Censure Must be Good; The Elites & Democrats Hate it

Robert West | December 13, 2023

We are at a place where the elites and democrats hate the idea of censure. At some point you must ask yourself why.

Having an out-of-control government seize control of private business, close churches and in general violate our rights was bad enough to get me off the couch on day one.

Our elected officials were the problem, not fix, so I turned to the GOP. Imagine my surprise when the Texas GOP and many of the county GOPs cared about our rights as little as the elected.

The only avenue I saw open was to fill precinct chairs across Texas because about half were empty when we started. Precinct chairs are not paid and largely unknown. The position has been marginalized and if you go to the Texas GOP website only the County Chairs are listed.

Calling Foul on your Players

Censure is merely calling foul on your own players, but it was something I could do as a precinct chair and encourage others to do. My county, along with 14 other county GOPs passed censure resolutions against Governor Greg “Better than Beto” Abbott.

These resolutions made the news because they had never happened before. Strangely enough, while the first few made the papers in every major market as the numbers grew the coverage disappeared. You would think if one was news, 15 would be news but that was not the case.

None of the censure resolutions were approved by the Texas GOP, not because they were untrue but because the Texas GOP was and is currently, not concerned with holding our elected accountable.

Evolution of Opposition

The evolution of opposition was interesting to track.

1. “It does not remove them from office.” That is true, but it can and has removed them from politics, you don’t see Joe Strauss holding office.
2. “It is a waste of time.” It takes very little time; we were having the meeting anyway and it only took about 10 minutes to get a unanimous vote in favor.
3. “You can’t pass censure against Phelan if you are not in his district.” Not as a state rep but as a SPeaker of the House of Texas he represents all of Texas in that roll. “You did not vote for him directly.” Nope and neither did I vote for the President of the United States directly but rather a slate of electors.
4. “Until Phelans own district censures him the SREC can do nothing.” Orange County, that contains more than half of the voters in Phelan’s district censured him, then Jasper County Censured him so that is two out of three of the counties he represents and still, the SREC does NOTHING.

So why bring this up now? If you have seen the latest attack against censure from The Texas Voice, it is not only dishonest and misleading but downright contrary to reality. The link to the article is HERE.  You might also be interested in what the Young Republicans of Texas think of the author is HERE.

The Newest Attack and the SREC

So, what is this new attack? The “mania” is over and censure is on the way out as only one state rep has been censured by the STATE GOP this year.

How is it going away when the state GOP failed to back up their county GOPs at all in the last few years?

My limited understanding of math indicates that one is greater than zero. The author also fails to mention a US Congressman was censured by the SREC.

When Tony Gonzales supported red flag laws (like Abbott) and voted against securing the border, censure resolutions were passed at the county level and the SREC did NOTHING. It wasn’t until 16 counties inside his 21-county district and five counties outside his district passed resolutions and only then did the SREC (most of them), vote to pass a formal censure.

Replacing Politicians with Patriots

Folks, those precinct chairs need to be filled even if the state or even if your county GOP does not want them filled. Censure needs to be used by both parties to embarrass and defeat incumbents that fail to do what the voters want.

Two third of Democrats and over 80 percent of Republicans agree that taxpayer funded lobbying has no place in Texas. Out of 254 counties only ZERO counties have listened. Which party holds office does not matter as both oppose cutting off the flow of money, our money, to lobbyist that make millions getting our “representatives” to do what THEY want. What is best for their clients and themselves, not us.

Once the elected know that censure can and will be used to make it impossible for them to have a career, they will find a new career or a new state.  

Fill the precinct chairs, challenge the do-nothing precinct chairs. Encourage other people to run for the position. The deadline was 6PM on Dec. 11th but you have not missed it, because Dec 2025 gives you plenty of time to get a slate together and clean up your county party.  You can also figure out who to run for SREC, State Chair and Vice Chair.

First, we Reform the party, then we hold the elected accountable. Replace politicians with patriots and then; do it again.

Robert West