Jared Woodfill's Closing Statement

A message from: Jared Woodfill, Chairman, Harris County Republican Party

Thank you for the opportunity to bring these closing statements.  I want to thank each of you for all you’ve done for the HCRP and the conservative movement.  It is an honor to serve as your HCRP Chairman.

Like you, I am concerned about a government that wants to expand to all areas of our lives: our banks, our corporations, our car dealerships, our hospitals, and our schools.  Enough is enough. Government in Washington is too big, too controlling, too inefficient and too wasteful.

Just turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper or get on the internet and it becomes clear that our values, principles, and culture are under attack from the radical left.

Over the past several months, America has begun to wake up to the true Democratic Party, led by Barack Obama.  We now know what Hope and Change means:

• A $787 billion dollar stimulus package that has allowed unemployment to go over 10{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}
• Cap and tax legislation that would cripple our economy
• A budget with over 9000 earmarks
• Billions in governmental bailouts
• Government run healthcare

The result-our country is having buyer’s remorse. Recent victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and Scott Brown’s historic win in Massachusetts, demonstrate that the conservative movement is coming out of the proverbial political wilderness.

In just over a year, President Obama and his big government liberal agenda for this country has resulted in a conservative backlash. Voters expressed what we have been hearing from Republicans, conservative independents and seen expressed in the Tea Party movement: big government is not the solution.

As conservative Republicans in Harris County, 2010 will be the year we take our country and the Republican Party back to the Reaganesque principles that brought us to the majority. We need to be an active part of the grass roots, conservative movement seen in Town Hall meetings across the country. We need to embrace the energy, strength, and passion of the Tea Party patriots.

Whether you are a conservative Republican activist, a Tea Party patriot, or a person who is just plain sick and tired of the direction our country is going-we need to be united in our mission, confident in our cause, unwavering in our beliefs, and unified in the fight to take this country back from the liberal left.

We in the Harris County Republican Party believe in limited government, a strong military, lower government spending, a secure border, a free market economy, and a culture that is pro family and pro life. We will continue to fight for these principles.

We must grow our base.  How do we do that?  First, we stick to the principles described above.  Second, we must attract new voters.  We must grow in communities that have not traditionally voted Republican.  This means reaching out to the fastest growing minority community in the country, Hispanics.  Thanks to the generosity and hard work of so many, we now have a permanent Republican headquarters on the Eastside of town (Broadway St.).  This office will provide services to the Hispanic community.  Next month this office will feature a series of seminars that assist individuals who want to start small businesses, complete tax returns and learn English.  The courses will take place at the office and be taught by successful business people, accountants and teachers.  Throughout the year the Republican Party will become more involved in the Hispanic community, partnering with Hispanic leaders and organizations in an effort to grow our party.  Additionally, we will continue our partnership with J.R. Harris Elementary School and other institutions of learning, working to provide educational opportunities for our future leaders.

Hispanic values are Republican values and Republican values are Hispanic values.  However, for too long, we have failed to communicate our winning message to the Hispanic community.  As a party, we must embrace the Hispanic community.  I am convinced that people don’t care what you have to say until they know you care.  Investing our time and energy to provide opportunity to this community will demonstrate that we do care.  We must be a part of the Hispanic community if we expect to be the majority party in the future.   We must elect conservative Hispanic leaders who will take our Republican values into the community and defeat the Democrat machine that perpetuates the lie that Republicans are only for the rich.

Neither can we give up on securing votes in the African-American community.  We must work with our friends in the Texas Federation of Black Republicans and other organizations that represent the African-American community.  We must recruit precinct chairs in areas that are predominantly African-American.  The precinct chair serves as the building block for the Republican infrastructure within the precinct.  We must establish this infrastructure in all communities.  We will continue to aggressively pursue filling these positions. We have made some progress in this area, but we have more work to do.

As a party, we cannot live on past victories; however, we should never forget those principles that brought us to the majority‑limited government, lower taxes, faith based values, respect for human life.  After suffering some losses, there will be Republicans who say we need to compromise on these principles, surrender some of our values.  They will argue that we need to loosen our stance on abortion, unloosen the purse strings on government spending, invite government back into areas where it has no business being. This is the path to the permanent minority.   My friend George Strake said it best when he told me that politics is not the art of compromise, it is sticking to your principles and getting 50{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the people to agree with you.   Stick to your principles.  Greater days are yet to come and greater things are still to be done.    Don’t give up.  Don’t quit.  Don’t surrender.  Victory is ours if we do not grow faint in well doing.

I welcome everyone who wants to join our conservative cause at the HCRP, and, as we head toward the critical November elections, we must have innovation, planning, hard work and a commitment to our core conservative principles in order to be successful.

Continue to send a message to the liberals by voting in the Republican Party Primary. I would be honored to have your support and vote. Together, we will take this country back.

WEBSITE: JaredWoodfill.org