I have been a Republican since before I could vote. I have donated. I have volunteered. I have campaigned. I have even met a President.
I am done with all that.
I hereby renounce my lifelong membership in the Republican party.
100% of the leadership and a significant portion of its elected members are feckless cowards who pay mere lip service to principle but are interested only in the preservation of their power.
I can no longer in good conscience affiliate myself with this party.
For years, I have advocated the notion that it is better to be in the party in order to try and change it. I now am convinced that internal reformation of the Republican party is impossible. If any reformation is to occur, it must be by external pressure.
By external pressure I mean either a 3rd party or campaign funding mechanisms external to the party to select candidates that use the levers of politics to defend liberty, justice, and the American people from a runaway tyrannical government.
The Republican party is corrupt and has taken for granted conservatives (for lack of a better word) like me for too long.
If I am to be a member of a minority party that cannot change the government, I would rather be in a party that holds dear the same principles as me. It makes no sense to align myself with a party that I don’t trust and don’t like just because they are not the evil democrats when that party when that party does exactly what the democrats do 98% of the time.
I will take my money, my time, and my allegiance elsewhere. If one day the Republican party is reformed by these external pressures, I may consider it again. But I do not believe that will happen. I believe that the Republican party must go the way of the Whig party. No party should seek power over principle the way the Republicans have and be allowed to survive on the backs of the principled.
The Republican party as we know it must die. I must be starved of money and votes until it perishes.
This is not an easy or rash decision for me, for I have advocated on these pages many times the opposite position. But I see clearly now that it was a fool’s errand.
More of the same will get us more of the same. Republicans will continue to behave exactly like the democrats 98% of the time. If this continues, the Republic is finished anyway. In fact, it may be finished already.
We must defund the GOP of money and votes. We must support only organizations and candidates that adhere to principle, no matter what.
I renounce my lifelong membership in the Republican party and I will do everything in my power to see it destroyed. That is the only hope for this country.
October 17, 2013 at 9:38 pm
Do you think PR or partial PR is needed?
October 18, 2013 at 12:53 am
Chris-2-4, in most states you have to be registered as a member of a political party in order to vote in its' primary. That is supposed to prevent people of opposing view points from voting in weaker candidates such as McCain or Romney. I used to be an official card carrying member of the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln. I stopped supporting the Party in any monetary way after Dole.
October 18, 2013 at 3:02 am
We dems also hope for a new split republican party. The tea party has been a great help. Please Sen. Cruz, be the republican presidential candidate! As the theme from Mash…. "suicide is painless".
October 18, 2013 at 3:05 am
We dems also hope for a new split republican party. The tea party has been a great help. Please Sen. Cruz, be the republican presidential candidate! As the theme from Mash…. "suicide is painless".
October 18, 2013 at 3:36 am
and 'you dems' seem to have a little trouble mastering the 'publish' button…how on earth do you handle a voting machine? Oh yeah that's right…just look for the big D (as in Death party) and place your mark.
October 18, 2013 at 3:21 pm
I referred to this strategy (pulling electoral and financial support) as "electoral chemotherapy" and was roundly denounced by someone I consider a friend because he thinks a couple of things, which I think are wrong headed.
1) He tries to equate voting for a non-Republican as voting for a Democrat. If I write in a candidate to ensure the Republican won't win, I am not, de facto, endorsing the Democrat. I am voting "none of the above" and it is morally proper to do so.
2) He believes (foolishly as 50 years of history show) that the party can be reformed at the grassroots. The fact is, the only way to eliminate the leadership is to cut off their legs. Cruz may be a good guy, but he voted for McConnell for minority leader. Mike Lee may be a good guy, but he helped make Boehner the Speaker.
The only real solution is to bite the bullet, pull out ALL support and either push "solid" candidates into a new party or force Priebus and everyone at the upper levels of the GOP out in favor of new leadership.
Electing even "solid" GOP candidates to the House and Senate, in the hopes that they will change the apparatus at the top is like being Charlie Brown telling yourself that, really, this time Lucy won't pull the football away.
October 18, 2013 at 7:23 pm
Only about half the electorate in both parties voted last November, fewer people vote in state elections, and almost no one votes in the most important elections of all, for local school boards. "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves…"
October 19, 2013 at 4:22 am
Yup. My sentiments exactly.
The GOP establishment are nothing but crusty old barnacles. Ceding to the Left in "bipartisanship" is how they keep themselves ensconced in their comfortable position. Principles and values be damned!
They have given short shrift, no, they ignore the digital savvy of young conservatives and women to get the word out on conservative values.
Even some of the younger party leaders act like old codgers. The St. Charles [MO] GOP Central Committee held a meeting about a week ago. They discussed strategy for the next election. Most of the crowd were there to hammer out an effective social policy for the MO GOP. The committee chair, John Bennett [30ish-40 yrs. old] was dismissive of forming a policy. He even said, "I don't get Twitter. Or care about it at all." Really? This guy doesn't "get" how Twitter can help build a larger digital following. This guy doesn't "get" how well the current occupant of the White House used social media in his successful campaign five years ago? Apparently, Facebook and other social media are only good for knocking conservative bloggers and independent conservatives who don't tow the RINO line.
Qualified inspiring conservative women such as Governor Susana Martinez, Mia Love, Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, who are very capable in presenting conservative values, are totally ignored. All you see on the Sunday morning shows are John McCain, or the RNC chair with a name that sounds like a hair-care product. They may be nice guys, but they are not inspiring.
The best thing to do is circumvent the GOP machine and support individual candidates.