GOP Chair is incorrect to cite race as reason for Secretary of State challenge

By FRED GLYNN
Guest Columnist

When I was in my early twenties, I heard a speech by a politician running for higher office. This gentleman had a lot of energy and spoke of ideas as opposed to grievances. I found him inspiring and wanted to learn more. I came from a long line of Irish Catholic Democrats and always thought that’s what I was supposed to be.

There was one problem: the gentleman that inspired me was a Republican.

At that point I decided to do more research. I looked at the platforms of both candidates. One spoke of ideas for preserving liberty, judging people as individuals as opposed to members of group, free enterprise, preserving a system where upward mobility can be achieved, etc.

The other candidate spoke of millionaires having too much, one race being better or worse than another as opposed to judging people as Individuals, more government intervention, etc.

Then I decided to look at both national party platforms and read a lot of the same thing. That is one of the first things that led me to break family tradition and go towards the Republican Party.

I think about what led me here a lot as I see young men and women coming into the party who are just as bright-eyed and excited as I was. These ideas and core tenets are what inspire them to give so much time and energy just like I did. These ideas and core tenets are what keep me involved despite so many ups and downs over the past 20 years.

When the other party does the opposite of these ideas and core tenets, it serves to remind us who we are. When they call for federal control, we remember that limited government matters. When they open the borders, we remember our core tenet of rule of law. When they constantly invoke race when they can’t debate on merits, we remember that we are the party that judge people as individuals as opposed to members of a group.

We always have the opposition to help remind us.

Recently I heard a podcast interview with the Hamilton County Republican Chair. In it, he blamed race for the reason Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales is being challenged in the Convention. He said this despite all the issues and scandals coming from the Secretary of State’s office over the past four years.

Invoking race in this instance because his ally was in trouble sounded a lot like what we hear from the left on a regular basis.

What happens when one of our own violates these core tenets? In the case of elected officials, we rely on the primary process to settle these disputes. What happens when a party leader violates these core tenets in an election year – when you have a party leader who invokes race into a discussion against members of his party because things aren’t going his way? What impact could this have?

Obviously, those young volunteers will not be as enthusiastic to knock on all those doors and make calls when the person asking them to volunteer doesn’t even follow the principles they were led to believe the party stood for.

What about the voters who were led to believe the party stood for these principles? Will they question the parties’ principles when they decide to go out and vote? Will they bother to show up in November, or will they just go ahead and vote for a Democrat since they know the name and the Republicans no longer represent them anyway?

This is the type of ripple effect we could face when a party leader publicly violates one of our core tenets.

Our principles matter! The core tenets of our party matter! We expect our party leaders to follow them and not publicly invoke the race card against other Republicans because things aren’t going their way.

This is not who we are as Republicans. We expect and deserve better!