This is the first of a four-part series written in 2015 by John Biver.

It is aimed at Republicans, but the points he makes about this route to influence one’s party are equally relevant to Democrats.

Biver has his own web site “Dispatches”, which can be found here.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here.

This is reprinted with permission from Illinois Family Action:

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

Written by John Biver

Years before the rise of the Tea Party movement some of the more common questions among conservatives at political events were, “What can be done?” “What’s the plan?” “What can I do?”

Before I answer those questions, take a few minutes and read Fay Voshell’s article over at American Thinker, “The Little Hand.”

If Voshell’s powerful writing doesn’t move you to action, nothing will.

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 60 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 and obligation. It’s not just an option.

The opposition to political participation are numerous.

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

I could go on and on.

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.”

It is your job.

And at the very least, it is your job to financially and support and work for good people running for office and help them into office by voting.

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.

The people who work hard to make sure abortion is available throughout all nine months, and indoctrinate and brainwash the children who make it to birth.

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.

Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing.”

You know the cliché.

You get what you deserve.

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.

[I heard my father give that same logic to a number of people seeking his advice on whether or not to run for office. I rather doubt he ever read Plato.]

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 get into that next time.

(This is the first article in a series about running for the political office of Precinct Committeeman. These articles were originally published in 2015.)