A day that we thought would never come is now less than a week away. The Sixth District Republican Convention has been a long time coming. There has been so much scandal, corruption, and collusion surrounding this convention that it’s been a nightmare to navigate all the drama.
But here is the truth: The Sixth District Convention comes down to a decision. A decision between two very different ideologies that can shape the course of the Republican Party for years to come.
One view is that of the Sayre/Dunbar camp. Their view is of old, the view that the Republican Party should be governed solely to gain power for their chosen religious ideology. Their view believes that the Republican Party exists to legislate all issues in accordance to their narrow-minded views of government.
Then there is the view of the rest of the candidates in this convention. Ben Cline and Chaz Heywood represent executional excellence in public service. Elliott Pope, Mike Desjadon, and Kathryn Lewis represent the youthful vitality of conservatism. Dr. Wright and Ed Justo represent a rare form of honesty that is rarely ever seen in the body politic of the Republican Party of Virginia.
That is the choice that you have, 6th District Republicans. Do you want to break the surly bonds of the tired politics of the past? Do you want to talk about the freedom to live your life as you choose? You have that chance!
That is the decision that we have before us. When it comes to the Sayre/Dunbar camp, to steal a line from President Obama: Scott and Cynthia, the 1980s called and they want their politics back!
The Sayre/Dunbar campaign represents a regression of all of the advancements to the body politic of the Republican Party for the past 10 years. The progress the Republican Party has made will be thrown away with the advancement of these Moral Majority/1980s social conservative far right wing tactics.
We as Sixth District Republicans should reject the extremism of the Sayre/Dunbar team. Chairman Scott Sayre himself represents a tired, top-down approach to how to run a political operation. That man never makes a decision without considering himself first and then others second.
We need a Sixth District Chairman who thinks of how to benefit the district as a whole, not just his own political ego. Be it his failed attempt for the fundraiser speaker, or putting his chosen congressional candidate on his payroll, Scott Sayre represents a failed ideology that the Republican Party can only win if you rule with an iron fist.
Sayre constantly has shown favoritism throughout this convention process, from trying to ham-fist a horrible plurality vote down the convention-goers’ throats, to even trying to take the media off the convention floor. Thankfully, Mr. Sayre is facing strong opposition and will hopefully no longer be Sixth District chairman for much longer.
And as for Ms. Dunbar, her candidacy is a regression of the advancement of the Republican Party, plain and simple. All of the progress that we have made on issues surrounding personal freedoms in this country would be thrown out the window. The hope that Republicans can finally live and let live on important social issues will dissipate.
Don’t believe me? She called public schools tryannical [1]. She called President Barack Obama a terrorist [2] and said he would “declare marshal law.” She has even compared the LGBT community to Nazis [3].
At 9:07 in the above video, Ms. Dunbar says of the gay rights movement, “It’s the same type of thing that was done in pre-Holocaust Germany as far as propaganda and presentation in swaying the whole mindset of a nation.”
What I have been trying to say throughout this entire post is that the Republican Party is within just inches of being what I dream of the Republican Party being: a party that is inching closer to libertarianism every day. A party that believes that government should become smaller and smaller in everyone’s life and that freedom should increase in everyone’s life. That it should not matter who we pray to or who we love — it should matter that we all stand for free-market principles and the idea that free markets lead to free people.
Make no mistake, Dunbar is the anathema to a libertarian-style approach. She wants to legislate within the narrow confines of her views on the Bible and government. She is a theocrat, the antonym of libertarianism.
Ms. Dunbar believes that faith in God is the key to governing. With all due respect, the key to governing as a conservative is freedom. The key to government is free market values.
The key to governing as a conservative is the FREEDOM OF RELIGION, not the freedom to only be Christian. It is instead the freedom to be Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Atheist, or whatever you see fit. The key to government is executional excellence and scholarly knowledge necessary to run a country.
To put it in layman’s terms, Hunter S. Thompson said it best: “Call on God, but row away from the rocks.”
I believe that Jesus died for my sins. I believe he arose on the third day and it was a miracle that the world had never seen before. I believe that there is a God who can provide all peace and understanding in every situation and that his son Jesus is there to guide us through our daily lives. I daily pray for the grace to understand.
That being said, God and government are two very different things. That is the issue that I have with Ms. Dunbar. She believes that government is institutionalized by God to only represent the believers of her God.
I reject that notion to the fullest extent. The government was instituted so that all people could have the right to live in a free society, where they could trade their time and talents for a livable wage, so that they can live a free life, so long as that person does not infringe upon the lives of the others.
I believe deep within my bones that all people — black or white, gay or straight, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, atheist, transgender, it doesn’t matter who you are — that you should have a right to live in this country and be yourself, to live in freedom, and live up to your potential with your time and talents.
I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that Cynthia Dunbar disagrees with me on this principle. Her actions and previous statements have shown that if you do not think within her worldview of what government and politics should be, you should not have a say in government.
While I’m on this subject, I must note that Ms. Dunbar reminds me of a passage of scripture that I must bring up. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told a parable:
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Cynthia Dunbar is a modern day political pharisee. She prays boastfully. She wears her religion on her sleeve. Ms. Dunbar constantly reminds that she will govern as a theocrat.
But wouldn’t it be better, instead of shoving religion down your throat, if our elected officials showed the worldview of freedom because of their belief in a higher power?
That is the real question. Are we going to choose people who talk like a Pharisee, or who live like Christ? Are we going to “love thy neighbor,” or are we going to complain because our neighbor sends his children to the “demonic” public school system? Ms. Dunbar states that she is going to judge those who send their children to public school.
I could write on and on and on about this. But the point is this: if you want a Roy Moore-esque theocrat who will throw the Republican Party backward 50 years and in the process make the Sixth District a laughing stock, by all means, vote for Cynthia Dunbar. If you want to have a poorly run top-down governance with an iron fist for a Sixth District committee, please vote for Scott Sayre.
If you want to advance the cause of freedom in Virginia and if you vote for someone of real character and integrity to represent you in Congress and in the 6th district, I encourage you to reject the Sayre/Dunbar campaign.