The RLC is comprised of members who are part of the Republican Party. It is not a separate party. We are members of both and see no issue with being members of both.
Now, let me reference two items which will demonstrate for you just how “different” the RLC and GOP are.
The RLC of Northeast Florida has business cards that include on the card’s back a faded background of the Constitution, with their core principles overlaid:
“Limited Constitutional Government
Free Markets
Strong National Defense
Individual Rights
Lower Taxes
2nd Amendment Rights”
The Republican Party of Duval County voted at the July 19th Republican Executive Committee meeting to adopt the following “Set of Principles” as their platform:
The Republican Party of Duval County believes that every American is endowed with the inherent rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We believe that our nation must remain anchored by those key principles while developing new and innovative solutions to meet the challenges of the times in which we live.
At our core, Republicans stand for:
* Small, Limited Government
* Upholding the Constitution and Bill of Rights
* Lower Taxes and Less Regulation
* Protecting the American Family
* A Strong National Defense
* Legal ImmigrationREPUBLICANS … fight for the rights of all people, reguardless of race, religion, or gender. We believe in true equality of opportunity, with no government guarantees of success or failure.
REPUBLICANS… recognize that small businesses are the cornerstone of American innovation. Tired, big government programs will not lead us to sustainable prosperity, instead we must lower taxes and reduce government interference in the marketplace.
REPUBLICANS… know that the free market must be at the heart of any real health care reform, and that true educational excellence can only be achieved when parents have the freedom to make real choices for their children.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY…believes in Ronald Reagan’s vision of America as a shining city on the hill, “a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with a free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”
On the page where these issues are listed, you’ll see a picture of the Constitution — very similar to the one used on the RLC cards. It’s also worth noting that “Legal Immigration” was only added to calm members who actually wanted to bastardize Reagan’s quote; it was not originally included.
So. How about those vast differences? Pretty irreconcilable, right? They both believe in small, limited government; upholding the Constitution and Bill of Rights; lower taxes; free markets; and strong national defense.
I will note that “Protecting the American Family” is impossible to define as it means various things to various people, though I’ve heard from many RLC members lamentations regarding the lack of family in today’s culture (which extends through to a lack of community as well; we’ve been bred to be members of a national collective, not members of communities or even of our own families). Also, “Legal Immigration” isn’t an issue to a good number of Republicans – whether in the RLC or not – as they recognize that the problem is created by the welfare state and income tax system, the abolition of which would remove the key reasons behind illegal immigration and the problems they solve. We as Republicans are not intolerant; we simply do not like our system being drained of resources by people who do not pay equally into them. Even though these two ideas are not listed on the RLC’s list (and I remind you that the last was not originally included in the RPODC “platform”), they are still very important to RLC members.
I this shows how little real difference there is between what the RLC believes and the professed beliefs of the rest of the GOP, at the very least at the local level. Are there some differences? Of course! Why would there not be? I’ve had differences with other RLC members, some very interesting and involved debates. However, as part of a free society, we value free thinking and criticism, as it encourages us to continually examine our own principles, so that we may assure ourselves that we are indeed still on the right path.
I’d like to share a personal story. Some of you are aware that I am on the RLCNEF executive board (though I will note that I do not officially speak in that capacity here). I was first invited to that board when I wrote an email to Will Pitts during his time as Chairman of the RLCNEF to note my strong disagreement with one of his positions and my criticism of how that position was being handled. Will didn’t ignore me, and didn’t tell me I needed to think a certain way. Instead he welcomed the criticism and the disagreement and invited me to join the leadership.
As a contrast, on Tuesday I witnessed someone telling a large group of individuals that we need to follow blindly an ever-shifting platform and “get in line” regardless of our own beliefs. No room for free thought, no room for even the slightest dissent.
On the other hand, Rick Hartley, State Committeeman for the RPODC, said to the same crowd that as Republicans we do indeed think for ourselves, and we will always have differences because of that, and the only people who just follow the leader and don’t think for themselves are Democrats.
We are all Republicans. We have some differing ideas on issues, yes. We always will. You will find varying ideas within the officers of the RPODC. This is not something that should be used – by anyone – to try to drive people out of the party, especially at a time when we’ve been losing members and slipping further backward in Congress. Instead, we should focus on the areas we agree, and work together in order to return the Republican Party to the power it enjoyed in the wake of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.
If you want Democrats to win, and win further, then by all means you should continue trying to kick Republicans out of the Republican Party because they happen to have their own minds. If you want the Republican Party to win and to oust the Democrats from power, then band together with your fellow Republicans, and get out there and work to bring officials into power who at least will fit 70% of our personal beliefs.
This note is not directed at any particular group of individuals over another; rather, it is directed at everyone in the Republican Party (including RLC members), from the top to the bottom.
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