“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the public thinks; it matters what 168 of us think.”

UPDATE: Chairman Emineth responds in the comments, and Matt Dabrowski, who knows Emineth, posts a blog on the matter here.

The Chairman of the Republican National Committee represents the 59 million Americans who voted Republican on November 4th, not just 168 party officials. And through county committees and state committees, WE elect the 168. We may not have a vote, but we DO have a voice. Make sure that the choice for the next RNC Chair represents YOUR hopes for the future of the Republican Party by making your voice heard at RebuildTheParty.com or ChooseYourChairman.com. -Patrick

I wish to alert many of my fellow young conservative activists to the quote in this post’s title. It comes from North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth in a story posted today at TheHill.com.

The story details Mr. Emineth’s call for a special meeting of the full RNC in order to attend the ATR debate at the National Press Club on January 5.

While is it commendable that Mr. Emineth feels the need to gather as many voting members of the RNC to this important event, I feel it would be remiss not to challenge the North Dakota chairman for his comment. It is, on its face, an extremely arrogant one which lends credence to the belief that the Republican Party is elitist and it is, at the very least, a slap in the face of those young Republican and conservative activists who have joined together out of a common concern about the direction of the Republican Party.

Whether it occurs at Rebuild the Party, the YRNetwork, the Young Conservative Coalition or meetings like the forum we held in Washington, D.C., in early December, I would submit to Mr. Emineth that it very much matters what we (the public) thinks about the selection of our party’s next chairman. We, as young activists, have the opportunity to put pressure on our state party’s elected leadership - even going as far as to vote them out if they do not listen to a group which will represent their donor and volunteer lists for the next few decades.

I wonder what the then 28-year-old Mr. Emineth would think of the present-day version of himself when he was serving as the executive director of the North Dakota party back in 1986? Would the 1986 version agree that it did not matter what a young person like himself thought about the future of his party? I would think that Mr. Emineth, the 1986 version, would have an outlook similar to mine.

I do not know Mr. Emineth personally, so I cannot judge the chairman any further than his call for a special meeting (which I applaud) and the comment in the report (which I admonish). It is my hope that Mr. Emineth will disavow his comment which, in my opinion, is detrimental toward the movement that all of us are trying to build.

If you are so inclined, I encourage you to make contact with Chairman Emineth in order to let him know your reaction to his comments. All that I ask is that you are polite and offer the chairman a modicum of respect.

Moving forward, I believe it is in our best interests to get as many young people to contact your state’s chairman, national committeeman, national committeewoman and executive director in order to communicate your desires as to the future of the party in your state, the GOP as a whole and who will lead us in the future.