The election results are in and certified. A good Republican friend of mine shot me a note asking,”Have you written on a Republican strategy to get more public acceptance of Republicans?” My answer was I hadn’t, but in the wake of such a tepid Republican ripple, I was definitely planning on it.
Republican Means Different Things to Different People
The challenge of course is that not all Republicans agree about Republican means. Let me explain. Last year, in the wake of the election, January 6th, and the ensuing impeachment, I took a call to the local Republican Party. A very nice lady asked if the Republican Party was committed to recruiting candidates who were “actually Republicans.” I said the party was definitely recruiting good Republicans, and asked what she believed an actual Republican was.
Her response, “They have to believe the election was stolen.” I asked if there were any other issues that mattered, and she said nope.
What’s a RINO?
Another example of disagreement over what Republican means is the widespread use of the acronym RINO. It stands for “Republican in name only.”
This acronym was useful in identifying Republicans who voted with Democrats and embraced more Democrat party principles than they did with Republicans.
Now we use it to attack any Republican with whom we disagree. For example, Adam Kinzinger had an A liberty score from conservative review when he voted to impeach Donald Trump. Elise Stefanik had an F. Trump supporters and other conservatives called Kinzinger a RINO ever since he defeated Don Manzullo to win the Republican nomination for Congressman from the 16th Illinois District. The same people have praised or remained silent on Stefanik’s terrible conservative record.
Another example is the treatment of Richard Irvin in the primary this year. Irvin had pulled Democrat primary ballots. That made him a RINO, or even a Democrat. What we weren’t told was that Irvin served multiple times as a Republican precinct committeeman, campaigning for Republican candidates in Kane County.
Darren Bailey voted to increase property taxes. He voted to increase gas taxes. He implied that women who have abortions are Nazis. There was at the very least silence from Irvin’s critics on any of these points about Bailey.
Blame Game Gets Us Nowhere Fast
The line is arbitrary. Some Republicans would rather demand ideological purity, or at least silence about their ideology. Disagreement is anathema. Even talking about disagreement is intolerable. Everyone else is the problem. And if you disagree that makes you a…RINO.
From what I can tell, there hasn’t been much guidance from Republican leadership, or our gubernatorial standard bearer, Senator Bailey. Listen to his concession. There was no indication of where the buck stops. Visit his campaign page and watch his video from Saturday November 19th. Not only does he not accept any responsibility for losing, he blames… RINOS. He doesn’t use the word. But he strongly suggests that he would have won if some of the “old” Republican leaders are replaced with “new” Republican leaders.
What Can We Do?
Senator Bailey is a good man. He is a public servant who is faithful to upholding our Constitution, and believes that families know better what’s best for them than elite government bureaucrat administrators.
But demanding ideological purity in the Republican Party is not what Lincoln did. This is not what Theodore Roosevelt did. It is not what Eisenhower did. It’s not what Reagan did. This is not even what Trump did in 2016.
When we unite to win elections, we prevail. When we’re divided, we lose.
The hard truth is this: Illinois Republicans are divided. And if we do not figure out how to work together, and win together, we’re going to lose alone.
I’ll be adding weekly updates on this topic through the holidays. Stay tuned.
