The 68th Anniversary of D-Day – My Thoughts

Written by:  Scott Cooper

My eye’s popped open this morning at 3:50 AM.  When I went to sleep last night, I was already reflecting on the 68^th anniversary of D-Day, which is this morning.  It is the first thing on my mind today. 

Before I comment on where we are today, I hope you will take time to listen to two brief speeches from that day:

General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1 min 43 second speech to the men of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 6 min 30 second speech to The American Public the night before.

For me, the most striking element of these brief speeches by our leaders at the time, a mere 68 years ago, was their reliance upon Providence, their willingness to beseech Almighty God and to boldly proclaim the righteousness of the cause the Allied Forces were embarking on.  President Roosevelt asks our people “to devote themselves in a continuance of prayer, invoking thy (God’s) help to our efforts.” 

The total military dead from WWII range from 22 – 25 million and civilian dead estimate about 40 million.  Over 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded in the Normandy invasion.  An extremely heavy price was paid for the liberty that was won for France, for Europe and indeed the entire world a mere 68 years ago.

According to Wikipedia, the length of a generation has risen, being somewhere between 25 and 30 years.  If we use 30 years, we are barely two complete generations removed from the day that 160,000 troops landed on the beaches of Normandy to reclaim a continent from tyranny.  Two generations removed, and we hardly remember that day or reflect on what transpired there and contrast those events to current trends.

I believe this is a day that we should be teaching all children of the western world about, especially here in America.  The reality is most youth do not know very much about it, nor will they reflect on this day and the sacrifices their great grand-parents’ generation made for the cause of liberty and freedom.  We should never forget, yet I fear for the most part as a nation, and the West as a whole, we have already forgotten.

This year (less than 2 months ago) in France, democratic elections took place where an individual whose philosophy and worldview is diametrically opposed to the ideals we fought and died for 68 years ago was elected.  Socialist Francois Hollande was elected President.  What is starker is that it was the socialist partnership with the Muslim population of France that put Mr. Hollande over the top.  Close to 2 million Muslims voted in the election, and 85 - 93 % voted for Mr. Hollande.  Without that vote, the socialist party would not have won.  It is also worthy of noting that as a group, atheists supported Holland.

I mention those two groups because the West is in a conflict of worldviews that no one in political leadership wants to talk about.  Our leadership 68 years ago understood the conflict.  Just 30 years ago, Ronald Reagan in his “Evil Empire Speech” on June 8, 1982 understood it and could articulate it, against the wishes of “his handlers.” 

This is not about individuals within a belief system it is about understanding how belief systems behave as blocks of power.  While there is a partnership right now between the socialists, atheists and Muslims, as we are witnessing in Europe, that coalition will only last until they conquer Western Civilization as it has been known in the 20th century, and then they will turn on one another.  Take a look at this picture taken Election Day in France:

There is only one French Flag, I think, in this picture.  They are not unified except in their desire to destroy the belief system which has led to the most productive and prosperous century in human history.  The belief system they are fighting against is the system our grandparents generation fought and died for. 

The relevance of our history is rapidly being lost.

It is my prayer to visit the beaches of Normandy one day, and see the graves of the men who died there, in a heroic effort to save France and a continent from Tyranny.

If you enjoyed this, here are some thoughts I wrote almost a year ago about “The Next Greatest Generation.”

Why We Need Conventions Instead of Primaries in Virginia

Written by Russ Moulton

1. Primaries allow large numbers of Democrats and other non-Republicans to select our nominees ! How is it fair to allow liberal Democrats to cancel-out the votes of hard-working, principled, loyal conservative Republicans, including our Republican veterans, military retirees and reservists, effectively disenfranchising them? Only those who want to “water down” our nomination contests and invite Democrats want Primaries. Open primaries violate our fundamental Constitutional right of Free Association. The Rotary Club doesn’t allow the Kiwanis Club to vote for the Rotary Club President. Why should we? Why should we allow Democrats to select OUR GOP nominee?

2. Statewide primaries cost the taxpayers ~$3M each. Why should the taxpayers be covering a political party’s nomination process? In these days of runaway spending, debt and being “Taxed Enough Already”, shouldn’t we make political parties pay for their own nomination processes?

3. Primaries tend to leave our Nominee broke and wounded with the General Electorate. In Conventions, the campaigning and advertising is generally restricted to Republicans-only (usually Delegates only). Statewide Primary campaigns advertise to the GENERAL PUBLIC, where independents see all the “mud” thrown back and forth between candidates at each other (VA lacks party registration, so you can’t be sure you are targeting Republicans only!). The candidates spend millions of dollars, frequently hurting the eventual winner with Independents. Conventions allow us to avoid the “bloodbath” and let our eventual Nominee hold back critical millions in campaign dollars to use in the General Election – against Democrats.  History bears this out.  We’ve lost the General Elections for Governor where we had contested primaries for the nominations.  By contrast, 5 of the 6 GOP Governors since reconstructions were nominated by Conventions, and the only one who wasn’t, Jim Gilmore in 97, was uncontested.  

