The Convention Proves the GOP Is a Dying Partyby John Gray
July 19, 2016
In 1835, Senator and former Vice President John C. Calhoun gave a speech in which he commented on the public trust – the foundation of American government.
“The very essence of a free government,” he said, “consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party.”
This notion of the public trust – that is, the idea that the public chooses to place their faith in elected officials who must then uphold the honor and trust placed in them by acting faithfully and morally is what has sustained our American republic for centuries.
However, perhaps the current political convention has been coup de grace in a perpetual decline of public trust in the party of politics, both Republican and Democrat.
Our Republican Party politicians have promised us one thing, and repeatedly done another. In the Senate, the Republican Majority Leader claims to be conservative, but then sets up conservative votes to fail while excoriating conservative senators for attempting to repeal Obamacare. Our presidential candidates lie to the voters and to Congress, and face no consequences, legal or otherwise. Administration officials choose made up narrative over fact when convincing Congress to pass major foreign policy initiatives.
There are so many examples of this country’s leaders – Republican and Democrat – putting their own selfish interests ahead of the voters.
But what happened in Cleveland yesterday afternoon at the Republican National Convention may convince us that it’s not just a handful of individuals that are corrupt – but that the entire institution is rotten to the core.
Yesterday, we saw the last remaining vestiges of the Republican Party’s public trust blown apart.
At the convention, there are a number of delegates, led by Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah. (A, 100%) and Ken Cuccinelli, who are pushing for a convention rules change that would “unbind” the convention delegates. That is, a rules change which would allow the delegates to vote as they individually choose, rather than be bound to a specific candidate by the overall vote of their states.
Whether or not you believe their position is correct is not the issue. The issue is that this group of delegates used the rights and rules granted to them as convention participants to move to have a roll call vote – once in committee and once on the convention floor.
What the first night in Cleveland demonstrated is that this new Republican Party is as intolerant, power-hungry and disrespectful to conservatives as the old one was.
However, in both cases, the Republican National Committee would have none of it. In a ponderous, big-footing way, the RNC leadership quashed debate, dissent and broke their own rules to ensure that nothing they disagreed with saw the light of day, let alone debate.
Instead of allowing full debate and a roll call vote – which the RNC leadership easily would have won – the RNC chair abandoned his post – and refused to recognize the delegates to offer their motion. While absent from his post, the RNC chair was reported to be “whipping” (i.e: bullying) delegates out of supporting the voices of others in the party, like Lee/Cuccinelli.
Shockingly, RNC leadership then refused to see these delates, nor make themselves available to receive the official petition for a roll call vote. In thuggish, even Putin-like manner, they even went so far as to protect themselves with armed guards from their very own party.
Let’s be clear what was going on here. These weren’t Republicans fighting Democrats. These were Republicans fighting conservatives – conservatives who were fighting for transparency and openness.
And these weren’t just any conservatives, these were GOP acolytes, representing some of the finest minds in Republican politics. As my colleague Amanda Carpenter noted on Twitter, Senator Mike Lee is one of the Party’s best – and he was being shouted down by RNC leadership.
I shouldn’t have to tell you how twisted that is, nor what it means for the fate of the Republican party. This is not an indictment of Trump, nor Pence. This simply an anecdote to what the actual Republican Party, aside from the nominees, has become.
As conservatives, we are used to being shut out, stepped on, and shouted down by our own party. But to do so at the party convention – to do so on the public stage, in a televised power grab – is beyond the pale, and breaks all standards of political behavior, tolerance of dissent, and respect for a democratic process that allows all voices to be heard.
For those who thought the Republican party represented all voices, for those who were counting on the GOP to adhere to its legacy as the inclusive, principled party of Lincoln, you were sadly disappointed last night.
What the first night in Cleveland demonstrated is that this new Republican Party is as intolerant, power-hungry and disrespectful to conservatives as the old one was.
The public trust is broken. To repair it will require a change in party leadership from the RNC to the Congress, and a purging of the smug political elitism that reigns with the GOP. More importantly, it will require a return to the thoughtful tolerance for debate, a dedicated preference for principle, and a deep reflection on what it means to represent the trust of this American republic.
- See more at:
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/07/the-convention-proves-the-gop-is-a-dying-party#sthash.7D03TS7F.dpuf
