KGTP Meeting Summary - 3 January 2020

Fellow Members of the King George TEA Party:

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Last night the KGTP held our monthly meeting for January.  As you know, Daniel Gade was unable to attend because he was unable to return from Roanoke in time.  We have rescheduled him for our 6 February meeting.

NOTE:  For those of you that brought a new person our meeting last night PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO THEM.  Additionally, please invite them to contact me so that I can add them to our Newsletter distro list.

As you also know, we had a second guest speaker lined up for the evening; Jacob Roginsky, an immigrant to the USA from the Soviet Union.  As will be revealed in the e-mail exchange below, I was very interested in hosting him as he represented the best in what I hope all immigrants would come to America for - the chance to BE an American.  He did not come here for free healthcare, the opportunity to make money that he could send back to his family in the USSR, or because he wanted to sew hate and discontent here.

No, he truly wanted to BE an American in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  A concrete example of this is the fact that he tried to join the US Army (but was denied due to insufficient language proficiency) AND he worked defense-related jobs (underwater acoustics) because he wanted to "get back" at the USSR.  He wanted to contribute, in a meaningful way, to his adopted homeland.  We should all warmly welcome such individuals.

Unfortunately, he also invited his neighbor to accompany him to our meeting.  And her two staffers.  That neighbor is Vangie Williams, Democrat, running for Congress to replace Rob Wittman.  Immediately after Jacob made his 25-minute presentation he introduced Ms. Williams and she took the floor.

At about the 10-minute mark 5 audience members abruptly left the meeting.  I met them outside the door to briefly ask what I could do to change their minds but that was to no avail.  One of the folks that left asked the rhetorical question, "Who the F let her in here."  Obviously that responsibility falls upon my shoulders.  Sort of.

Below is the ENTIRETY OF ALL e-mail exchanges between Jacob and me regarding his attending our meeting.  Yes, at the very bottom of his e-mail he asked if it would be OK if Vangie Williams could accompany him to our meeting.  In turn, at the bottom of my response, was the caution that if she did come that she would be welcome to do so but that she should expect to enter into a contested environment.  Here is that e-mail exchange (the biographical section of Jacob's e-mail has been deleted for efficiency).  I have re-arranged the e-mails into chronological order and did some grammatical editing for readability.

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On Dec 18, 2019, at 6:08 AM, Jacob Roginsky wrote:

Dear James, This is Jacob Roginsky. The material below below consists of a brief outline of my biography and topic I would like to discuss at your Tea Party group on Thursday, January 2, 2020.

My Short Bio:

<Snip>

However, I became deeply disappointed in the TEA Party after I realized that it has became joined at the hip with the Republican Party, and through it with the ruling elites determined to destroy liberty and fundamental indiividual rights in  America, without which America can be neither a land of liberty and justice, nor one of prosperity.  I believe that to become more effective, the TEA Party should stop letting the RNC take it for granted, and become more flexible in its affiliations, keeping its eyes on the prize. I am greatly disappointed in our Congressman Rob Wittman, and am supporting for his office my friend, a Democrat, Vangie Williams, whom I would like to introduce to your organization at this, or a future meeting.

Sincerely,

Jacob Roginsky, Ph.D.

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In response, the below is what I provided as feedback.  For this discussion, however, the final paragraph in the e-mail below is what I would like for you to focus on as it provided the caution about what I thought the meeting would become.  The highlighting was added in this e-mail for emphasis.

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "James Hull (KGTP)" <james@kinggeorgeteaparty.com>

Subject: Re: Proposed Presentation

Date: December 18, 2019 at 5:24:14 PM EST

To: Jacob Roginsky

Dr. Roginsky:

MANY THANKS for your biographical sketch.  Your life has been very challenging but you seem to have definitely overcome the adversities that you encountered.  Truly you became a success because of, or despite, those around you.  Well done.

As a retired Army Reservist who served during the final years of the Cold War, I really appreciate your observations about Soviet life as it coincided with what we had been told.  I am glad that you both avoided the GULAGS as well as being able to immigrate into the USA.  While I am vehemently against illegal immigration, I am very glad to see that the USA was able to accommodate your exodus from tyranny.  Welcome.

As I mentioned before, I do believe that your discussion would be a very, VERY interesting discussion.  After reading your biographical sketch I am absolutely sure of it.

I, too, am very disappointed in the Republican Party, especially the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV).  The last election proved that the RPV is a failed entity as they either decided to, or were unable to, field Republican candidates for ~25% of Representative or Senate seats for the past 5 November election.  But please do not believe that the TEA Party is "joined at the hip" with the GOP.  We, the TEA Party, are much more Constitutionally-based, much more resistant to compromise as part of a "go along to get along" philosophy, and do not feel compelled to comply just because of authority.  What I will do after writing this e-mail is to send to you about 3 editions of my King George TEA Party Newsletter so you can see what subjects we consider important.

