The Republican establishment is clinging desperately to power at the local and state level as grassroots conservatives seek to get more involved in the party machinery, explained Arkansas GOP activist Rick McKay in an interview with The New American magazine's Alex Newman at the Moment of Truth summit. McKay and other conservatives tried to get involved in their county party in Little Rock, but found senior party bosses trying to freeze the liberty-minded grassroots activists out of positions of influence. It got so bad that his county's delegation was not even allowed to attend the state convention because it had been taken over by conservatives, McKay said.