Lubbock Left

After the Republican implosion of NY-23, GOP leaders have been trying to figure out how to prevent such a historic loss from happening again.

From the “we don’t learn lessons from history” camp, RNC member Jim Bopp recently proposed a purity test for Republican candidates, which, incidentally, Republican icons like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush would fail. The whole point of the NY-23 loss is that what works for candidates in one part of the country will not always work for a candidate of the same party in another part of the country.

The Texas GOP has the same purity problem. Their new statewide Chair is Cathie Adams of Eagle Forum infamy. By virtue of her prior inflammatory remarks, the new Texas GOP Chair is anti-inclusion.

This purity crap is happening at the local level as well. Check out Chris Winn’s special Message from the Chairman found on the Lubbock GOP website (with my emphasis):

Message from the Chairman…..

The Republican Primary Election is March 2, 2010, and we are poised to begin the process of taking our country back from the Obama Administration that

continues to push a radical tax and spend agenda, government run health care,

cap & trade, bailouts, takeover of private business, so-called stimulus spending, the Omnibus bill, and liberal social values. So far, the effort of the Pelosi/Reid Congress to increase jobs in America has resulted in growing Government jobs and more and more layoffs and cut-backs in private business. They will promote card check in order to unionize corporations in spite of the desires of workers.*** They want to increase entitlements, creating dependency on big government.

Now is the time to challenge Democrats and liberal Republicans at every level of government. Now is the time for you to decide to get involved and take an active part in the process. Now is the time to file for office in the Republican Party – the Party of leadership for 2010! I invite you to join me in the fight to take back our country!

The Lubbock County Republican Party encourages participation in the election process by anyone who wishes to run for elective office. The more candidates who file, the better it is for our Party. We want to provide choices to voters at every level from the top to the bottom of the ticket. If you are wondering if you should run for office, please contact me. I would be interested in discussing with you the opportunity to serve.

Chris Winn, Chairman
Lubbock County Republican Party

Leadership, my foot! Do you see the contradiction that Winn advocates? He is essentially saying that the Lubbock GOP welcomes anyone, but certain people — among them certain groups of self-identifying Republicans — need not apply. Moderate Republicans and Libertarians (who probably have “liberal social values”) are not welcomed by his special message.

I get the feeling that this purity stuff will continue in the Republican Party for several more elections, maybe even a whole 4-year cycle. As long as the GOP has this focus on purity, they will continue to whittle themselves down toward a permanent, shrinking minority.

*** — Not worth a whole post, but the Winn/GOP distortion of the Employee Free Choice Act is particularly galling because they literally try to tell us that it means the opposite of what it means. EFCA would create a new petition-based method for unionizing a workplace — a method that might work in environments where unionization is prevented by the employing company — without taking away any methods for unionization that already exist. EFCA would add rights rather than take them away.