Loyalty Pledge? What's that all about?

What’s all this about a Loyalty Pledge the Republican Chairman has come up with? Support the “Party” choice no matter who wins the Primary Election? Campaign not going to plan? Not going to happen.

It is time to accept that a massive social change is on the way and the political bosses are losing control. The old ways are dead. In a last ditch effort to change the primary process because some maverick candidates have somehow seized the lead, the old guard party bosses are trying to gain back some control by making delegates promise to support the “party” choice.

So the “interloper,” Donald Trump signed. He pledged to support the Republican Party goals and ideals, (didn’t mention candidate) and gained the promise of all the rest of the contenders to support him if he won. A clever move.

The worst nightmare of a career politician has happened. The nation’s voters are out for blood. The constituency has become aroused. The revolution has begun. Say what?

We, the people, are fed up with politicians who talk a good game, promise change, and after  elected turn into self-serving hacks wanting only to share the celebrity, the perks and the wealth, and to hell with what the people want. 

My state, Arkansas, saw the truth in action when a bought and paid for legislature ignored the U.S. Constitution and voted to force public water systems to add fluoride laced with lead and arsenic to our water without our permission. They voted to forbid us to declare our town free of discrimination, punishment yet to be determined. 

 What happened? The constituency  became aroused. The revolution began. Say what?

When I was young, just getting into politics, I met an old old, hard line Chicago Democrat at a meeting. He was feeling generous to this enthusiastic but dumb neophyte and decided to give me advice.

“Little lady,” he said,  (it was 1954) “One thing ya gotta remember. Never arouse the constituency. Once that happens, and they get mad, it’s all over. There’s no tellin’ what they’ll do.” He went on to relate a harrowing story. Seems the son of a Ward Heeler (they’re now called block organizers) had a son who was an over sized bully in school. The kids were afraid  of him because his powerful politician father, who doted on him, protected him. Well, the parents finally had had enough and they hired a bigger bully from the South Side of Chicago to do justice. The kid ended up with various broken bones and when his politician father visited him, in the hospital, he said, “Son, you learned a good lesson today. Never arouse the constituency.”

Well, we’re aroused. No more seemingly sincere candidates who don’t care about us, or what we want; they just want to get rich and get all them perks. Election to even state office is a guaranteed million by the end of the term. On a national level, it gets worse. Never mind the Constitution. What do voters know? They’re trained to vote the party, no matter who’s running.

All that stuff political organizers learned in college on how to get elected to office has been trashed. Confusion reigns. The rules no longer apply with mavericks like Donald Trump, or Ben Carson, or Carly Fiorina running. We’re done. We’ve had it. It’s our turn.

The problem with change is that you have to elect a strong, determined warrior to get it done…somebody with fire in the belly, who knows how to swim with the sharks and drain the swamp to get rid of the alligators. We have the warrior, as long as he has a wise partner who can help clean up the mess. Let’s get out there and vote.