Isn’t this always the way, North versus South, Dog versus Cat, Republican versus Democrat. It’s easy to see how conflict can unfold from such differing types. The important thing has got to be how to have a difference of opinion and yet remain unwilling to destroy those that would think opposite of you. Isn’t this what we have learned over the centuries of independence and freedom?
Turn your focus to our Grand Old Party, over time we seem to have found ourselves at yet another cross roads where we need to decide how we wish to define ourselves. We brand ourselves the party of family values, fiscal restraint and conservative stewardship but then the same old conflict will arise and some of us will not be conservative enough, or agree that family values just may need to be re-examined to become more inclusive of the younger generational views.
I have an idea, instead of having an “all in or all out” mentality, how about being more accepting of the reality that we are all different but support the general core traits that make us republican or maybe just maybe we need to be more accepting of each others goals and agendas and remember why the party system was created. I don’t think it matters what party you are with, if your presence and goals are in conflict with an others, there is an automatic reaction to line up supporters and work to discredit the other. This is a normal activity for opposing parties, but when it continues to the environment that your political party operates in, with each other, it is headed to destruction.
I do not consider myself a political pundit, or even well read on every political issue out there, but along with being a Republican Committeewoman for ten years and working for a living, I have raised four children and I do consider myself well versed on how to get along and to work with opposing personalities. So to my local party, before I toss in the towel and register independent, maybe these simple household rules (with some modification) could be useful in getting our party back on track.
1. The only person who is the “boss” of us is the voters we represent. (Remember them? The people who have the same values we represent.)
2. We don’t quit. (my children have heard this in the form of – family is like herpes, we are forever.) Then again, for the case of politics this might work too.
3. A team can only succeed when we all work together. The main goal has got to be to win elections, regardless if the candidate was our first choice or not. You cannot succeed when you take your ball and go home because you don’t like the people playing the game, be committed to success.
4. Communicate. Have faith in the system and make sure you have the right leader in place, one that will be willing to hear all sides and open to finding a common ground.
5. Stop finding something to be mad at. If you want drama, join the local theater club. Walking around, creating dissension or creating an environment that does not encourage open discourse should not be accepted by the rank and file. In this case the squeaky wheel should never get the grease!
6. If you don’t like what's being served, find another restaurant. In other words, take your bitterness and anger and take it outside of the party, keeping it alive and nurturing this type of emotion will only bring destruction of the party quicker.
The voters that I have spoken to want to be communicated with not talked at, and I don’t mean by a robo call. They want to hear why they should elect a candidate. They want to hear why one candidate is a better choice over another. I remember a time when my committee person would send a letter to the people in their district and let them know who was running, for what position and why. A direct and simple communication reminded us that it was time to get out and vote and back in the day we looked to our committee members to share information about the candidates.
With the advent of Social Media, the avenues of communication change as quickly as the stories about the specific candidates. Looking to the future is important, but maybe to get back on track we need to think a little old school at the same time.
Montgomery County Republicans, we have a leader, we elected him and we owe the party our continued support. Lets take this time to figure out how to make sure that we stop doing the same thing over and over again, because that is surely not working and use what works and fix the rest. Follow the rules of good government, good citizenship and for goodness sake, good manners.
I for one do not believe as Bruce Castor stated in the Intelligencer “Losing every single office… tells me Montgomery County has completely turned and the hope of recovery is slight.” I believe that there is always an opportunity to prevail, especially when we take the time to communicate, work together and get our voters out on election day.
Its time to look to the leadership we chose and ask them to lead. What do you think?
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