recount? I know it's close. But geez." I do see the point of unity.
On the other hand, what does it mean to vote Republican this year… unless someone like Wes is there to show symbolic, if not solid, support for the Liberty Agenda? What have any of these purported leaders done to arrest the onrushing military dictatorship coming down the road behind the trillion-dollar parade of Homeland Security, TSA, and local yokels awash in federal war hardware, sound cannons, and SWAT regalia?
Has any Republican leader in Michigan indicated any intention whatsoever to fight for our freedom against the Juggernaut State? No, of course not. They all plan to make money from it, pay their country club dues with kickbacks on armored personnel carriers, sip mint juleps and dance the fat man's jig while watching those 'damned protesters' on TV writhe in agony from pepper spray and rubber bullets: "Honey, did you DVR the Golf Channel today? I gotta watch this."
Of course, not that the Democrats are any better. What's the difference, then? What difference does it make to the average Joe or Jane to go Donkey or Elephant? We're living in a corporate pathocracy intent on eradicating the living individual real human being… either by poisoning his environment with airborne toxins, irradiating him with lethal wifi on his utility meters, vaccinating him to death, inflicting him with cultivated plagues and diseases, or nuking his home and family with surgical drone strikes. And that's the short list. Who speaks for the humans? Sadly, this year, not the Republicans in Michigan.
Final Notes: the Light at the End of the Tunnel: Grand Shi: Satyagraha
First I want to personally thank Wes Nakagiri for leading this battle. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Also, the 95% in the Tea Party working so hard without letup or money, looking simply to end the monster state, restore America's First Principles. Before I forget, please go to Wes's site (http://wesyes.com/) and kick in some ducats to help him with the labor of love that surely drained his personal finances. [Read up on him, too. I doubt many people are aware that both his parents were victims of Roosevelt's internment policy of Japanese Americans during WWII. Talk about street credit when it comes to fighting for the Bill of Rights!]
We know you'll be back, Mr. Nakagiri, and this time we'll win. The long-range strategy of the inevitable flow of the water of the Freedom Philosophy will have its day. And it will be in time, meaning soon enough to prevent the collapse of our country into despotism. Because it already is in time. It's here and now and alive. The Liberty Republican Revolution in Michigan is America's 21st century Lexington and Concord, shots heard 'round the world. Or at least one such shot. A major one. We have all the energy, all the ideas, the appeal to youth, everything that matters… next time we meet, we'll have the numbers as well. If not here, then a boatload of theres.
You are the Resistance! Death to the state! Live free and flourish!
This entry was posted in Brian Columns, Whole Site and tagged 2014 Oakland County Republican Convention, Common Core, Liberty Republicans, Medicaid Expansion, Obamacare, Republican Michigan State Convention, Rob Steele, Rollover Republicans, statism vs. liberty, Suburban Collection Showplace, Terri Lynn Land, Wes Nakagiri by Brian Wright. Bookmark the permalink.