Grover Norquist
I was listening to Glenn Beck this morning. I listen to him because he’s the lead-in to Rush and the choices on other stations aren’t sufficiently interesting to make me move the dial. Today, Glenn Beck was on another diatribe against Grover Norquist. Beck has been attacking Norquist for years; today’s broadcast is nothing new.
The issue today was the upcoming election of new members to the NRA Board of Directors. Grover Norquist has been a NRA Board member for a number of years…as have Tom Selleck, Ted Nugent, Roy Innis and John Bolton among many. I don’t know if he has been nominated for that position again. I haven’t seen my ballot yet.
Glenn Beck has been a speaker at the NRA’s Annual Meeting. I heard him speak at the NRA meeting in St. Louis a few years ago. He brought forth some history and was generally interesting and accurate. Grover Norquist was nominated and elected to the NRA’s Board, a generally ceremonial position, because of his work and stance in support of the 2nd Amendment and firearm ownership—not for his other work or interests.
You see, the NRA is a single-issue organization. Its interest is solely about supporting the 2nd Amendment and firearm rights and ownership. Only that. Some people, Glenn Beck among them, cannot separate people by interests. Norquist has earned a reputation supporting gun rights and the 2nd Amendment. That’s all the NRA is interested in, not Norquist’s stance on taxes or Islam.
I’m a board member of a regional organization that also supports the 2nd Amendment and gun rights and ownership in Missouri. Like the NRA, we also endorse issues and people running for local and state offices who support us and our interests. They may not support everything I personally support but that’s not the purpose of the organization. Not everyone supports the same interests as do I.
In the past election, my group endorsed a candidate for office. He was a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment and CCW. He also is against RTW and some other issues that I and many other board members support. Still, the organization as a whole looks through a narrow lens—how does the candidate stand with our primary single interest? He supported them and because of that stance, won our endorsement.
The NRA is no different. The NRA has had conservatives and republicans as board members as well as some famous democrats. John Dingell, a former democrat congressman from Michigan comes to mind along with Roy Innis.
But, Glenn Beck is all up in arms, angry that Norquist may, once again, be elected to the NRA Board. If that happens, Glenn Beck has stated he’ll resign his NRA membership.
Well, Glenn, don’t let the door hit you in the ass. Begone! There will be dozens of new members joining the NRA to fill your vacancy. I’m not a Norquist fan but I’m not yours either.
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That’s news to LaPierre. The NRA is not a single-issue group.
http://www.examiner.com/article/amnesty-danger-to-gun-rights-conspicuously-absent-from-lapierre-cpac-speech
Well, except when it’s convenient for someone to wrongly claim that it’s a single issue group
On the contrary, it’s always outsider organizations who want the NRA to be something other than it is. The NRA is and always has been a single-issue organization and that’s all. Others want the NRA to be more and then chastise the NRA when it won’t respond the ‘right’ way.
Too many, and apparently you, have no idea just what single-issue means. I don’t like amnesty, I don’t support it and I would expect a significant portion of NRA’s members don’t either. But amnesty is not one of the NRA’s issues and SHOULD NOT BE!
Let the NRA do what it does best—protecting the 2nd Amendment and to not diffuse it’s efforts on a multitude of issues not relating to its core, the 2nd Amendment.