Last night the Erie County Republican Party Central Committee debated whether to become a Right To Life organization. For most Republicans, this is a no brainer; however, for others the issue of abortion is not so clearly defined in black and white.
Let me be perfectly clear, this blog post is NOT about the pros and cons of the Right To Life movement, nor is it an endorsement of either the Right To Life movement or the Pro-Choice movement. This blog post is about the future effectiveness and viability of the Erie County Republican Party in relation to it's primary goal and reason for being: electing Republican candidates to county offices.
Last night several Central Committee Members and a few Deputy Members stated the ECGOP needed to become a Right To Life organization in order for local voters to understand what the ECGOP stands for. The honest response to this argument is the ECGOP is a Republican organization and it supports the National Republican Party Platform, which includes a plank on the issue of abortion. You can read the National Party platform here.
The question local voters have is not "What does it mean to be an Erie County Republican?," but rather "What does it mean to be a Republican?" That question can be answered by learning about the National Platform, educating themselves on the issues and observing how their statewide and national Republican government representatives handle those issues.
Furthermore, last night quite a few people wondered what the consequences would be if the ECGOP became a Right To Life organization. Some opined it was a risk-free and morally right endorsement of a human rights issue. While I appreciate this viewpoint, I disagree with it on practical grounds.
Here's why. Say the ECGOP became a Blue Is My Favorite Color organization last night. Say there's a qualified and steadfast Republican named John Politico that wants to run for county commissioner in 2012, but his favorite color is lime green. So, in 2012 John Politico wins the Republican primary for County Commissioner and comes to the ECGOP for financial and moral support in his campaign to beat his opponent Dick Democrat. The ECGOP tells him, "Congrats on your win John Politico, but we can't give you any money or moral support because your favorite color is lime green and we're a Blue Is My Favorite Color organization. Sorry for the poor luck, go get 'em tiger!" Sadly, John Politico loses the county commissioner race to Dick Democrat because he didn't have the backing or support of the ECGOP.
My point is this: what may be an innocent endorsement of an apparent no-brainer policy issue to some Republicans now, could bite the ECGOP in the proverbial butt down the road. If the party makes these endorsements, do we use them as litmus tests on candidates? Do we bar any candidate who fails our tests from party funds and support? What's the end goal of making these endorsements?
We as a party have to look at every action we take in the big picture - our decisions must be made for the best of the ERIE COUNTY Republican Party today and in the future. Our decisions cannot be made for what is best for the STATE or NATIONAL party. Besides, the ECGOP supports the state and national Republican parties by being a strong, effective local party, not by trying to imitate the state and national parties.
Also, one of the core principles of the Republican party is limited government involvement in a citizen's every day life. If that's the case, why would we want our county party to tell candidates what issues they must and must not endorse, what they can and cannot believe? The two seem mutually exclusive.
The question facing the ECGOP is this: what is the ECGOP's primary purpose, its reason for being? Is it to endorse policy issues OR is it to elect local Republicans into county positions? I strongly believe it's to elect local Republicans into county positions. If we fail in this purpose by loosing sight of this purpose, we might as well close up shop and hand the county over to the Democrats on a silver platter.
Come back next week for the regularly scheduled blog on Gov. Kasich's budget proposals.
I would gather to say the Erie County Republican party is institutionalizing failure by ignoring the roots of the Republican party. To not take a position on anything is to not win the hearts and minds of those you are trying to persuade. If the Erie county GOP had a record of success then you might have made a valid and salient point and doing the same thing over and over again no matter how you would rationalize it is failure none the less. There is a a path of proven success but the powers that be choose to ignore the obvious....With the most money that they have had in years you were barely able to squeak out a single win.
ReplyDeleteAs for the allegory between green and blue lets use something more controversial and see if the same applies.
You give $1,000 to the Republican party because the plank in their platform says they are pro-life and you are pro-life. Then the Republican party supports a pro-abortion candidate....Do you ever donate to the Republicans again? No you don't because they don't hold your beliefs. While the Registered Republican base is shrinking it only takes a short survey of Independents that were once Republican to tell you why they are no longer Republican....They don't know what you stand for and they don't see you being effective or involved in politics because not taking a stand on any issue makes you so tolerant and politically correct no one knows who you are anymore.
Oh and I think your example is an example of exactly what happened to Mike Pisarsky as he was a good candidate that got no support.