No Time For Politics As Usual - Cathi Chamberlain

​ by Cathi Chamberlain, November 18, 2022
You’d think after such a victory with Florida’s elections, the Republican Party would be more united than ever. Nothing could be further from the truth. We lost big-time nationwide and if we don’t change the way we do politics, 2024 will be a disaster. Republican Executive Committees (RECs) in Florida comprise top Party leader-ship in every county of our state. They set the tone for politics on a local level. And while our RECs deserve some credit for recent victories, we can mostly thank new arrivals from failed blue states increasing Republican voter registrations, recent passage of stricter election laws, and Governor Ron DeSantis. Is enough being done?
As an author, speaker and investigative journalist who’s traveled throughout Flori-da for years warning of dangers ahead, I’m extremely concerned about the return to “politics-as-usual,” especially putting our election problems of 2020, and now 2022, behind us.It’s why I spent 2021 researching the condition of our voter rolls as Florida State Ambassador for Defend Florida (DF), a grassroots organization for election integrity. I helped create DF and expand the all-volunteer group to 34 counties. Together we were instrumental in getting stricter election laws like SB-90 passed. Unfortunately, weak Republican legislators still managed to water them down. As a 27-year resident of Pinellas, I grew an 80-volunteer team of local can-vassers who produced over 500 affidavits that uncovered significant problems. We determined about 20% of our rolls have serious anomalies. All counties involved statewide produced similar results. So we began an earnest effort to alert our local REC leaders, certain they’d take action. Instead, an intense, coordinated effort was launched against us. We got more pushback from them than we did from Democrats! And, there’s a reason why.
There are two factions dividing the Republican Party today. One consists of 
“The Establishment.” They’ve very successfully hijacked the Grand Old Party (GOP) 
over years to create a watered-down version of the conservative, Constitutionally-based version of its former self. This faction has formed a “Uni-Party” compact with Democrats, fertilizing the conditions that have led to policies antithetical to our core principles, like red flag laws that threaten our 2nd Amendment rights. Just think “Mitch McConnell” and you’ll get the picture.
The other faction includes those who, like me, made up the Tea Party movement that morphed into the MAGA movement waiting for a strong leader to galvanize us. That person came in the name of Donald J. Trump. It was not the man who created the movement. It was the movement waiting for the man to unite it. “The Establishment” hates the movement more than they hate the man. He’s just in the way. MAGA Patriots, often called America Firsters (AFs), are being portrayed by “The Establishment” (which is in control of many local RECs), as “conspiracy nuts” and “radicals” because we’re pushing back. As AFs grow disenchanted with “The Establishment” that colludes too often with Democrats, their first inclination is to leave the Republican Party. But, why should WE leave? It’s been stolen from US.

That’s why I’m running for the Pinellas GOP Chair in the coming election on December 12th.         
To bring all disenfranchised AFs back to our local  REC and return it to its original form.
To the Party  created by Abraham Lincoln himself. Only then can we begin to reverse the damage “The Establishment” has done. Only then can our Party begin saving our country, one county at a time America Firsters are challenging county RECs Florida-wide. We are refusing “politics-as-usu al”anymore. Because we simply do not have that luxury of time left. It’s now up to Republicans everywhere to take a stand on which faction of our Party you want in control to confront the  dangerous times ahead.

---

---

​Cathi is the author of the best-selling book, Rules for Deplorables: A Primer for Fighting Radical So-cialism that counters father of community-organizing Saul Alinsky’s 70’s blockbuster bible of the left, Rules for Radicals.His thirteen tactics have been used for decades by the left to transform American values and culture to Communism.
A four-time start-up business owner, including the nation’s first all-female construction company as a Florida Licensed State Building Contractor, Cathi is also a sought-after speaker, activist, State Ambassador to Defend Florida, Leader of the Pinellas Defend Florida team and former Campaign Manager for Jeremy Brown for FLHouse. Cathi is currently running for the position of Chairperson for the Pinellas County GOP/Republican Executive Committee. 
Contact Cathi at: Chamberlain4PCGOPChair@gmail.com