But no, I do not believe that hosting Vangie Williams will be as fruitful as you would like to believe.  Rob Wittman, while he has his faults, has been supportive of most (right, not all) conservative decisions.  Healthcare a couple of years ago was one issue where he wobbled.  But Ms. Williams' perspective from a Democrat Party platform is going to initiate pointed questions that will put her on the defensive.  Since our meetings are open to ANYONE she is not barred from attending (fact is, she, like anyone else, is welcome)… I am just forecasting heated and contentious discussion if she were to do so.

James Hull

King George TEA Party

King George, Virginia

james@kinggeorgeteaparty.com

http://www.kinggeorgeteaparty.com

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The above e-mail from Jacob was the ONLY e-mail that I received regarding Ms. Williams interest in attending our KGTP meeting last night.  EVERY other guest speaker I have invited over the past 5 years has personally contacted me well prior to the meeting in order to coordinate discussion topics, get directions, and such.  Thus, you should recognize that all that I had was second-hand reporting that Ms. Williams **might** attend a KGTP meeting in either January or February.  As the meeting leader, I found this lack of initiative on her part to closely coordinate the visit with me to be... well... how do I put this politely… highly unprofessional.  

It also deprived you, the KGTP member, with an opportunity to prepare for her visit.  For EVERY guest speaker that we have hosted I have ALWAYS given the membership a "heads up" so that you could prepare thoughtful discussion questions ahead of time.  This makes our meetings much more valuable for both the audience and the guest speaker.  That opportunity was lost last night as everyone was caught flat-footed due to her lack of coordination.

The "ambush" visit last night also meant that our meeting time had to cut short any in-depth discussions on some very important topics currently relevant to our membership at large (i.e., Lobby Day transportation coordination, Second Amendment Sanctuary movement progress, and local Board of Supervisor initiatives).  That short-changed everyone that came to our meeting - ESPECIALLY the half-dozen or so that attended our meeting for the first, and probably last, time.

I must, however, commend the KGTP member audience for providing a (reasonably) welcoming environment for someone that is obviously antithetical to our perspective of good governance.  Yes, there were a couple of folks that let their emotions briefly go unchecked… but for the most part we were a well-disciplined audience.  That is, quite honestly, the mark of professional activism: when we can politely disagree on issues without resorting to name-calling and shouting.  We, YOU, did a great job in being welcoming to our guest last night.  I seriously doubt that if I were to attend a King George Huddle meeting to explain the intent of the Second Amendment, the fallacy of gun control, and the value of the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement that I would be welcomed as warmly.  Further, EVERY week the KGTP Newsletter has (at the bottom of it) a section titled Attacks Against Conservatives and we certainly did not reflect the types of hostile treatment that other Democrats/Progressives/Liberals have inflicted upon fellow Conservatives (especially on college campuses).

As far as the content of Vangie Williams' 30-minute monologue and 15-minutes of Q & A I will, again, have to type carefully.  If Ms. Williams is a "typical" Democrat politician (and I believe that she is), I believe the fundamental difference in how we view good governance versus how she (and her fellow Democrats) does was on full display last night.  This is nothing new to us… we have seen this mold time-and-time again… but it was interesting to see it plainly and in-person as we did last night.  Where we Conservatives would focus on doing everything we could do to be self-reliant, responsible for ourselves, and primarily leverage any resources we personally have in order to solve problems… Ms. Williams consistently levied such responsibilities upon the likes of Robb Wittman (fact is, she was outraged that she received a "form letter" response from Robb Wittman and this was the genesis of her decision to run for Congress).  Such language came out every time she talked about who is responsible for improving King George county's economic growth, county school funding, roadway improvements, health care, etc., etc., etc.  For Ms. Williams, the solution was always something to be gained via state or federal agency advocacy (i.e., big government).

But what was most egregious from a public speaking perspective (and was extremely inconsiderate to the KGTP member audience that relinquished more than half of our limited meeting time to her as a guest speaker) was that there was absolutely no discussion about what she would ***do*** as a representative to the US Congress.  No notable policy recommendations were presented at all.  All that she offered was that she would "listen to the people" for input… but that certainly is NOT a methodology for representation -leadership- for our District.  We need creative problem solvers that collaborate with We The People in the exercise of good judgement, not mindless poll-driven reporters, in Congress.  Fact is, the approach that she outlined is to merely follow the mob where the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" for a government handout.  No thank you to that approach; no thank you to Vangie Williams as our District's member to the US Congress.

I hope this answers a lot of questions you may have about last night's meeting.  As always, if there are any questions that you have please feel free to ping on me.

James Hull

King George TEA Party

King George, Virginia

james@kinggeorgeteaparty.com

http://www.kinggeorgeteaparty.com