By David Codrea [via Ammoland.com]
“For the first time in my 16 years on the NRA board there will be a recall on the NRA ballot,” NRA Director Todd Rathner notes. “I urge you to VOTE NO on the recall of Grover Norquist.” Rathners characterizes the recall effort as an “attack” on Norquist. He writes the motive behind it is personal, by a “troubled” and “obsessed” individual. “There are no allegations in the Recall Petition that have anything whatsoever to do with the NRA, its mission, purpose or programs,” Rathner assures us.Perhaps . . .
The petition and its supporting documentation appear to ignore an important issue that has plenty to do with NRA Bylaws purposes and objectives. And that distracts attention from Norquist’s support for “amnesty” while wearing his Americans for Tax Reform hat.
What’s that got to do with gun rights?
Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson insists that illegal aliens have “earned the right to be citizens.” Democrat Rep. Kurt Schrader claims immigration will decide “who is in charge of this country for the next 20 or 30 years.”
All credible polling shows that this will result in millions of new anti-gun Democrat voters, establishing unchallengeable majorities in the legislatures, a resultant stacking of the courts through confirmations of anti-gun activist judges, and a reversal of all legislative and judicial gains enjoyed in recent years.
NRA Director Norquist demonstrated his priorities on another occasion when competing loyalties between guns and taxes offered incompatible outcomes. Case in point, he endorsed Bob Dold for Congress, even though it was known that Dold “supports restricting gun purchase & possession.” That penchant for infringements would later win Dold an award from the Illinois Council Against Gun Violence.
What further conflicts Norquist’s participation in the Hispanic Leadership Fund and the Council on Foreign Relations present remain to be identified.
Also of concern is Norquist’s continued alliance with Michael Bloomberg’s amnesty-supporting “Partnership for a New American Economy.” There’s a reason why Bloomberg believes that will advance his interests. There’s a reason why the Department of Homeland Security under Obama is “turning foreigners into citizens as quickly as possible.” There’s a reason why Hillary vows she’ll go further than Obama. And none of those reasons bode well for gun owners.
Bring all three branches of government into the “progressive” sphere, and gun owners can forget political and “legal” remedies. And don’t look for the insiders and players putting their names behind Norquist to get behind anything else when those stop working.
As far as the Norquist recall goes, it’s probably a moot point. The voices in his corner will easily drown out mine.The Fairfax establishment is solidly behind the guy, in no small part because of his connections and the doors he can keep open for them. Besides, Jeff Knox of The Firearms Coalition has estimated something like only 7% of eligible members even bother to vote anyway.
So if Norquist beating the recall is a foregone conclusion, what’s the point in calling attention to it?
Essentially to springboard off it to repeat what the gun groups won’t tell their members because they’ve been avoiding it: Immigration is a legitimate issue for the firearms rights community to be involved with, and importantly, for gun rights groups TO SCORE POLITICIANS ON. Which they won’t do.
It would be easy to dismiss this article as just another personal attack. It would be harder to explain how Norquist’s support for amnesty, combined with the “pathway to citizenship” will not result in overwhelming Democrat majorities that control the legislatures and the courts.
Who can do that?
So far, Norquist and his allies have ignored the specifics, offering only incomplete context historical references, opinions, anecdotes, wishful thinking and platitudes. Those aside, they’ve produced nothing to refute all credible polling reflective of current conditions. They’ve offered no numbers that can be independently validated to show anything less than a collective 70+% advantage in favor of the Democrats/gun-grabbers.
I wish they could. Truly.
Barring that, this Life Member is voting YES on recalling Grover Norquist. And I’m reserving my director votes for candidates willing to unequivocally (and correctly) answer specific questions so that an informed choice can be made.
That said, there’s a much more important concern than who sits on the NRA Board. There is an existential threat, not just to the Second Amendment, but to the Republic, what a friend and colleague calls the “cultural terraforming” of America. Any politician not working to remove that threat, and any lobby group enabling such a politician, is part of the problem. That’s no matter which “good” votes they’ve cast, because they’re making inevitable the day when those votes will no longer be enough.