Sunday, September 6, 2015

Cults & Dictatorships


In recent years, I have witnessed the inception and growth of various conservative
political groups. 

These groups were born out of passion. They were born out of the American people’s disappointment with politicians repeatedly saying one thing while running for office and then governing in a completely different fashion once elected. They were born out of an intense concern for our current state as a nation and the sense that enough is enough.

I fully understand and empathize with all those reasons and feelings! And I also believe these groups have an important and necessary role in keeping our elected officials accountable while raising up new conservative voices to run for political office.

However, I am deeply saddened when I see the good intentions of groups such as the Tea Party hampered by some in the local leadership who oppose strong conservative elected officials and candidates who do not perfectly align with the public stances of the party leadership. And in some cases, their opposition is beyond disconcerting.

Take the last race for Speaker of the Texas House. There were a number of very good, strong and principled elected officials who cast their vote for and endorsed the candidate that many, if not all, of the local Tea Party groups opposed. Personally, I am not a fan of Speaker Joe Straus, and I understand the reasoning held by some conservative groups who wished to oust him as Speaker. However, I also do not believe Scott Turner was a good candidate for the position, and there wasn’t a viable third option. But because of the local Tea Party’s unwillingness to stand behind a candidate they didn’t agree with 100%, it led to unnecessary drama surrounding the race.

This was especially evident in the case of Rep. Giovanni Capriglione:
  • Rep. Capriglione had a 94.4 score on the Fiscal Responsibility index from Empower Texans (2013).
  • He had a 100% on CWA’s 83rd legislative session score card.
  • He also scored 100% on the Young Conservatives of Texas House Budget score card for 2015.
  • Texas Right to Life also scored him at 100% for 2015.
  • He won "Courageous Conservative" award from Texas Conservative Coalition (2013)
  • 95% rating from Texas Eagle Forum (2013)
  • "Fighter for Free Enterprise" from Texas Association of Business (2013)
  • This past session he passed conservative legislation such as: Ethics Reform, Gold Bill, Stopping 10 fingerprint scans by DPS, allowing the use of CHL wherever DL's are used.
  • ...you get the point.
Needless to say, Rep. Capriglione is a strong and consistent conservative vote in Austin, and as one of his constituents, I know I can confidently count on him to represent me. But despite his outstanding record and consistent conservative stances, he was immediately demonized by his local Tea Party leadership when it came out that he was voting for Straus for Speaker. I was completely unprepared for and shocked by the level of vitriol spewed at Rep. Capriglione. He was vilified as a turncoat, a traitor, and even worse.

Why on earth was there such a visceral backlash? Not only is it disappointing, it is also self destructive for the future of the party. We need to all heed the advice of Ronald Reagan who once said, “My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy.” -my own paraphrase 

I admit that I was initially a Turner supporter. Because of that, I asked to speak with my representative in Austin to discuss his vote for Straus. Without hesitation, Rep. Capriglione immediately agreed to meet with me over coffee. When I broached the subject of the Speaker’s race, he sat back in his seat and said I was the first person to allow him the opportunity to discuss and defend his vote.

Needless to say, his response took me aback quite a bit considering the immense amount of character assassination I had seen take place on social media at that point. It upset me that not a single one of the leaders sending out their attack dogs on Rep. Capriglione had even once had the tact to sit down and discuss the vote before attempting to lynch him in their meetings and via social media. 

Zero. Zilch. Nada. No one had bothered to act with class and dignity. 

In the end, here is my point: The demand for complete submission and acquiescence of personal conscience in legislative decisions, thereby leaving no room for honest disagreements, smacks of dangerous precedents set in organizational structures antithetical to the American principles of freedom. In fact, this type of behavior is far more in keeping with two other types of organizations—cults and dictatorships.

I am still a strong supporter of Tea Party principles on paper. I, however, am no longer  able to support groups whose leaders are starting to resemble the tyrannical and manipulative government structure they were set up to oppose. I urge you, my fellow conservatives, to challenge any organization or leader demanding this type of compliance in order to maintain relationship or support.