4. Consultants are the big beneficiary of Primaries. They want them and lobby their candidates and SCC for them because they make big bucks off of them. Typical advertising fees for consultants are 15% of the ad-buys on TV, radio and direct mail. Let’s say a state-wide candidate spends $2M on ad buys. The consultant makes $300,000 ! The same consultant would be lucky to make $50,000 in a Convention. We have actually had consultants who stand to gain financially from SCC selecting a Primary HOLD PROXIES at SCC and argue and vote for Primaries! Talk about conflict of interest! We regularly have these same consultants LOBBY SCC MEMBERS TO PICK THE PRIMARIES TO LINE THEIR POCKETS. Just say NO to consultants. Pick a Convention!

5. Primaries favor those that already have large warchests and fundraising apparatus, and high name ID. Those candidates tend to be “establishment” types – the SAME ones that got our GOP in trouble in the first place and gave rise to the TEA Party. Great grass-roots candidates just getting started have a much higher hill to climb in a Primary. But Conventions allow great candidates just starting out in fundraising and name ID to have a fairer playing field.

6. Conventions allow us to CONSENSE on a nominee with a MAJORITY vote to nominate. Many good conservatives can run without fear that the lone establishment candidate will win by plurality. Primaries are PLURALITY win, where a majority of the Republicans may not be happy with our nominee, or even outright opposed to the Primary selection. Frequently, many good conservatives run in a primary, splitting the conservative vote, and allowing the establishment candidate to win with a mere plurality.

7. Conventions energize our activist volunteer base, and give us a ground army to win elections. Our conservative activists (ie. pro-lifers, 2^nd amendment advocates, anti-taxers, traditional values coalition, Tea Party and Ron Paul activists, etc) benefit by Conventions, because their sheer numbers in a Convention tend to out-weigh the more liberal participants, and we tend to get nominees more reflective of our Party’s principles.

8. Conventions allow the grass-roots to better hold our Nominees accountable. For example, US Senate candidates nominated by Convention must come back to the SCC to select their method of re-nomination. If SCC gives them a Primary, the SCC cedes forever to that candidate its right to pick the method of re-nomination, abdicating its authority. If that US Senator (ala John Warner) starts voting bad (ala Judge Robert Bork, etc) – they merely select the Primary, which is open to Democrats and Independents, and appeal to those Democrats and Independents to “save them” from those angry Republicans. Warner got SCC to pick a Primary for his nomination method, and after he torpedoed Bork, he was able to select the Primary for re-nomination. Good numbers of Democrats and Independents – along with his enormous fundraising advantage of incumbency -- saved him from his Republican challenger in the Primary. The grass-roots of the Party was thus unable to hold him accountable. It is widely believed Warner would have lost a Convention to a grass-roots backed challenger due to the outrage from rank-and-file Republicans.

9. former Gov George Allen, former Governor Jim Gilmore, and current Gov Bob McDonnell were ALL nominated by Conventions for their first statewide offices. Allen was nominated for Governor by a Convention in 93. Gilmore was nominated for Attorney General in 93. McDonnell was nominated in 2009 by Convention. Former Gov Jim Gilmore was nominated in a convention for US Senate in 2008. In those years, all of them sought the Convention as the method of nomination by the State Central Committee, and no one complained. All were/have been very successful statewide office holders. Were Allen, Gilmore, and McDonnell all somehow wrong for advocating for Conventions back then? Were they “disenfranchising” people for advocating Conventions? It sounds more like campaigns that think they have an advantage in a Primary are pushing these trumped-up political arguments against Conventions.

10. Conventions best reflect our representative form of Government. For Conventions, we elect Delegates to represent large blocks of Republicans from various districts (counties/cities), just as we elect representatives to represent large blocks of voters. A very large number of these Convention Delegates are veterans, small business owners, pro-lifers, smaller-government folks, champions of the Constitution and liberty, traditional values folks, etc … They represent well the interests of our military, the unborn, large families, small businesses, gun-owners, children, etc …, just as a Congressman or Delegate or State Senator represents the interests of his/her constituencies. Do we complain when voters don’t get to come in and directly vote for Speaker of the House, or vote directly on a piece of legislation? Of course not. Only Democrats and the otherwise uneducated believe we are in a pure democracy where everyone votes on everything directly, ala a referendum.

A Very Timely Petition for Conservative Republicans in Virginia

Written by:  Scott Cooper

This is a letter I sent out today to my friends in Virginia:

Good Afternoon:

I am sending this to friends of mine in Virginia.  You may be a personal friend or someone I have met through grassroots activities during the course of the last three years. 

If you are a voter, but have not seriously engaged in party politics, you may not understand the process through which the Republican Party of Virginia selects its’ candidates.  There are two methods used: Conventions and Primaries. 

I encourage you to do your own research. 

In a nutshell it is easier for a conservative to receive the Republican Nomination through Conventions rather than Primaries because whoever has large grassroots support can enlist their supporters to invest a day at a convention.  Furthermore, if there are multiple candidates, a convention forces consolidation and run-off’s. 

