Many of you may have seen me, Steve Hoffman, at MB tea party and Carolina patriot meetings, at rallies here in Myrtle Beach and in Columbia, out campaigning for a variety of Republican candidates, and speaking before the Horry County Council and the Coastal Carolina College Republicans.
I am a conservative / libertarian Republican (what Charles C. W. Cooke from the National Review calls a conservatarian). If you are confused, just think of U.S. congressional members, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Justin Amash, Thomas Massie, Mark Meadows and our own Mark Sanford. Or the growing number of liberty movement S.C. Legislators like Sens; Tom Davis, Wes Climer, Tom Corbin, Shane Martin, Kevin Bryant, and Reps;Jonathan Hill, Steve Long; Eric Bedinfield, Joshua Putnam, Bill Chumley, Josiah Magnuson.
We are all principled Republicans. Principled, in that we strongly believe that the future of this country depends on a Republican Party committed to the values of LIMITED GOVERNMENT, INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS (as outlined in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution), and FREE MARKET ECONOMICS (as opposed to Crony Capitalism and Corporate Welfare). Principled Republicans who are not afraid to fight the Democrat’s progressive agenda.
As a “Republican”, I pledge to help grow our local party. The continued downward slide in the number of Republican organized precincts in Horry County concerns me. After the 2013 re-org we had 80 organized precincts. After the 2015 re-org we dropped to 60 and after this last one we sank even further to 50. This is a trend that does not bode well for our ability to fight off future Democrat Party progressive candidate challenges. My objective is to have 70 organized precincts by the end of 2017 and yet another 10 by the time the general election rolls around in 2018. I have experience in “Precinct Project” and I know I can grow the precincts.
You may ask why the Republican Party; in a state where the legislature and the executive branch are controlled by Republicans; is having such great difficulty maintaining an active membership. I suggest you look no further than your locally elected Republicans. How principled are our current batch of locally elected republicans when they have significantly raised our property taxes, worked to raise the SC Gas Tax, given lip service to our second amendment rights, gave themselves significant pay raises, and squandered millions of taxpayer dollars annually on a Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation that has completely failed to accomplish its mission? How many of your friends have told you they no longer call themselves Republicans, but prefer to be called conservatives or independents? How many of your friends have stopped going to the polls because they no longer see a significant choice between voting for a Republican or a Democrat?
I truly believe that if our elected republicans were truly committed to Limited Government, Respect for Individual Rights, and Free Market Economics, we could bring those who have left back to our party.
If elected as Vice Chair, I promise to re-invigorate the county party. How often has the attendance at our executive committee sessions been so poor that we failed to reach a quorum, thus not able to conduct official business? How many times at our general membership meetings was attendance so poor that it was embarrassing to our speakers and members? I promise that I will bring alternative points of view back into our meetings and I am not afraid to invite speakers who may be controversial or out of sync with the local Republican “establishment”. Our meetings should be engaging, topical and worth the hour of your precious time.
Not only will I work to keep our membership engaged and informed, I believe we can do a better job of communicating Republican principles to the general population. Yes, I would like to see the HCGOP issue more press releases to local media outlets and also become more active in the resolution process.
We must grow financially and in “boots” on the ground, so that when the time comes, we can muster the support necessary to keep Horry County “RED”. Our state and our nation are counting on the Republican Party to counter the progressive agenda; i.e. Common Core, Government Controlled Health Care, New York Style Gun Control, the increasing regulatory burden placed on small businesses, etc., etc…
Finally, in the words of former house speaker Tip O’Neill; “All politics is local”. We must have a growing, dynamic party at the precinct and county level, committed to fight the progressive Democrats. As your next Vice Chairman, I pledge to bring both growth and a fighting spirit back to the Horry County GOP.
I ask for your vote as the next Vice Chairman of the Horry County Republican Party.
In Liberty,
Steven A. Hoffman
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