Cannibal Republicans?

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” — Booker T. Washington

While scrolling through Facebook recently, I came across the following comment left on a young voter’s page by an elected Republican official:

Sorry, you have lost your mind. I don’t necessarily always like how the President acts, but your vote just might have put a nail in the coffin of the United States! The Democrats are Socialists and Anarchists pure and simple. Your children will be paying for your decision for the rest of their lives, not to mention no longer live in a free country!

I know this man and was surprised at those caustic, judgmental words left in a public forum. In my early days in politics, I respected and looked to him as an example of civility in what can be a cesspool world. In fact, in 2006 I wrote on my blog, “He presents a calming, steadying influence with the wisdom of one who has been involved in politics and understands the diplomacy involved when working both sides of the aisle. Again we have a moral, conservative man who is interested in the interests of the people.”

So what would cause him to have such an overreaction to the comment the young voter wrote on his own FB page?

I am a 40-year-old white guy, former life long Republican, former Trump campaign staffer, and a former Republican politico. But today, I proudly voted for Biden/Harris … and every Democrat on my ballot for the first time!

It’s difficult to understand why an elected official felt a need to make that public statement especially since Young Voter is not under Mr. Elected’s jurisdiction. A vote had already been placed; there was no chance of changing his mind. So why alienate him further?

This is strictly my opinion: No public official should be excoriating a voter for the way he marked his ballot (and most especially should not be doing so publicly). Instead, Mr. Elected would be better served trying to understand what made someone, who was once so deeply invested in the same political camp, reach the point where he felt compelled to vote a straight Democratic ticket. Remember … Young Voter noted in his post that he had worked the Trump campaign in 2016.

Psst: There are other Republicans voting the same way.

Republicans aren’t listening to the constituents on their own side of the aisle, the ones who don’t walk lock-step with the tribe. In fact, there is a pattern of — well, let’s call it what it is — bullying and humiliating those who stray from the path — the “my way or the highway” mentality. That, in my opinion, is just one reason why the GOP is losing in Virginia and elsewhere.

Voting is a sacred right in America. Whether you vote for the R, the D, or write in the man in the moon, it’s your decision, and yours alone. To read where Mr. Elected said to Young Voter that he was sorry Young Voter had “lost his mind,” because he didn’t vote for the candidate(s) that the elected official supported, was a surprise.

With his comments, Mr. Elected made it perfectly clear where he stood with the members of the community that he serves: Republicans good, Democrats bad. He actually called Democrats “Socialists and Anarchists.” Imagine how it must feel for a Democrat to go to Mr. Elected about an issue after reading his tirade and knowing what he thinks of them. It was, after all, a broad brush that was used in that comment in a public venue, not to mention that Mr. Elected works for the constituents whose taxes pay his salary.

One of the things I learned while in local GOP leadership from my Republican House of Delegates member was that once elected, public officials represent everyone, not just their own tribe. It was a lesson I never forgot.

It’s okay for Americans to change their minds in a democracy. Young Voter had watched the Republican Party do a 180-degree turn the past five years as the once-cherished values and principles the party always professed to believe were exchanged for promises of supreme court judges, a bull stock market, and power.

For some, receiving the wanted perks apparently trumped everything else … even to the point of publicly scolding a voter for his ballot choice. We’re treading in some interestingly changing territory as the GOP tent continues to shrink.

Election day is November 3. Vote your conscience, not someone else’s. Don’t be intimidated. Just vote.