Despite a week-long, FULL-frontal attempt by the power-hungry powerbrokers (who previously seemed to RUN the GCRP with an iron fist) demanding that voting members vote AGAINST the motions presented, each one was easily passed by the body of the GCRP.
This fact deserves repeating: every moment possible spent on phone calls, emails, text messages, & private group posts begging voting members of the Greenville Republican party to vote AGAINST every motion presented at the special meeting, not a SINGLE motion failed. There is no way for those who are “at the top” of the county party, who have shown themselves to be acting in bad faith, to spin this reality into anything other than what it was: A win for truth & transparency, and a loss for the would-be tyrants that have used intimidation, lawfare, threats & whisper campaigns of slanderous hate who have wrested control of the party in recent years from the people they falsely claimed to represent.
The things asked for by the EC Body were not unreasonable. That is undeniable. As a matter of fact, nobody could honestly claim otherwise. Let’s take that a step further: nobody should have ever had to beg for those things presented in the motions at the special meeting to be released in the first place.
But the truth is, when certain voting members of the GCRP had previously asked for the documents which the EC body voted in favor of releasing, those individuals were served “no trespass” orders by Jeff Davis, disallowing those voting members from stepping foot at the GCRP Headquarters. That’s a problem.
The fact that certain "leaders" within the county party fought so hard against such simple requests is quite telling (or, at least, it SHOULD be). But what is even more telling is that, despite the best efforts of those who have manipulated power from the hands of the body, the concept of transparency and the inclusion of all members of the party won out in the end.
A total, complete, unquestionable, “un-spin-able” WIN. PERIOD.
That's an example of a tide turning. And it's important to understand that there will always be a minority of people who will stand on that ship as it sinks. That's ok, and there is nothing that can change that fact. But there are a couple of other groups of people involved in this situation as well.
It was obvious to anyone present at the meeting (and paying attention) that a substantial group of people are setting foot into the realm of beginning to question things when it comes to MySCGOP's leaders, and, by extension, their hold on leadership within the GCRP. I ask for grace for these people, because it wasn't that long ago that MANY of us were in the same boat as them.
I know that we are all glad that we were granted grace when we began questioning what we were seeing by those who had already had their eyes completely opened to the reality of corruption and power-grabs within the leadership of MySCGOP and the GCRP itself.
It is important that we don't act vindictively or angrily to these folks, in my opinion. That means claims of "told you so" and the like should probably be kept at a minimum. We are all fighting for conservatism (well, most of us are), and it is undeniable that we all reach the truth at different stages depending on when we learn what we learn, among a number of other variables. That's important to remember, I believe.
And the leadership of MySCGOP and GCRP have a pretty large monopoly on vindictiveness, vengeful reaction & threatening behavior. Let's let them keep that monopoly, shall we?
There is another group of people, as well. A number of good folks that have truly been cut off from all other points of information except Davis's and his leadership's points of (mis)information. Those people can be convinced of the truth of the matter as well. But we have to be better and DO better than the other side of these issues on this matter. Clear and concise information being freely and publicly given, without vague implications and open ended questions (as is the usual M.O. of every newsletter sent out by Davis & his MySCGOP) are among the best ways to work with the people who are in this particular group. This is the epitome of transparency. Shining the light of day on factual information without resorting to whisper campaigns, false (and vague) accusations of individuals, and worse, will always be the right thing to do, even when people like those who write the Pravda-style newsletters on behalf of Davis’s iteration of MySCGOP are determined to resort to such tactics. Being legitimate & honest is an important aspect of running any organization, but it is ESPECIALLY important in a political organization whose decisions directly affect tens of thousands (if not more) people, our fellow community members. Actually, it is an important aspect of living a good life as well, but that is not the point of this message.
There is also the reality that as the "leaders," whom we have repeatedly referred to above, grow more and more desperate, see their iron grasp on power and intimidation dissolving before their very eyes, they will get more and more vicious and demand ABSOLUTE loyalty using increasingly impossible-to-meet litmus tests, so they will begin booting and ostracizing more & more people for more and more arbitrary reasons.
