Forrest For the Trees

Forrest through the trees.



As with all things, it pays to step back once and awhile to better see the whole picture. My email is overflowing everyday with earnest attempts at chronicling the liberal takeover of freedom. I wrestle with all this avalanche of great blogging raw material and get lost in the minutia of it all.

Finally I get back to the purpose of this blog and everything else I do; elect Republican candidates and in the process try to steer the Party into a more conservative mindset. This is done by actually doing something. While blogging has its purpose and helps form and shape the debate; it is the debaters who are what is important. Without electing our candidates all the rest is superfluous.

I started blogging with my original blogsite, http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com in the beginning I wrote in philosophical terms trying to better define my conservative thoughts. That website is where I comment on the national political scene from time to time. I then started http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com in which I tried to put my conservative ideas into practice. It was through that blogspot I began to get involved in the workings of day to day politics. It is where I learned the importance of local candidates and local politics in the grand scheme of things. It is where true to my blogs name I’m learning Politics from the Bottom up. I've recently started http://bottomuppolitics.com trying to include the "Five Counties" of Mason, Newaygo, Oceana and Lake in my shpere.

I learned above all that politics is hard work. Let me just say that in politics as in everything else you get what you pay for. The currency in which you pay the price for results in politics is personal effort. This blog is about my personal efforts trying to get Republicans elected and steer the Party into a more conservative attitude.
I started by finding the contact #s for the County Republican party. Then I started attending meetings and making friends. I listened and learned, I also researched the elected officials that attended the meetings. I became a Precinct Delegate. It didn’t take long to figure out that candidates are always looking for volunteers. I soon decided to get gung-ho about politics.

My whole problem was and is, I’m not a people person, I’m not a joiner, I feel left out in a room full of people. I soon learned that by hanging out with candidates and politicians who are usually natural people persons, I started learning to be at least functional around and within groups.

I found a County candidate and worked my butt off for her. Anything needed doing I volunteered for. Over the course of time I became a big part of her campaign. But the work load was huge especially for a rookie like me. Putting out yard signs, going to all the parades, helping organize the parades, all the meetings and forums and dinners and luncheons and breakfasts I attended with her was staggering. The trick was; no matter how busy, I had to continually think of what else or what better I could be doing. The real trick in that was seeing the forest through the trees. The question always must be; is what I’m doing the best use of my time to help my candidate get votes.

Keeping my focus on the goal and not getting lost in the minutia is the key I’m using in my journey through politics. The quandary is that, other than the candidate themselves; the minutia is where the hard work is and where the real success of a campaign and electing candidates lies. The minutia however is also where the vast majority of my time is spent.

My personal slogan in politics as well as campaigns is; “What can I Do Today”. If I find something constructive to do that is a good thing. If I find two things and have to choose between them that is even a better thing. I can’t get into a debate about the goodness of one thing. They all are good. I get to pick the best one. “SNAP - goes that steel trap mind”. Lol

Right now I’m doing a project in my spare time involving going through lists of dead people and scratching them off of voter vault, and updating some other lists for a County party. This will help make better use of campaign monies so we won’t be sending envelopes etc at 50 cents a pop to deceased people. Notice however I said “spare time”. My first obligation is to do anything that is more personal in regards to voters and candidates. I have a section of North Muskegon in which I’m doing a lit drop for Goeff Hansen. That is more upfront and personal than updating a database, however both are important and need to be done. You see what I mean about prioritizing? “SNAP – goes that steel trap mind”. If an opportunity comes up to talk with a group and set up a lunch, or a meet and greet I will drop both of the above until I get that done.

If we can get our heads out of our butts and organize 2010 around what’s important we can make a difference. If we can use the part below our butt and put all our boots on the ground then we can use our minds to decide what’s important. Elect Republicans.

Regards, Bob Carr

I have been remiss In blogging lately and putting up pictures. Again prioritizing and perhaps a little laziness thrown in helps explain it. Below are some pictures. Again I will start taking more pics and posting them. I’ve gone to the Oceana and Newaygo meetings and didn’t take any I apologize.
The picture below is of Muskegon GOP’s meeting there were 25-30 people there a good turnout at the AMG building.



Next is a picture of Jim Riley at a lunch we had. I call it Genesis. I’m hoping to turn this into a possible start of a “Conservative Study Conference”. I don’t have a clue if it will work or not. Yet.



Next four pics are from my going to Ludington to help State Representative Goeff Hansen and his crew do a lit drop. The first pic was in the morning and it was chilly. The next is of one of the interesting things you see when doing this stuff. What a tree – this could be a new logo for growing something from the “Bottom Up”. Last couple of pics were at our noon lunch break at Scotty’s. I handed out over 200 palm cards - I would guess all told we may have done 1500.





On the way home with Goeff we stopped in Pentwater and Representative Hansen presented retiring Pentwater Chief of Police Mike Schuitema with a resolution praising his accomplishments. The Police Chief was a Vietnam Vet., and a 38 year veteran of the police service ranging from Kent County to Pentwater. Part of the neat thing in volunteering in politics is that I get to sit in on this kind of thing now and then. See pics below.




I recently donated a Campaign Banner for Ken Punter in his bid to run for the State Rep seat in the 91st District. We put it up at the Musk. HQ last nite below are Ken and his Wife/campaign manager Kay beside the Banner. The banner will be taken down for parades and events etc. It is always my opinion that my small donations do more good and get better milage at the local level rather than the National.