More quotes on censorship: I have had lots of fun finding these quotes, I hope you have enjoyed them.
“Censorship is the height of vanity.” -Martha Graham
"Without free speech no search for truth is possible... no discovery of truth is useful... Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race." -Charles Bradlaugh
"You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." -John Morley
"Free speech is life itself."- Salman Rushdie, 1990
“It is our attitude toward free thought and free expression that will determine our fate. There must be no limit on the range of temperate discussion, no limits on thought. No subject must be taboo. No censor must preside at our assemblies.” -William O. Douglas
“Restriction on free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.” -William O. Douglas
“All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions.” -George Bernard Shaw
'Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.'- Mark Twain
“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven! “ -Opening statement, Anthem by Ayn Rand
For openness, accountability and transparency,
vote for new Utah Republican Party leadership.
Keep it simple;
Reasons to elect new officers;
· Return authority and power back to the delegates.
· Eliminate automatic, superdelegates.
· Empower conservative candidates.
· Cut waste in the party and our government.
· Restore Integrity.
Reasons to keep the incumbents;
· None.
Thank you for being involved!
My name is Drew Chamberlain and I am running for the office of State Republican Party Secretary.
I am a strong conservative, and fully support our Platform. I want our government to cut spending so we can enjoy greater prosperity and freedom for ourselves, our families and all others who are willing to work hard and be responsible.
State Delegates:
At Saturday’s state convention, we have a unique opportunity to restore power to the delegates that was taken away under the administration of Joe Cannon in 2005: The power to have proposed changes to the Constitution and Bylaws heard and voted on by the delegates assembled in state convention.
An explanation of the history of this problem can be found at the end of this message. But since it’s more important that you know what you need to do to FIX THIS PROBLEM, I’m starting this message with the SOLUTION to the problem that my opponent in the race for secretary was instrumental in creating.
How we restore our stolen autonomy as delegates.
1. Attend the convention. If you stay home, the chances increase that those who show up in your absence will fail to make the change that must be change for delegates to restore the powers taken from them in 2005.
2. Listen attentively at the commencement of the convention. Three things must be done for the convention to come into order. The credentials report must be adopted, the agenda must be adopted, and the rules must be adopted.
3. During consideration of the AGENDA, a state delegate will rise in an effort to amend the agenda. Pay close attention to what the chair of the convention, Enid Greene Mickelsen, does at that moment. If past conventions are any indication, Ms. Greene Mickelsen may attempt to declare that the motion to add Dave Duncan’s Delegate Empowerment amendment to the agenda is out of order. Should she make such a ruling, an appeal of her ruling will be made and it will be up to you, delegates to decide whether you agree with the chair’s ruling or whether you disagree with her ruling.
4. Should the chair attempt to rule the motion out of order, it is important that you vote to OVERRULE the chair’s ruling, NOT to “sustain” her ruling. Failure to overrule her ruling will put the delegates at an extreme disadvantage procedurally. A simple majority is all that is required to overrule a chair’s ruling. But it is extremely rare for delegates to vote to do such a thing. For instance, in the last 13 years that I have been attending state Republican conventions, no ruling of the chair has ever, ever been overturned on appeal. In order for the delegates’ rights to be restored, that streak has to be ended decisively by you, the delegates this Saturday.
5. Should a vote to overrule her ruling fail, a motion to suspend the rules to add Dave Duncan’s Delegate Empowerment Amendment to the agenda will be made. It is extremely important that you vote IN FAVOR OF this motion to suspend the rules. It takes two-thirds of the delegates voting to suspend the rules.
6. At whatever point in the process, should the motion to add the Duncan amendment to the agenda be put to you for a vote, PLEASE VOTE YES. A simple majority of the voting delegates is all that is required for this motion to pass.
7. If all else fails: Hold Them Accountable. If the appointed convention chair is successful in quashing consideration of this vote, please remind yourself who it was, exactly, who appointed Enid Greene to chair the convention, that it was chairman, Thomas Wright, specifically, and the incumbent officers, more generally, who chose her to assume this important role. Ms. Mickelsen has been very outspoken in support of the Veto Powers amendment that would have been before you Saturday, but for the uproar that it caused when word began to get around about what the SCC was trying to shove down our throats at convention. Remember. Enid Greene Mickelsen, this year’s convention chair, was appointed by the current party officers. She is their agent. Please take this fact into consideration as you decide whether they deserve your vote in their bids for reelection.
To learn more about my opponent’s role in the creation of this “problem,” please visit my web site DrewForSecretary.blogspot.com.
The Problem
The unfettered power of state delegates to submit constitution and bylaws changes to the state convention has existed for as long as Utah has been a state.
But all of that changed suddenly in 2005 when the members of the State Constitution and Bylaws Committee, including current secretary candidate, Dana Dickson, drafted a document of interpretation stating that only the Constitution and Bylaws Committee had the power to submit amendments to the constitution or bylaws.
Early in the same year, then party chair, Joe Cannon, issued an “executive decree” stating that he concurred with the Constitution and Bylaws Committee’s interpretation and granting to them the power to block submissions from delegates. The committee immediately took advantage of this power and blocked several submissions from delegates that year.
