There is a worrisome but increasingly common trend in Republican meetings towards verbal confrontation, with an obvious goal of eventual physical confrontation. It originates from a small but determined group of activists who want to take over the party and targets the majority of us who are in politics for a combination of policy and political objectives.
Because the minority is focused almost entirely on attacking other Republicans, they will remain in the minority, and unwelcomed by most Republicans, who volunteered their time and treasure to do battle with Democrats, not other Republicans. This angry minority does not distinguish between Democrats and most Republicans and will even publicly claim that there is little to no difference between them, but because the party structure is run by majority rule, the angry minority has a numbers problem. They refuse to appeal to a majority but cannot achieve their outcomes whilst a minority.
Their solution has been to be provocative, disruptive, angry, offensive, and to turn Republican meetings into physical and spiritual battlegrounds filled with negativity, anger, and disruption. Their goal is to win the numbers game by driving away enough good people that their smaller numbers can become the majority of what is left, once they have achieved their goals.
I can understand why a great many Republicans would simply quit or walk away from participating in a cause that is motivated by public service, love of country or state, passion for issues like life or family or school choice or constitutional rights, or a passionate belief that the Republican Party is necessary to save our country from the anarchy of the left. If you are going to take time away from your family or from other worthy causes, why would you do so if your reward was to be bombarded by anarchists from the right? Nevertheless, I would urge every Republican to stay involved, to push through the ugliness, to make each extra effort to not miss a meeting or skip a meeting, and to defend what is good and right through your presence, your actions, and your vote when needed.
The overwhelming majority of Republicans understand that Democrats are our opponent. Socialism, which dominates today’s Democratic Party, is our enemy. And the war that the left is waging on our country will be won or lost on political battlefields, decided by voters who will be presented with two different future visions for our country. Our party used to search for happy warriors who could build coalitions and rally Americans to the fight, often awakening and engaging people who were previously ambivalent about politics or political issues. We must continue this search and elevate these sorts of leaders. If the country only gets to choose between left-wing anarchy that disguises itself as peaceful and loving, and right-wing anarchy that proudly displays its anger, then the country will be left with terrible options and compound its problems by choosing the worse of the two.
To be clear, none of this is to suggest that the Republican Party should not be undergoing regular cycles of self-examination and holding accountable those who abuse or ignore our party’s platform and values. Every two years, each legislative district, each county, and the state party itself, will host leadership elections that are traditionally robust, can get more than a little personal, and are the source of friction and stress within the party. But these are still necessary and generally healthy stresses that provide accountability for those in charge, and a fair opportunity for each participating Republican to vote for change or a continuation of whatever direction that district or county is going.
Similarly, our elected officials must appear on party primary ballots, and I favor a primary season that is especially robust for those who enjoy the benefits of their Republican affiliation but fail to demonstrate real allegiance to our values. I love primaries, and I’ve probably retired more RINOs than any GOP activist in Arizona. I was gifted a RINO Hunter On Board license plate frame for my car and once addressed a national Arizona Republican Assemblies convention on how to defeat liberal Republicans. For my presentation, their printed materials titled me RINO Hunter Extraordinaire. So, anyone who doesn’t know my history but wants to assume that I’m some establishment squish for suggesting there is a season for all things now knows better.
But that is exactly my suggestion for those who are angry or frustrated… There is a season for it, and that season does not run 24 months out of 24 months, nor can it, without consuming the entire party and forfeiting the battlefield and our state/country to the Democrats.
If you do the math, you’ll realize we Republicans spend the majority of the 24-month cycle fighting with our fellow Republicans. Over two months on party elections and twelve to sixteen months on primary elections, and you’re talking 14-18 months of infighting. If that’s not enough for you, and you feel the need to fight for all 24 months, then recognize that you are making things worse, not better, and you are a disproportionally large part of why we’re losing races we should be winning. You can’t be a team if you’re fighting yourselves 100% of the time, and you’ll never put together a governing majority and attract most of a state to your cause if you don’t force yourself to learn how to co-exist and get things done with people you don’t agree with or sometimes don’t even like.
Republicans who spend all their time waging war on Republicans are too often consumed with anger and have little interest in winning. Too many believe the fight is rigged in any case and have resigned themselves to defeat, which is why they fight with the recklessness of someone on a suicide mission who doesn’t care who else gets hurt or how badly, because they figure they’re going to die anyway, so why concern themselves with casualties?
Save those you can, pray with and for those you can, and wrap an arm around those that will allow it. But recognize that our nation and our liberties are at stake and there is no place to retreat to. Defend your values, your liberty, your clubs, your party, your platform, and the like-minded good people who sit next to you at these meetings. They may only agree with you 80% or 90% of the time on issues or candidates, but you all agree on defeating socialism and saving America from anarchy, be it from the left or the right.
In time, the disrupters will fail and fade away, and our party will grow stronger. But only if we stand fast in the meantime and refuse to be bullied or run off.
Constantin Querard is the Founder of Grassroots Partners, LLC and is regarded as one of Arizona’s winningest conservative political consultants.