Former Marengo resident John Biver has written a series of articles for the Illinois Family Institute about why people should get off the couch and get involved in the political arena.  Below is the first. The articles are reprinted with permission of IFI.

“What Can I Do?” You Can Run For Precinct Committeeman

Written by John Biver

Years before the rise of the Tea Party protest movement in early 2009 one of the more common conversations among conservatives at political events involved the questions, “What can be done?” “What’s the plan?” “What can I do?”

The fact is, there hasn’t been much guidance available.

Before I answer the question “what can I do?”, take a few minutes and read Fay Voshell’s recent article over at American Thinker, “The Little Hand.” If Voshell’s powerful writing doesn’t move you to action, nothing I’ll be saying in these next few articles will do the trick.

Here’s Voshell:

Sometimes in the life of our nation there comes a tipping point during which a horror of such great magnitude is revealed so clearly the response can only be universal revulsion and outrage.

Such a moment has come into being in the stomach churning revelations of Planned Parenthood’s sale of babies’ body parts.

…

The time for debate has passed. It’s time for disobedience. It’s time for revolutionary action. It’s time for war.

Yes, war. War against evil.

There has been two generations’ time to analyze the evil. There have been over forty years of attempts to dissuade evil. It has not listened, but instead has doubled down and multiplied.

…

Reader, do you think it will get better? Do you think matters will improve among the Left now that they all have seen clear evidence of Planned Parenthood’s barbarities?

No, they won’t improve. If left up to the Left, matters will only get worse, as evil unchecked careens down into a bottomless pit.

…

The only question that remains is whether or not America will rise up against the evil; whether there will be a mighty struggle to end the brutality that has ended the lives of some 55 million innocents, some of whose bodies have been and are for sale.

…

If we do not act, we are responsible at least in part for the continued death of little ones whose innocence is as unsullied as any humans can be.

For many years some of us have been calling on everyone on the political right to stop being citizens in name only. We need a “troop surge,” we said, and we need to realize that involving ourselves in the work of “We the People” government is our duty, our obligation – it’s not an option.

The barriers to political participation re numerous.

• “I hate politics.”
• “I don’t have time for politics.”
• “I’ve got better things to do.”
• “It’s not my job.”

Hating politics is not an excuse for not participating in self-government, and few people I know have a lot of free time. All around us are the economic and cultural consequences of conservatives shunning political participation. And if you think it’s not your job, please go back to school and learn those opening words of the U.S. Constitution: “We the People.”

Do you know who uses none of the above excuses to avoid political action?

The people that want to fundamentally transform the United States.

The people who work out their psychological problems through activism and public policy. And these people, as Fay Voshell describes them:

Out of the hours of video tapes have emerged portraits of human beings so morally degraded, so pitilessly brutal, so wiped clean of heart and soul that it causes a shudder down the spine to see and to hear them. They are like zombies who have the appearance of being human. But they are actually the living dead.

You’re busy.

I get it.

You hate politics.

I understand.

The Republican Party disgusts you.

I hope you realize you’re not alone in that sentiment.

You know the cliché: you get the government you deserve. It’s been that way at least since Plato wrote in his Republic that

• “if a man will not himself hold office and rule,”  “the chief penalty is to be governed by someone worse.”

That Plato guy was pretty smart. It’s no wonder his words are still studied 2,500 years after they were written.

I’m not sure if Plato had political party “offices” in mind, but he might as well have. Political reform is necessary before we’ll ever see all the much needed policy reforms.

The question then becomes, “Are you telling me that one little precinct committeeman makes a darn bit of difference?”

Yes, I am.

Just like every GI had a role to play on D-Day.

No one is asking you to go it alone.

On the contrary, your help will also be needed to form up a squad, then a platoon — and don’t stop there.

Lead, or help find the leaders who can then tend to the companies and battalions (etc.) that will be required.

“What is a precinct committeeman, anyway?”

Glad you asked. Let’s start getting into that next time.

(This is the first article in a series about running for the political office of Precinct Committeeman.)

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It takes 10 good signatures to get on the ballot for precinct committeeman (Republican, Democrat, Green).  I would suggest getting 20 because at least one candidate got knocked off the ballot because one of her ten signatures was not of a voter currently registered in her precinct.

Petitions may be circulated beginning September 1st.   They may be filed November 27 through December 4.  Because there will be a vigorous contest for control of the McHenry County Republican Central Committee next spring, I suggest candidates wait until the last day to file.  That way “the other side” will probably not have time to find someone to run against you.

Here’s where you can find petitions on the McHenry County Clerk’s web site. Print two. That will have twenty lines for signatures.