Where Do We Go From Here

Will Lutz got it right recently in a blog post when he said,

"For the past ten years or so, the GOP leadership has succumbed to the natural human temptation to crush one’s opponents because one can. That approach may be legal, but it’s not always wise. Eventually, being too heavy-handed can backfire.

"A perfect example of the party’s heavy-handedness occurred at several of the convention’s committee hearings, most notably the rules committee. The committee passed a rule banning any audio or video recordings of the meetings. This rule accomplished absolutely nothing positive for the party and made the leadership look like it had something to hide."

Some of my friends have suggested that we should not focus on the "divisive" issues raised at the RPT state convention because it will discourage people from working for Republican candidates. This has always been the manner in which party leaders have called for "unity," asking that we simply disregard past violations. In the 1980s it was the divisive issue of abortion that party leaders did not want us to discuss.

In 1998, I carried a resolution on the RNC that called for the Republican Party at the national level to refuse funding to any Republican candidate or nominee who opposed efforts to end partial birth abortion. While this was very unpopular with party officers, it was strongly supported by the rank and file.

That same year the chairman of the RPT appointed an attorney and elected official to chair the RPT Platform Committee. When the committee tried to add language to the platform supporting the non-funding of Republican candidates who opposed efforts to end partial birth abortion, the chairman ruled it out of order and refused to allow the committee to vote on the measure. I declined to challenge this effort on the floor of the convention "for the sake of unity" since the chairman was "one of us." In retrospect I believe that was a mistake, as we have again seen the same tactic used in the rules committee in 2002 and now the credentials committee in 2008.

To simply ignore the issues for the sake of electing Republicans, as we have seen, will only lead to more of the same. Gary Polland also comments on the RPT Convention and the lawsuit filed against the party which will be refiled in Harris County.

So where do we go from here? First of all we should work diligently to elect Republicans this fall. Regardless of the problems with party leadership, Republican candidates in general are far superior on the issues of limited government, lower taxes and family values. (Dr. James Dobson today talked about Barak Obama, and it was not positive.) That is not to say that we should not seek to change some Republicans in the primary.

We must also follow the activities of the RPT and educate ourselves as to what is happening and how and why. (We will make information available here as it becomes available.) Communicate with your member of the SREC. Read the RPT rules, learn from past mistakes, and be prepared not to make the same mistakes - or let others - next time. Finally, bring more of your like-minded friends with you in two years as you go to your precinct convention, county/senatorial convention and the state convention and be prepared to participate.