The political games the Republican Party plays make me queasy. The ship sways to the right, “We are conservative!” they shout. The ship sways to the left as the candidates and elected officials vote. Back and forth. Back and forth. All the while, the grassroots are vomiting over the side.
Didn’t we dump tea in the water and dress up in costumes very recently? Did we not carry signs, sign petitions, and call your offices incessantly? Have you forgotten us already? Perhaps we should vomit on your shoes instead of politely overboard. You might notice us then.
So what has me sick today that I am publishing this rant? William Flores. He plopped down his filing fee to run for Congressman in my District, CD17… As a Republican. Big deal. Add him to the list, right? Just another Republican. Sure, except that he voted in the Democratic Primary in 2008 (according to claims made by Timothy Delasandro). Not 20 years ago when he was young and naive. No, last year. The 2008 primary, when we still had several choices. Months before we were saddled with John McCain.
So here’s where I get really nauseated. Most Republican groups won’t get involved in the primaries (besides secretly excluding candidates that are actually conservative or, God-forbid, libertarian-leaning). They won’t say a word when someone who voted for Barak or Hilary claims to be your Republican savior. Oh, but wait, The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) picked Flores. So they don’t mind inserting themselves into our primary, even though they aren’t from CD17. Where are our County Chairs? They have access to Voter Vault. Why don’t they speak up? I hope this is on the agenda of the next meeting of each Republican group across CD17. I know I’ll be bringing it up at Brazos County Young Republicans next meeting. I hope our County Chairs speak up. Republican Women. College Republicans. Republican Club. SREC. Pachyderms. Raging Elephants. Republican Liberty Caucus. Young Republicans. We need to discuss this, at a bare minimum. Political Parties are known for ignoring the obvious until they are forced to deal with it. Let’s deal with this now. It’s time that it means something to be a Republican.
I realize the idea is to let all the Republican candidates duke it out in attack ads and debates. For the most part, that makes perfect sense. The Primary is when Republicans have choices, hopefully. The leadership shouldn’t try to force its will on the people. However, when it comes to obvious things like voting in the Democratic Primary in the last election, it’s time for our leadership to stand up. People have different ideas of what it means to be a Republican. I think most of us can agree that voting in the last Democratic Primary doesn’t fall into the Republican category. If Flores wants to run against Chet, he should do so in the Democratic Primary, where he voted most recently.
The idea of the Big Tent doesn’t mean that our candidates do not adhere to some sort of political philosophy. It means that we welcome anyone who subscribes to the idea of limited government. Perhaps Flores is seeing the light, and moving towards limited government principles; however, 2008 was a little too recent for this gal.
Hopefully I’m wrong about Mr. Flores. I really hope I am.
