Rome, GA, That Is.
From the desks of Robert Hein & Maggie Bond Johnson
On Saturday, August 7, 2021, the COS GA Team “invaded” Rome, GA, and set up a well-stocked booth at the Republican Party "Floyd Rally." The Rally featured many big names running for Governor, Lt. Governor and Secretary of State at the Coosa Valley Fairgounds.
U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of the 14th Congressional District “drew first blood” with the biggest entrance, the most cheers, and highest enthusiasm. Incumbent Governor Brian Kemp drew equal amounts of enthusiastic cheers and boos. Other candidates up for election included former Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, former CEO of Dekalb County and the memorable former-Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones, as well as a newcomer from South GA Kandiss Taylor.
About 400 people attended the high-energy speech-making and BBQ lunch, according to the Floyd County GOP.
The COS Team included SD Jo’El Lapp, SGC Tony Moore, SIA John Lapp, SCC Maggie Bond Johnson, LL Robert Hein, DC Tracy Stevenson, and DC Bill Sanders.
We set up our table and wound up being side-by-side with newcomer Kandiss Taylor, who is seeking the Governorship. We were also a few empty tables down from Vernon Jones. Notably, the COS GA table was the place to be and we managed to draw a good crowd of curious visitors. We even had Jeanne Seaver, candidate for Lt. Governor, ask to have her picture taken with the Team in front of the booth.
Our visitors were very attentive and most were appreciative of what we were doing for our state. Taking a look at the booth, you will understand why:
The impressive highlight of our display was our "Supporters vs. Opponents" poster. Almost everyone knew who was for and against us: Levin, Shapiro, Kirk. “Yeah!” Soros, Common Cause, Democratic Party. “No! And, H***, no!” We even drew a moderate, slightly left-leaning independent who loved our goal for an Article V Convention and was very enthusiastic. She wants a lot of the same things we want.
We had lovely conversations with many attendees who asked great questions, showed support, and signed our petition. Our experienced Georgia team made good use of QR codes to make petition signing easy and convenient for new supporters.
A common question we received was, "How come I haven't heard of this before!?" Our response: “Working on it!”
We also drew fire from a few. One visitor approached our table in a friendly manner, apparently drawn in by our patriotic COS flag table cloth. Finding out we wanted to amend the Constitution, he morphed from a kind, distinguished, white-mustached, Trump-loving and conservative gentleman into an angry, hostile opponent.
When he realized we wanted to do something so drastic as try to fix Washington with a Constitutional process, it began to look like he was confronting “Barbarians at the Gate.” It began to seem like we had in fact entered the Roman Coliseum– not the Rome GA Fairgrounds.
He asked, "Have you even researched this?" We believe there was probably a resounding, “Just a little!” (Except for Tony Moore who some reported as saying, “Naw. We just thought we would roll with it. It sounded like a good idea at the time.”).
All of the State Leadership Team were well-prepared to answer objections of the deep North GA Conservatives, who at times can lean toward positions held by the John Birch Society. Those far-right extremists tend think the 1787 Constitution was both illegal and perfectly fine as is in the same stroke of thought.
One of our District Captains, Tracy Stevenson, attempted to engage our unhappy visitor in civil conversation in order to address any concerns he might have. However, he was not interested. He said a Convention of States will never happen. His parting word was, “Treasonous!” We affectionately nicknamed him "Marbles" in hopes that his would soon be restored.
In another vigorous conversation, our State Grassroots Coordinator Tony Moore addressed "runaway convention" fears. He spoke to a different and highly experienced GOP Chair who argued no one knew who the commissioners for GA would be, nor what the rules and agenda would be at a convention.
They had a very animated talk that concluded with a friendly grumble and a handshake to agree to disagree after Tony pointed out, "What one radical amendment would be ratified by 38 states? It only takes 13 states to stop a liberal agenda."
As a result of being there, we picked up 30+ new COS petitioners. All in all, a very productive day.
