As I listen to Donald Trump claim that his reason for not doing press conferences and interviews is that the media chops up his sentences and makes him sound bad, I wish I could ask, “Did you even listen to yourself in this campaign?” That is a rhetorical question, I know. However, the last couple of weeks have been all about the alternative reality that Trump supporters surround themselves with every day, so I guess it is is really possible that Trump believes he speaks eloquently.
I don’t always write or speak eloquently either, but I am comfortable that someone may say something better than I do. In this case, my county party Secretary and recently elected SDEC Committeeman for Senate District 4, Griffin Winkworth, has beaten me to the punch (on Facebook) about something I speak about often – all politics are local.
I think that the fears of what a Donald Trump administration will bring are more than justified, especially given the people he is appointing to
his administration.
But unlike a lot of people I’ve spoken to, I think that’s only a small part of the picture. That’s the part of the picture we realistically have very little control over right now.
What you have the most control over is what goes on right in your local community. And when you look at things from that perspective,
things are still moving forward. Progress is still being made statewide. We’ve processed 6 new precinct chair applications since November 8th and there are 6 more that I’m waiting for email replies from that could make it 12 tomorrow. For a county like ours, that’s unprecedented.
Your local political organizations are busy getting ready for the various non-partisan elections next year. They need candidates though. What are you doing to help?
The most important thing that we can do is to engage locally. While we are still recovering from a disappointing election season nationally and celebrating the holiday season as appropriate to our religion and culture, we are also planning for 2017 and beyond.
To that extent, the Montgomery County Democratic Party will hit the ground running in 2017. January 17th will be our first Executive Committee meeting
for the year at the Commissioners Courtroom in Conroe to be followed by a counter event to the inauguration. Planning is ongoing, but it will be low key. A suggestion that arose from our Senior Advisory Committee meeting this week is to create some economic impact on inauguration day by not making any purchases on January 20th.
On January 28th we’ll host a planning/visioning event to help plan and engage members of the party for the 2017-2018 election cycle. More details will be forthcoming on this event.
And finally, if you or someone you know might be interesting in running for any elected position in the county, especially the non-partisan races to be held in 2017 (City of Montgomery and Splendora, numerous school districts, and others TBA), please contact me as soon as possible. We want to offer all Montgomery County Democrats as much assistance as we can in these races. The non-partisan races have the advantage that you don’t have to announce your party affiliation.
It is not too early to talk about 2018. We have potential candidates for HD3 (from Waller County) and CD8, but it is not too early to explore running for any of the other positions that come up in 2018. We can’t turn Montgomery County purple or blue without candidates!
Marc Meyer, Chair
Montgomery County Democratic Party
