On Candidate Loyalty

[Kamaji]

On Candidate Loyalty

By Brandon Morse
August 04, 2023

It’s that time.

Primary season is a particularly rough patch for the GOP and it’s easy to understand why. The Republican Party is comprised of individualists, which is in stark contrast to the Democrat Party which is more hive-minded. Not to say the GOP doesn’t have collectivist tendencies. This is politics, after all.

It’s that individualism that naturally drives Republicans to fervently defend their own ideas about any given subject. Usually, with the Democrats presenting the primary threat at any given time, Republicans tend to keep their cannons aimed at the ship to their left. However, it’s primary season, and those cannons are now pointed at each other.

You might be surprised to hear me say that I don’t consider this a bad thing. I think part of the Republican Party’s strength is that it promotes intellectual rigor through debate. Internal debate is something the left often lacks, resulting in the inability to think for oneself too often and becoming subject to easily disprovable narratives.

But the strength that individualism gives the Republican Party can also be its Achilles heel. While we might be more prone to debate and critical thinking, we’re still human, and we react in human ways when the debate gets heated.

And it always gets really, really heated.

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It’s not. In fact, it should be noted that I personally haven’t chosen a candidate yet. Between Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and even Vivek Ramaswamy, this season’s crop is coming in bountiful and we’re spoiled for choice.

And I like having a choice. At this point, I’m not committed to any one candidate because it feels like a roll of the dice this far out from the primary. At any one point, some piece of vital information or an election-changing event could happen that wholly alters the Republican landscape. Moreover, I want to see how they deal with the national stage and each other when in close proximity. I want to know who has the chops to come out on top in a field with some really hardcore contenders.

I find no benefit in making myself loyal to a singular candidate at this point.

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Source:  https://redstate.com/brandon_morse/2023/08/04/on-candidate-loyalty-n787559