After Primaries, Unity is Only Option
Those who have known me for any length of time know that I am a fan of drop down dirty, punishing, bloody primary elections. The real politics, regardless of party affiliation, is conducted while determining a party’s nominee. It has frankly always astounded me that primary elections have relatively lower turnout than their general election counterparts. The primaries are the important races that set the direction and tone of the eventual campaign, and in many districts are themselves the election due to gerrymandering run wild.
I also fully believe that the Republican Party these days could appropriately change its name to the “Confederation of Independent Right Leaning Organizations”.
Let’s face it, the GOP, like the Democrats, are a major party in identity crisis mode.
The Republican Party is made up of groups beholden to conservative leaning philosophies, but the importance placed on varying issues is differential and occasionally downright hostile and combative.
On one front are the social conservatives who believe strongly that abortion and homosexuality are wrong and that the moral fiber of America is at stake with every vote that is taken.
On another front we find the libertarian leaning wing that hold a fiscally conservative philosophy, but differentiate themselves from other factions with an “anti-war”, non-interventionist stance on foreign policy.
We’ve also got the “establishment” or “country club” Republicans that find themselves more willing to utilize government for certain “correct” purposes (as they see it), but want to make sure it is done efficiently and with as limited a level of taxation as possible to get the job done.
There are plenty of other permutations as well, but the fact is there are differences.
There are similarities as well that bind the whole party together.
In general, compared to the Democrat Party, the GOP is right of center and will default to a trust in a more limited and restricted government when given a choice.
It is my belief that the real battles should take place within the primary election, but when all is said and done, the nominee, regardless of which faction they come from, needs to be open and encouraging to the losing side.
Furthermore, on the opposite side, the losing faction needs to coalesce behind the winning faction for the sake of the overall message.
As Ronald Reagan put it, your 80% friend is your friend, not your 20% enemy.
Tuesday’s GOP primary election in the 8th Congressional District saw some mighty bloody battles being waged. This is a positive sign.
What is disappointing is that the losing candidate, in this case Tim D”Annunzio, has not checked his pride at the door and has rather continued the offensive vs. Harold Johnson.
To quote Tim from a recent Charlotte Observer article, “I cannot endorse Harold Johnson and his underhanded campaign tactics. What he’s done is a continuation of politics as usual, and for that I will not be supporting him.”
This comes despite his communications director being quoted in this article as saying; “Tim has pledged to unite around the eventual nominee if it is not him.”
So much for pledges.
Thankfully, D’Annunzio supporter Michael Kelly, founder of We the People NC, has a different take. In a recent letter to PunditHouse.com, Michael reiterates, “Now it is time to find out if we are able to rise above the bitterness and resentment that has marked the last six weeks. If so we are prepared to peacefully carry the Tea Party Revolution into the next chapter. Do we have the resolve to humble ourselves or shall we be as stubborn as those who refuse to give up their power and prestige?” While not directly endorsing Johnson, the tone is set that moving forward will take cooperation from all sides.
There is a man that gets it.
While his particular candidate in this race lost, he is willing to look at the bigger picture when moving forward, unlike his candidate.
There will be plenty of additional primaries in the future, each one impacting the future of the Republican Party. I reiterate that these primaries should be as hard fought and bloody as possible, but we need to collectively take the Michael Kelly approach to the final results and humble ourselves in the event our particular candidate loses the nomination. We need to coalesce behind the 80% that unites us in recognition that the other side is holistically an inferior option.
Even if it means supporting the “lesser of two evils”, when the primary is over and the results are predetermined to be one candidate or the other, the lesser evil is still the lesser evil. Standing idly by and not voting out of protest only guarantees that the “greater evil” is one point up.
We now have our candidates and November is just four months away. It is incumbent on us to support our team with every fiber of our being.
To do otherwise is self-destructive to the movement as a whole.
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