In response, then National Committeewoman, Nancy Lord, submitted a resolution to the 2005 state convention which included a very direct demand that the Constitution and Bylaws Committee draft language for the 2006 convention that would unmistakably state that the delegates did have the power to bring rules amendments before the convention. This measure received approximately 95 percent support at the convention.
But as might be expected, the members of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, including Dana Dickson, resolutely defied the mandate of the delegates, and instead, used a loophole in the state party constitution to have the State Central Committee amend the Bylaws, taking advantage of the fact that changes to the bylawsy, unlike changes to the Constitution, don’t require ratification of the state delegates to become effective.
So, in spite of a resolution which passed with 95% support in convention, the rules of the state party now contains a passage that presumes to give the Constitution and Bylaws Committee the power to keep items from coming before the convention. Specifically, they allow said committee to reroute such amendments to the State Central Committee for consideration. Almost without exception, every such proposal that the Constitution and Bylaws Committee has routed to the State Central Committee instead of to the convention has been defeated overwhelmingly.
In March, Dave Duncan submitted a proposed amendment to the State Central Committee that would do what the resolution of 2005 demanded – that would restore to the delegates the right to have proposed rules changes brought directly to the convention for a vote – and removing the “authority” of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee to be able to veto such a submission by a simple majority of a seven-member committee comprised of party insiders, such as Dana Dickson, James Evans, Julie Dole, and others.
End
I will work to re-establish the power and rights of delegates, which have been systematically and incrementally stripped away from them in recent years, without their knowledge or consent.
Why automatic, appointed, or Super Delegates are not authorized in our Party:
First it is important to realize the original intent of the delegate position. Delegates are supposed to represent precincts. Precinct Delegates give the party a base that is as wide as possible thus representing all Utah Republicans. Why would party leadership want to corrupt the precinct delegate? The answer is simple, so they can cheat. They know (as you should) that party establishment tends to vote for incumbents. And if party establishment can appoint delegates they will appoint their like minded friends multiplying the advantage. At some point it will be very easy to ensure re-election. As that control solidifies it becomes easy to cheat, and corruption festers with leaps and bounds. That is where we find ourselves now. They feel no pressure to follow all of our party rules because only a few will know they are in violation and a very small percentage of those will complain. If those "dissidents" Make too much trouble they just remove them from their elected positions and work to destroy their credibility. It all starts with corrupting the delegate base.
Should it matter if automatic delegates are against party rules? Our Party Constitution states :
ARTICLE XII
CAUCUS AND CONVENTION PROCEDURES
Section 1. Precinct Caucuses
A. Precinct Caucuses shall be held in each even-numbered year. The State Party shall designate the date thereof at least four weeks prior to the caucuses. The County Party shall designate the locations. The County Party shall designate, based upon the relative Republican strength of each precinct, the number of delegates to be elected in each individual caucus meeting. Relative Republican strength shall be calculated by aggregating the total combined county Republican votes cast at the previous election for governor/lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor, and state treasurer, excluding the vote for any candidate who had no opposition. Each precinct’s portion of the aggregate vote shall be calculated on a strict percentage basis, without rounding. The County Party shall give notice of each individual caucus meeting by notifying the local news media and requiring three notices to be posted in the precinct. Each individual caucus shall be open to any Utah citizen who resides in the precinct, who will be at least 18 by the time of that year’s general election. The State Party, through its Bylaws, may restrict participation and voting in the precinct caucuses based on party affiliation. The caucus shall convene at 7:00 p.m.
B. The voting precinct caucus shall elect: (1) voting precinct officers; and (2) the number of
delegates to the county convention and state convention that the voting precinct has qualified to elect.
C. No subsequent election or ratification shall be required by county conventions for state delegates elected at the precinct caucuses or at a caucus of delegates at the county convention.
D. If any precinct fails to elect sufficient delegates to the county convention or state convention, the County Central Committee may designate delegates to the county convention from qualified members residing in the precinct, and the state delegate positions may be filled from qualified members by the county convention. These state delegates shall reside in the same congressional, Utah House, and Utah Senate districts as the precinct.
______________________________________________________________
You see, there are only two ways authorized for a person to initially become a State Delegate-
1. Election in one's precinct caucus (whether present or in absentia), or
2. Election of "underfills" (delegate seats that a precinct caucus, for whatever reason, chose not to fill by election on caucus night) at County Convention.
No mention of automatic delegates. None. And no authorization for county parties to vary one iota from the Relative Republican Strength Formula, which IS a mathematical formula, specifically designed to protect the representation of each and every precinct (the real unit of most "local control", not the County Parties) to its full allocation of the state delegates it earned by virtue of the strength of Republican support from the voters in that precinct in the last statewide elections.
