BY RUSSELL TURNER
SHOOTING YOUR OWN
Whenever any army goes into a military operation, it is imperative that everyone is on the same page with the same goals. If you are fighting tyranny and oppression you must have soldiers that love freedom and are willing to die for those ideals. It is also imperative that any army must have good leaders. How much sense would it make for some officer to assassinate good, talented soldiers that have excellent leadership abilities because he thinks they might threaten his position in the future? We can all agree that concept would be totally ludicrous; if this were to be the normal progression we would be going into battle without the talents and abilities that those soldiers could bring to the fight. When we take an objective look at armed combat and politics there are many similarities. When we send our soldiers into battle we are expending blood and treasure; in the political arena we are expending treasure and an ideology. We often make the mistake that just because a candidate has the same registration that they share the same values; however there is no guarantee that they share the same values.
In recent headlines the Republican State Superintendent of Schools along with some of her political consultants were charged with conspiracy and are accused of illegally colluding with a dark money group to win the election in 2014. This has become par for the course in too many of our political races. In the case of defeating fellow Republican Janet Barresi no holds were barred, and money was taken from anyone who was willing to give it. It has become a common practice for candidates who want to win at any cost to take money from various groups to destroy their opponents even though they realize that those donations will come at a cost. These groups with the deep pockets are simply making an investment and they do expect a return on that investment. Often times I have heard people complain about some of the legislation that comes out of the state capital; this is what happens when we allow slick campaign brochures and big campaign money to influence our votes. Across our state countless grassroots conservatives ran for office and were soundly defeated, they could not compete with the deep pockets. The grassroots people have held the Republican Party together when it wasn’t popular to be a Republican; most of them have a code of conduct that cannot be bought.
Concerning the charge of conspiracy, in the past the Senate Majority Fund which supports Republicans in State Senate races through independent expenditures and the Majority Fund which supports Republicans in State House races the same way have used A.H. Strategies, which is the group that worked with our current State Superintendent. Now these two groups are distancing themselves from A. H. Strategies and will no longer use their services. While their concern for fair play is touching, I just wonder how many of their members benefited from this kind of chicanery. For a long time the political class in our state has had a habit of shooting their own for the status quo. If the elite political class persists in this type of scorched earth campaigning, in the future we just might not have the grass root base that has built the Republican Party. We need to remember that conservatism is a belief system, and just because an elected official has an R by their name doesn’t make them a conservative.
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