Texas Precinct Chairs, More Important Than Campaign Cash

Robert West | August 23, 2023

I am known to some for my work in placing and replacing precinct chairs across Texas. Other people know me from my book, The Five Star Plan. I am also known for my work in getting County GOPs to utilize Rule 44 Censure to hold public servants accountable, in some cases to force their retirement.

Until now I have sought to encourage, inform and empower people. I do not send out marching orders, I do not have a “group” and I do not keep close track of our progress because my focus is more progress.

So, what was the latest revelation or addition to The Five Star Plan? Speaking to people and reading, it occurred to me that at one time each member of the US House served 30K people instead of the 600K they now represent.

To have that same level of representation there would have to be over 10,000 members of Congress. This is not practical, how would such a body function? Anyone that participated in that fresh hell that was the 2020 Texas Republican Virtual Convention can testify to that.

Revive and Elevate the Precinct Chair

My most recent idea is to revive and elevate the precinct chair positions. To transform that position into more of a political watchdog for the voters in their precinct. Congress members cannot freely converse with over half a million voters so how can voters be heard?

There are close to 400K precinct chairs positions across the US and half sit empty. In Texas we have over 3,000 that need to be filled and about that many more that need to be replaced.

The precinct chair lives in your neighborhood, surrounded by their family and friends. What if the 300 or 400 precinct chairs in each Congressional District met to determine if that incumbent was allowed to run using their political parties label or not?

What if, in separate gatherings, they met to determine if incumbent state representatives or state senators would be allowed to use the label?

These meetings would not bar the office holder from running but if it was determined they had not followed the party’ guidelines, they would have to run under a different banner.

This need not concern the state party, only state-wide and national elections would concern the state party. Each district, each precinct would, in essence, be a separate political party with a say in who could wielded their banner in an election.

Power Shifting

Now the power shifts back from the candidate that can raise the most money to the candidate that best reflects the will of the political party. This is determined by the closest elected person to the people, the precinct chair. This raises the profile of those positions, gets more people out to vote for and elect these people and gets more people willing to serve in those positions.

One voter has very little impact on a state representative race, but one person can swing a precinct chair race. The more power the individual voter feels they have, the more likely they are to participate. The more voters we have participating, the more like America our politics become.

For and by the People

This “of, for and by the people” mindset is not mere rhetoric, it is the actual recipe with which our Republic flourished.

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who don’t vote.” -George Jean Nathan

How can we shift the power back to the people, short circuit the plutocracy (rule by the rich) and increase voter participation? All these things can be done by elevating the position of precinct chair who are the direct descendants of the committees of safety and committees of correspondence from before the founding of this nation. How do we do this? Like they did it, just decide.

We can decide to get involved, decide to make things better and decide to do the things I describe.

We have well-worn paths to follow in getting elected or appointed to these positions and we have a few brick walls we need to tear down such as the unconstitutional laws the state of Texas has passed to control what the political parties can and cannot do.

We are the masters, they are the servants and the US Constitution is the ultimate, terms of service. We are the public, they are the servants, time to remind them.

Robert West

When the people fear the government you have tyranny, when the government fears the people, you have liberty. -Thomas Jefferson