THOMAS: How Do We Move Forward?
“Honest differences of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy making among free men.” – Herbert Hoover
Looking at the inter-party war, which has plagued Virginia Republicans for the past few years and caused electoral defeat, after defeat, one can only wonder: how do we move forward? Can the various factions that make up our big tent party put aside differences to achieve a common goal – enacting positive change for our community? Or will we doom ourselves, fading into distant memory as a party that tore itself apart because we couldn’t move past labels like Tea Party and Establishment?
Speaking as an activist who falls into the Young Republican age group, I can tell you with great certainty, our generation has a deep care for the issues. Too many our age are graduating college bogged down with too much debt from student loans, only to find out that the American Dream our parents promised us growing up, is quickly fading to a nightmare where they’re stuck living at home, underemployed if they’re lucky. You want to know the kicker for us Young Republicans? The reason the American Dream we were promised is fading, is because our parents generation can’t get past: who slated who, who slated who back in retaliation, who beat who for a nomination, and the list goes on. The fighting is keeping our Party from winning and effecting change through Conservative governing, and it’s killing any opportunity for the next generation to succeed.
I was fortunate to be around politics from an early age and had the desire to be active in the political process instilled in me. I can tell you now, the Republican Party we are seeing today is nowhere near the party I witnessed first hand growing up. I experienced the Allen Revolution through my father, Mike Thomas, who managed his gubernatorial campaign.
Looking back on that nomination contest, two things stand out. First, there were several policy differences between George Allen and his opponents (primarily Businessman Earle Williams who had a long history of donating to Democrat candidates and had backed some tax increases). And second, there were different factions working for their respective candidates to win the nomination and influence the direction of the party. The difference between that contest and the ones we’ve seen recently is that though these differences and party dynamics were in play, there was a sincere respect for the competition.
Our nominating contests used to be an exchange of ideas. That exchange was in good faith, and was aimed at moving the conversation forward, so we could continue to explore new, fresh ideas and so we could hone our platform as a party. We were better as a party for it, and that type of interaction allowed George Allen to leave that convention hall with an army consisting of thousands of volunteers, all enthusiastically carrying our Conservative platform out to the Commonwealth.
My friends, as this article is titled, the question we must ask ourselves is; where do we go from here? The question doesn’t have an easy answer, but it would be prudent to learn from those that came before us and left a pretty simple roadmap. We must get relationships back into our party politics. We will fail if we do not. We must learn to accept that there are differences of opinion. This by no means dictates that you accept the other point of view, but you must respect the individual. Just like you, they too felt a love for our country strong enough to get involved, and that is too valuable a resource for our party to be thrown away.
We must also stop with the name-calling. It doesn’t matter what side of the party you’re from, if you hurl insults at others who disagree with you, you are directly contributing to the disunity of our party. Make your point in a manner which highlights why you believe what you believe or disagree with what you disagree, but leave the individual out of it.
The Young Republican generation is craving for true Conservative leadership that will dig us out of our hole, and restore the American Dream so we can finally experience it! We must be a party that stands boldly in contrast with the Democratic Party. We must be the party of lower taxes, increased opportunity, civil rights, free markets, and increased personal liberty. With that platform, there I no end to the amount of opportunity we can create for every American. But if we continue to fight each other instead of the Democrats, then the American Dream will forever be lost.
Alec Thomas is lifelong Republican who has worked on several GOP campaigns. He earned his M.A. in Public Policy at Liberty University and currently resides in Chesterfield County.
