The Jackboots at the Republican Headquarters are at it again | Eastern North Carolina Now

By: Observer Editorial Team

Politics is becoming more and more of a bare knuckles game.  This is not good for our democracy.  Most citizens expect a lot more from their elected leaders than they are getting.  The average person in this modern fast paced, highly taxed and inflationary world does not want to be bothered with the day-to-day problems of running a government, whether city, school, county, state or national.  They want to elect people who are honest and who will hire honest people to run government affairs. 

All governments are no longer simply running day to day operations based on providing basic services.  That was the norm thirty or forty years ago.  Every government that we know of is challenged by pressure groups, dishonest elected officials, and self-serving employees.  Some examples of this are the radical changes proposed in bail bonds, severe regulatory changes caused by the fake science and religious cult of weather change, teaching sex change in schools, teaching race superiority in education systems, open borders, tax subsidies for both people and businesses, on and on it goes.  Government is no longer about roads, police protection, basic education and defense.  It is now more about power…how those who covet power will get it and then how they will keep it.

Most of us seldom think about it but the lust for power is just as bad among the bureaucrats as it is among the elected officials.  Think about your dealings with these bureaucrats.  While there are some very fine “customer oriented” civil servants, there are far too many who could care less about making the system work for citizens.  They much prefer to exercise their power to show that they have it and you best not cross them or you will suffer the consequences.  Someone has said that for many of these bureaucrats the reason their actions are so brutal is because the stakes are so low.  You have to ponder that one to get it.  Here’s an example:  Recently a citizen went to a local county office to procure a signature on a form that was required for him to complete a task.  It took three trips to finally get the signature.  Yes, that’s right…a simple signature.  Something that could have been done in a matter of seconds on the first trip had the bureaucrat not been more determined to flaunt her power, what little she had.

Here's another example. 

During normal times we expect corrections to these excesses to be handled by our honest and knowledgeable politicians and administrators.  We seem to be having more and more trouble finding and electing individuals who understand that their duty is to make minor adjustments to the narrow course sailed by the ship of our constitutional democracy.   Radical dictatorial changes seem to be what our woke political parties are about.   If radical ideas are coming from the least of us, that is our county party, we can expect more and more dictatorial, big, socialistic government.

A recent meeting of the Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee revealed the probability of huge changes in the way we elect local officials.  And, the party is to become much more inclusive.

The Republican Executive Committee intends to continue trying to get people to sign the petition requesting a special election on how we elect commissioners.  We are not opposed to changing the way we elect commissioners.  The limited voting system we now have has allowed the Republican insiders to run disloyal liberals who form agreements with Democrats to dominate the board.  This has led to many bad decisions such as the building of the 192 million dollar US Highway 17 Bridge in the worst possible location for the long term future of Beaufort County.  Another disaster has been the closing of the Belhaven Hospital and the gifting of the County Health System (Hospital and doctors’ practices) to outside interests who are vested more in another county than they are in Beaufort.   The 1.6 million dollars of architectural fees for a jail that was not needed and not built is another example.  The liberal Jail Committee continues to plan for a new jail with half the population we had 5 years ago.

The Beaufort County Executive Committee is continuing on their course of failure by asking citizens to sign a petition to change the way we elect commissioners that provides only one vote per voter for commissioner every four years, whereas it is not every two years.  Yep, cutting out voting strength in half!  Their proposal is for commissioners running from districts and four-year terms.   We will have difficulty supporting any system that does not guarantee voters more votes for commissioners than they now have.  While there are common sense ways to do that, this group of Elitists (those who think they know what’s best for the rest of us) will not put such plans as at-large voting to the people as one of the choices.  Ask yourself “why”?

It’s about power.  These Elitists getting and keeping power.

Thomas Jefferson prophetically warned:   “Whereas it appeareth that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny . . . ”  Jefferson also said:  “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” 

The Republican Party alone cannot affect a change in how we vote for commissioners.  The cooperation of the Democrat Party, the Board of Commissioners, the general public and likely the Justice Department are all needed.  The insiders down at the Beaufort County Republican Party are trying to do this without telling anyone.  They certainly have not explained the meaning of their proposal in the petition. More secret government.  Those who have been bamboozled into signing the petition for a district system have not even seen a map of the districts!

In order to increase diversity, the Beaufort County Republican Party is forming alliances with groups like the Frederick Douglas Society.   We support anyone who wants to be a Republican by being a Republican.  We do not support entanglement with other political groups.  The taking in of Democrats who were disaffected by their Party has already caused a watering down of party principles with the likes of Senator Thom Tillis and Richard Burr (no longer in office but the damage is done).  Their present efforts sound a lot like European political movements and coalitions that come and go like the wind. 

Carolyn Garris, the present Chairman, has run the same dictatorial super executive committee that former Senator, Bill Cook ran.  That is, a group consisting of Paul Varcoe, Jody Forrest and herself run things telling all others what to do.  They present issues to the committee on short notice. Garris seizing the Register of Deeds job by cancelling a committee meeting so she became the only applicant.  Garris punishes conservative Republican elected officials who call her out on her shanigans.

Garris refused to submit the only resolution coming from the last county convention held in March of 2021 to the District Republican Convention because it was presented by Commissioner Hood Richardson and she disapproved of it.  The resolution was to not allow unaffiliated registrants to vote in the Republican primary. Garris has also, without a vote of the Executive Committee, gone into closed session and demanded that Richardson not be present.

Garris refused to allow Republican candidates to be vetted for endorsement by the Executive Committee.  This is because liberal Republicans secretly use the Executive Committee to elect their RINO’s.  That is how we got Fake Frankie Waters and RINO John Rebholz. They used party machinery to support RINO John Rebholz over conservative Tandy Dunn.

We see more pain for local Republicans unless changes are made!