By Rob Chase, Spokane County Treasurer Elect and PCO
It is no secret there are two factions vying for control of the Republican Party, Conservatives and Moderates, and this is true even at the local level. This battle goes back to Goldwater and Reagan vs Rockefeller and Bush. Conservatives champion the Constitution and limited government, while Moderates strive for bi-partisanship, consensus, and mediocrity.
The local Moderates take their orders from Bellevue and are trying to
shut down the grassroots of freedom in Spokane County because they
believe the GOP should be directed from the top down, rather than from the grassroots. In 2012 they will try to shove Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich down our throats just as they did with John McCain in 2008 (Global Warming – Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act, an F grade from Gun Owners of America
http://gunowners.org/mccaintb.htm
, and traitor to over 600 POW’s left
behind in Vietnam
http://amconmag.com/article/2010/jul/01/00010/
),
and more recently, the tepid Senatorial Candidate Dino Rossi.
But the Moderates are in trouble in Spokane County. You always know they are in trouble when they start preaching about unity (on their terms). These are the same people who preached unity after the McCain
Campaign /King County GOPled walkout at the 2008 GOP Convention in
Spokane
. These are the same people who preached unity before losing in their bid to take over the Spokane Valley Republican Action Club, and then walked out again, forming their own club – Republicans of Spokane County, but refused to put the word “Club” after their name so their press releases would be confused with the legitimate, duly elected Spokane County Party.
I will be supporting Cindy Zapotocky for Chair again at the Spokane County Republican Party Re-Organization meeting on Saturday, December 11th.
Zapotocky
Cindy has been a steadfast champion of freedom values reflected in our
Spokane County Republican Party Platform
http://spokanegop.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=94
. She walks the talk and has put more time and money into getting
Republicans elected to office than anyone in the County. She personally donated the maximum to both Leonard Christian and myself in our Campaigns, and was a major factor in my victory to become Spokane County Treasurer.
Cindy has been criticized for bruising some people’s feelings, but when you take principled stands you make enemies. I have had my disagreements with Cindy too, but only because our mutual passion for liberty led to different strategies.
Many of us have worked very hard these last three years to make freedom a reality in our Country again, and we have had success, especially in Spokane County because of people like Cindy Zapotocky.
The Spokane County GOP and the Spokane Valley Republican Action Club endorsed and funded both myself and Leonard Christian in our respective races, but the Republicans of Spokane County did not do the same for my Campaign (this is unity?). They still say that I am not a Republican, even though I have spent more time and money working for Republican candidates than any Moderates I know of.
When the Moderates preach unity they actually mean total surrender because they have zero tolerance for anyone who puts principle before party. The Moderates have labeled us as outsiders who are trying to take over the GOP, and they are partly correct. Many of us left the GOP over the years because they had become almost indistinguishable from the Democrat Party. By the same token, the Moderates have tried to co-opt the TEA Party movement, but the TEA Party frame of mind needs to co-opt the Republican Party, and make it an effective force for freedom in our Country - before it is too late.
As I have said previously, if you stand for principles you are going to make unprincipled enemies. If you stand for freedom you are going to make enemies of those who oppose freedom.
Rob Chase, I guess he sounds okay.
Although I guess he is technically correct when he says that the two factions vying for control of the Republican Party are “Conservatives and Moderates,” I would characterize them more as Grassroots Conservatives and Establishment progressives.
Moderate still sounds halfway positive with some. Thanks to Hillary Clinton and Glenn Beck we have gotten back to the term they used at the turn of the 20th century before progressive got a bad name and they changed to calling themselves liberal. The Left likes to change their name every generation or so and now they are back to about where they began in America.
I like my terms to stress how the Republican Left is the wing of the party that is resistant to change and government reform.
Someday Moderate will seem like a bad word. But I don’t think we are there yet. Too many still see “extreme” as a bad term and see “moderate” as a counter to that. Moderate still kind of gives the sense of being even-tempered. I still think too many consider Moderate good. So why call them that. Especially when in my experience I don’t see too much “moderation” in their behavior. It is always EXTREME. Extreme in its betrayal of the Republican party, extreme in its hatred of conservatives, and extreme in its opportunism, putting personal political fortunes above what is right and just.
I would also use the term Republican Left along with the term Progressive Republican.
Yeah, it is all a little name game but use of language is often the deciding factor in how people perceive a situation.
By the way, although I still think moderate still sounds positive to most people, here’s my favorite quote from Goldwater:
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue! ”
And of course from the Bible…
Revelation 3:15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!