Politics North and South
by James Glaser
January 11, 2008

Last night I went to the Leon County Republican Party Executive Committee meeting in Tallahassee. I believe the last time I went to a Republican County meeting was when George Bush was running for his second term, and back then it was the Itasca County Republican Convention in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. All I can say is what a change four years and 1500 miles makes.

As I think back to that meeting of four years ago, about all I remember is a whole lot of ministers running the show, and a convention filled with old people. Those old people described themselves as the "Party Faithful."

As I think back, I cannot remember any young people attending at all. There was only one concern during that time, and that was which candidate could be the most pro-life. Nothing else mattered, and George Bush was going to end abortion in America, at least that is what the Party Faithful believed. George Bush owned that convention, and he was the only national candidate who was discussed.

Now, four years and 1500 miles South, I find myself going to the same Party's meeting, but other than an opening prayer, nothing seemed the same. The Leon County Republican meeting was chaired by a young man and attended by a large group of young people. There were speakers representing six candidates for President, and other than a sentence or two on the subject, being pro-life was just a given. The economy, immigration, and the war on terror were the points everyone was making.

The only deviation in the presentations came from the speaker representing Doctor Ron Paul. Nobody booed the speaker when he explained that Osama bin Laden attacked us because of our foreign policy, it was almost like that is now an accepted fact. Dr, Paul wants to bring our troops home from the 130 countries they now occupy, and he would like to use the money saved to help the elderly and to fix Social Security. He would also like to get rid of the income tax, and his man explained if we could just get the size of the federal government down to the size it was back in 1997, we wouldn't need that tax to run Washington.

Every candidate, including Ron Paul, got the same enthusiastic applause from those attending, and everyone seemed to have the same idea, that they would all back whoever the people decided should be the Republican nominee.

Maybe because the Tallahassee Republican Party is so young and full of energy the meeting ran without a hitch and finished early. Nobody dragged it out or made it boring. All in all, it was a fine event. It almost made me want to sign up for membership.

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