November 30, 2018
It is time to demand that the primaries be closed in Tennessee
We have finished the 2018 election cycle and we see hints of who the leadership will be in the state legislature during 2019 and 2020. The fact is that these indicators tell us that passing constitutional carry and reducing the number of gun free zones in Tennessee will not be any easier in the next 2 years than it has been in the last 8.
One of the problems that have been a chronic nightmare for conservatives and those who are constitutionally principled is that the Republican controlled legislature has for the last 8 years repeatedly refused to close the primaries in Tennessee. This has repeatedly allowed Democrats, progressives, liberals and communists to vote in Republican primaries and influence those outcomes. We see the results and the harm it has caused - over and over and over.
One of the reasons that the legislative leadership in the past has offered as an excuse for not closing the primaries is that the Tennessee Republican Party leadership has not asked the legislature to close the primaries. That might be true because in the eyes of some that party leadership is "in bed with" the same Establishment Republicans who have controlled the legislature and who have made it clear that they want Democrats and liberals to be able to vote in the Republican primaries.
This intentional disenfranchisement by dilution of Republican and conservative values must stop.
In Tennessee, the respective parties are both controlled, at least nominally, by the parties "State Executive Committees". In each party, these are elected positions although very few voters realize it or participate in those elections.
What you need to know now is that it the Republican party's State Executive Committee that meets and votes on what the "party" wants - including closing the primaries.
The Republican party's State Executive Committee is scheduled to meeting this weekend, December 1. Several of the members of the committee are new this year. Several of them are truly 2nd Amendment supporters and constitutionally principled supporters - such as Cyndi Miller. Mrs. Miller has written an excellent commentary on why current Tennessee law is wrong on this issue and why it is imperative that the primaries be closed.
We must purge from the Republican party those who are effectively winning in the primaries because Democrats, progressives, liberals and others are freely allowed by existing Republican leadership to vote in those primaries.
We must fight to elect true conservatives and constitutionally principled individuals to office and in most instances the fact is that those candidates are running as Republicans.
If you are a Republican, if you are a conservative, if you believe in the constitution - TFA urges you to take time today to call and email the Republican State Executive Committee members (contact information is on this page) and request - even politely demand - that Republican primaries be cleansed of the corrupted and diluted votes of those aligned with other parties or interests.
John Harris
Executive Director
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