In a primary, mostly what is required is money and name recognition.  Money purchases airtime, signs and loyalty, which will turn out votes in a Primary, and the candidate with the most votes wins, regardless of the percentage of the vote – i.e. in a four way race a candidate can win with 25.26 % of the vote, and there would be no run-off.

The sad reality is Primaries often turn out a vote that is uneducated in all the issues or of all the candidates – folks simply know the name of the individual who could purchase the most airtime.  It also turns out our opposition, the Democrats, to vote in OUR selection process.

What you may not know is that for the last two election cycles, The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) has voted to select their candidates through a Primary system, not a Convention.  In fact, before the 2011 election, RPV voted to hold primaries for the 2013 selection process.  Never before in the history of our Commonwealth has that decision been made that early.  Many believe that effort was strategically done to shut out the newly engaged grassroots activists, who were still focused on the 2011 elections and not forward thinking enough to be watching the strategies for 2013 that were being played out.

Grassroots activists who want to save America are doing so on shoe string budgets.  While many candidates say they are conservative, they are fearful of their ability to garner the volunteers to win in a convention, so they are pushing for Primaries.  Again, I encourage you to do your own research.

On June 15^th, The Central Committee of Virginia will reconsider the vote they took in October about whether our 2013 nomination process should be a Convention or a Primary.  I am asking you to sign a petition which will go to The Central Committee of The Republican Party of Virginia, asking them to vote for Conventions.

Send a message that you want Conventions as the method to select your candidates in Virginia.

Here is the link for that Petition – for the entire state of Virginia.  Please sign today.

If you live in the 7^th Congressional District, and are Represented by Eric Cantor I ask you to also sign this petition.

Thank you for your time and serious consideration in this very important matter.  If you agree – Please forward this message to your sphere of influence and ask them to sign the petition as well.

Scott Cooper

P.S.  Here is a very important video discussing the upcoming June 12^th Primary here in Virginia and two blogs I wrote on this subject last Fall:

                Important Video about June 12^th Primary

                Primaries/Conventions – A Significant Segment of the War at Hand

                Challenging The Establishment

Virginia Absentee Voting and Voter Registration Deadlines

Written by Scott Cooper

Many of my friends in Virginia are unclear of some of the upcoming deadlines and requirements – so I wanted to provide you with some helpful information!

Absentee Voting Available

Absentee Voting is currently available to all Virginia residents for the Republican Primary. If you meet any of the following criteria, you may vote absentee instead of having to drive to your local polling place

• Students at institutions of higher learning, and their spouses
• Absent for business purposes
• Absent for personal business or vacation
• Scheduled to work at one’s workplace at least 11 of the 13 hours the polls are open (includes commuting) (6:00 AM to 7:00 PM)
• Firefighters and first responder personnel
• Unable to get to the polls because of disability, illness, or pregnancy
• Caretakers of confined family members
• Awaiting trial and under confinement
• Serving time for misdemeanor convictions
• Religious conflicts
• Active duty uniformed services or merchant marine personnel and dependents residing with them
• Regularly employed outside the U.S. and dependents residing with them
• Living abroad indefinitely (may be eligible to vote only for federal offices)
• Registrars, electoral board members, or officers of election scheduled to work the election
• Political party or candidate representative volunteers scheduled to work inside the polls or at different polling places

WARNING: If you register to vote by mail, you must vote in person the first time you vote unless you are a full time college student; on active duty military’ residing overseas; physically handicapped; or age 65+ (with another qualifying reason, as age alone is not a justification). First-time voters who register in person may vote by absentee ballot.

Important Deadlines:

Deadline to submit application for ballot to be mailed: 5 pm on Tue June 5

Ballots must be received in order to be counted: 7 pm on Election Day

In-person absentee voting: Starts Apr 27 and ends at 5 pm on Sat Jun 9

Hours for in-person absentee voting: 8-5 Mon-Fri through Jun 8 (Office closed May 28), and Sat Jun 9, 8:30-5  Location of in-person absentee voting: Depends upon the county/city. To find your county’s/city’s location click here.

How do you apply for an Absentee Ballot:

• Eligible Virginia registered voters can download an application or contact your local Voter Registration Office to request an absentee ballot application. You can either return the completed application to your local voter registration office either by mail or fax. The absentee ballot application must be received in your local voter registration office by 5:oo PM eastern standard time on the Tuesday prior before the election day in which the applicant offers to vote.

• Overseas Personnel (Military & Non-Military) See Absentee Voting Procedures for Overseas Personnel (Military & Non-Military)

• If you are an absent active duty military voter (or spouse/dependent) or overseas voter you should download the Federal Post Card Application instead of the Virginia application. After downloading the application form: 1) print the form, 2) read the instructions accompanying the form, 3) fill out the requested information on the form carefully, 4) sign the form and, 5) mail or fax the completed application to your local general registrar’s officeby 5 :00 PM eastern standard time on the Tuesday prior to the election in which the applicant offers to vote .

• Alternatively, you can go to the Republican Party of Virginia’s GOP Absentee website to get an Absentee Ballot Request form. This form must be completed and then mailed or faxed to your local Registrar’s Office, so that an “Official Ballot” can be mailed to you.

If you require additional information, you can visit the Virginia State Board of Elections.