The Day I Gave Up on the Party or: The Day the Party Gave Up on Me
Colts Neck High School, Colts Neck, NJ
I was in the 2nd year of my term as a Monmouth County Republican Committee member. Given that the median age is somewhere around 55, other people my age were few and far between.
Maybe, I was naive. I thought that being a part of the representation that I may have an opportunity to change things for the better. Make a difference in the community. However, I soon learned that the only work I would be doing on this committee would be stuffing envelopes and receiving irritating invitations to fundraising events. “Only $150/head for County Members”, WHAT A BARGAIN!
That money was just going to a kitty for the party to send me more flyers and mailers and other garbage that would go directly into the recycling pile.
Talk about making a difference, right?
This can’t be it, right? There must be something more to this than talking about how we were going to help get Mitt Romney elected by calling people during dinner and saying “Hi, do you have time to talk about our future Commander-in-Chief? You’re voting for Obama? You’re on a ‘do-not-call list’?”
June comes along and it’s time for the annual re-organization meeting. The meeting to shake-up the committee leadership and set the agenda for the upcoming year.
Two people were vying for the top spot: County Committee Chairperson.
Christine Hanlon and John O. Bennett.
Neither were very familiar to me, but Christine Hanlon seemed like the one with the better agenda. She understood the discord within the party and wanted to work with towns to find the issues they were seeing within the party. She wanted this position because it meant something to her.
Then there was John O. Bennett who gave nothing short of a blowhard’s speech about how he was overqualified for the position. You know, he was governor (for 4 days on a technicality). To sum it up, it went something like, “I’ve done everything, but I haven’t done this, oh and let’s unite the party and some crap, yay!”
The choice was easy. Right? I had never given a penny to either of these people nor vice versa.
We walked down to the front of the auditorium and cast our votes. After that, it was an inordinate amount of time for the powers that be to tally the votes.
When the winner came to be announced, the MC chose to reveal that the difference in totals was 4 votes.
“Please welcome to the stage, your new County Committee Chairman, John O. Bennett!”
It was amazing to see just how divided the party really was. Right down the middle. Some people got up and left, some stood and applauded, while the rest just sat with their arms crossed, completely indifferent.
So, my candidate lost. I was used to it since I was able to vote. The only actual win I knew to that point was Christie, and he basically got elected because Jon Corzine left such a bad taste in everyone’s mouth that ‘change was necessary’.
In any case, I guess this guy will be fine, I mean he’s done it all, he must know how to lead.
He walked up to the microphone. With animated arms he gestured for people to quiet down. Then, I will never forget the first words out of his mouth.
“Thank you, West Monmouth!”
West? Wait, what? I’ve lived in Monmouth for 24 years at this point and had never once heard the phrase “West” nor “East” Monmouth. It was just Monmouth. Where the event was located, couldn’t have even been more Central. Did he just intentionally divide the room?
I shut down. It was so hard to understand that someone who has held so many positions and regarded so highly as he was could be so utterly obtuse and adroit in his words.
That day I felt betrayed. I felt as if it didn’t matter which side you chose that there were still more sides to pick and it defeated the purpose of attaining a common goal.
No more county committee work for me, I won’t stuff an envelop or pay for a seat at a table. That’s not what I wanted from my party. That’s not what my party promised.
I do still remain active (non-politically) in town committees, because there is a level of importance there. I hope that others realize that you can’t just sit and complain about how things aren’t the way they should be, but that there are still ways you can influence and ways you can help a community of any size flourish.
As for politics, maybe one day I’ll venture back, but to see the current state of the GOP and the Democratic Parties being split so severely, I’m not surprised.
They gave up on us a long time ago.