That is inevitable. And such tactics have been used since the beginning. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that such tactics have been used throughout a number of soviet-style governing bodies for decades. These tactics and strategies have been used to great success in Mao’s “Great Society” and Xi Jin Ping’s current Totalitarian Communist Monarchy. These impossible "loyalty" tests, which are becoming more questionable and shady by the day, are a key aspect of power-hungry despots. It is no different here in the GCRP.
It is important that many of us remember that we, too, had been told about these things coming from the MySCGOP/Jeff Davis camp for quite some time by many others, and MANY of us refused or were unable to see this truth until we inevitably found ourselves in the crosshairs. Maybe we asked the wrong question at the wrong time and this made us “persona non grata.” Maybe we disagreed with some aspect of what we saw, and were, in turn, ostracized. Maybe we simply supported or were friends with someone else who disagreed with what THEY saw, and in turn, we were made to feel the wrath of being friends with the “undesirable” according to MySCGOP Leaders, like Jeff Davis. Again, these are tactics which have been documented exhaustively in such nations as the former Soviet Union. I am sure that none of us wish to exist under such regimes.
In these instances as well, I believe it is important to grant grace and understanding to those who find themselves on the "character assassination list" or the receiving end of implied threats/emotional abuse who, prior to that, were unwilling or unable to see what we all know to be the truth about this destructive group of individuals seeking personal gain from their coopting of a movement originally meant to save our county, our state, and our nation.
There is always a group of people that will never be convinced until it actually happens to them and they find themselves at the wrong end of MySCGOP's metaphorical barrel.
That number will continue to grow as long as we are direct, act with purpose, refuse to take part in vengeance-based politics for its own sake, as long as we grant grace when necessary, and open our arms when those folks are ostracized themselves.
Listen, we all know that some people will go to any lengths to gain and retain power. That reality is not a secret by any means. We all know that power can be a drug to some people like no other.
And we all know that there are too many people seeking power, for its own sake, at the detriment of the conservative movement as a whole. We see that at the national level, we see that at the state level, and it has become undeniably obvious that we are all seeing this at the Greenville County Republican Party level.
We asked for very simple things at the special meeting.
We asked to see meeting minutes, we asked to see a lease agreement, we asked that all voting members be allowed at the headquarters of the Greenville County Republican Party (Despite Jeff Davis’s retaliatory move to send no trespass orders to multiple members despite having had little to no communication with some of them), and we asked that we be provided with a copy of the annual budget.
The response to such simple, procedural requests was a barrage of messages, posts, phone calls & emails send by Jeff Davis, MySCGOP, and even Chairwoman Yvonne Julian herself asking people to vote no on these simple, procedural, and in some cases legally required resolutions, belittling the ECs who called for the special meeting, and even attempting to convince people not to show up because the room “wasn't big enough.” Petty, retaliatory actions while begging the ECs & party members to vote against their own interests before they had even heard the arguments.
If there is one thing these "leaders" ARE transparent about, it is their vindictive nature & their unquestionable stance AGAINST basic transparency.
How can we demand transparency from our government if our own party publicly laughs at the idea of being even slightly transparent themselves?
I am not trying to convince anyone of anything with what is written above, I am only hoping that it might play some small role in helping to unify the rank & file members on what SHOULD be a very simple matter.
No backroom deals, no keeping the body of the party in the dark, and enough with the gaslighting, the manipulation, and the pocket-filling on the backs of party members who, by & large, generally act in good faith.
I hope that you who are reading this, whoever you are, take a moment...think about what is written, attempt to divorce yourself from emotion, and read it again.
Pray on it, then read it again.
We are at a crossroads in America, and it's time we decide if we want to allow our own party to fall into complete disarray, or be controlled by bad actors who fight tooth & nail against the slightest degree of truth and transparency during such a trying time.
There is a 3rd option between destroyers and establishment.
That choice is truth, transparency, righteousness & faith.
I hope we all decide to take that 3rd option.