Since 2002, the State Party has engaged in the practice of allowing county parties to subtract a certain number of delegate seats off the top (determined by the county parties) before allocating the rest of the delegate seats down to the precincts. No such carve out for party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs) is authorized under Article XII, as you can see above. (The National Democrat Party calls these "Super Delegates" - remember the 2008 controversy about their likely determining whether Obama or Hillary would be their party's nominee?) Each and every time a delegate seat is skimmed off the top for a PLEO in our county Republican parties, that's one more nameless, faceless precinct that didn't receive it's fair share of delegates supposedly protected to it by the State Party Constitution. And every one of those nameless, faceless precincts that were shorted a delegate seat had NO say in the matter, and don't even know they were shorted a delegate because of lack of transparency in the way these seats have been allocated. Your precinct could be one of them. In Salt Lake County, in 2010, 60 of the 800+ precincts were shorted a delegate seat so that it could be given to a party leader or elected official. Why not require these leaders to run in their precinct caucuses, in absentia if they cannot attend (which is already an option for them), the same as we all are required to do?
Thomas Paine, the great author of Common Sense, one of the pivotal documents in convincing the colonists to support the American Revolution, wrote something that I believe applies to today's issue of granting PLEOs an automatic seat at the table without needing to go through the process of being elected by their own neighbors every two years, like the rest of us. He wrote:
"... and that the ELECTED might never form to themselves an interest separate from the ELECTORS, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often: because as the ELECTED might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this, (not on the unmeaning name of king,) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED." -- Thomas Paine, Common Sense
In 2002, the State Central Committee passed Standing Rule #1 in an effort to legitimize county parties' practices giving automatic delegate status to PLEOs by reinterpreting the meaning of Article XII. But a Standing Rule is not the proper way to reinterpret the Constitution to mean the opposite of what it was supposed to protect! If a Standing Rule (which only requires a simple majority of the SCC to adopt) is allowed to be used to reinterpret any provision that current party leadership disagrees with, then why do we have in place a proper process for amending the State Party's Constitution at State GOP conventions? Standing rules have a very low order of precedence, and are only meant to be used for administrative matters, not for significant Party policy issues that can influence the outcome of a convention race. Party leaders have repeatedly tried to convince state delegates to change Article XII at convention to legitimize the appointment of automatic delegates by county parties, but that has failed every time, and the last time (in 2006) by a large margin. So why does the practice persist?
So you see, automatic delegates are not properly authorized. The concept flies in the face of the State Party Constitution's original intent. The practice breeds corruption, and the cumulative impact on the State convention can alter the outcome of elections.
Only by electing new leadership can we stop this illegitimate, unauthorized practice.
So vote for NEW leadership.
Some accomplishments I am proud of;
Married to my wife Diana for 26 blissful years, 9 wonderful and productive children.
Board of directors GrassRoots legislative report 1992-present, current treasurer. utahgrassroots.org.
Elected Senate District Chair twice.
Elected as a County Representative on the State Central Committee twice.
Elected Precinct officer and State and/or County Delegate numerous times
Parliamentarian (I know Roberts’ Rules of Order).
Member of Davis County 9/12; Worked on the 2010 effort to elect a conservative US Senator
Worked on the referendum to repeal HB477, the bill that shut down Utah’s open records law. Keep the MAGIC alive.
Regularly study the Constitution and proper role of government and work to apply the things I’ve learned.
Why I am running
The current incumbents are way too moderate for me. They seem to find and support the moderate candidates that they like and ignore conservative, platform Republicans. I want to find and support Statesman that will cut spending and make this country strong and proud again. Remember that if you elect moderate leaders you will likely have moderate candidates. If you elect conservative leaders you will more likely have conservative candidates. I am frustrated when party officials violate our rules. We must stop appointing delegates that siphon seats away from precincts, and respect each precinct’s right to its full allotment of delegates.
My Promises to You
I will follow the parties’ rules. I will not allow Party-Constitution-unauthorized automatic, appointed "superdelegates". I will include in all delegate lists the basis of eligibility of each delegate, as required in Article XII of our Constitution (This information has never been properly included since it was first required by a vote of the state delegates in 2003!). I will focus on helping the other party officers raise money from grassroots Republicans, and eliminate the frequent waste in our Party’s spending in the past. I will promote our platform of freedom and prosperity.
I am the only candidate in the Secretary’s race that has a consistent record - each and every time - of supporting the elimination of automatic delegates.
I am the only candidate in the Secretary’s race that has consistently fought for the right of state delegates to debate and vote on Party rules changes without control by a small handful of people on the State Constitution and Bylaws Committee. (Four people on the Committee stopped six Constitutional amendments just last week.)
I am the only candidate in the Secretary’s race who has a consistent record of upholding the party rules as outlined in our Constitution by not supporting Standing Rules that have overturned the meaning of the plain Constitutional language.
I am the only candidate in the Secretary’s race that did not, and never would, support the recent "Veto Power Grab" constitutional amendment passed by the State Central Committee in December, which would have given the SCC the power to veto any rules change enacted by the delegates forever into the future.
I need your help. I need your vote but most importantly, I need you to elect a conservative, honest Chairman that has integrity. You know how I feel about our current chair, there are 2 other very good candidates running and I ask you to vote for them.
To help my campaign or to get more information, please call me.
Thanks,
Drew Chamberlain
801-913-4611
Keep this in your file.
Vote Drew Chamberlain for Secretary
