The Republican Party in Oregon has been fractured. It has been that way as far back as my young memory goes. Just like everything else the fractures have only grown.
Some people are specifically aimed at this fracturing, they
believe that if the GOP is split they can come in and unite the party under
their banner. These people are not aimed at unity, they are aimed at dominion.
Broadly speaking the Republican Party is split into two
camps, each made up of smaller groups and individuals. The first camp is the
activist camp. This group has a lot of energy and passion, they organize well
and get people to show up to events. They are good at making people feel like
they are doing something but they lack focus and direction outside of vague ideas
of ‘being heard’ or ‘fighting for liberty.’
The second party is the established camp. This camp lacks
the energy of the activists and rarely holds big events, preferring regular
meetings. They have experience and know how the system works and how to get
things done over a long period of time.
Currently these two camps are at odds. On both sides you
will have Trump supporters, patriots, liberty loving citizens, and people who
love our country and state. But there has been calls from the activist wing to
split off from the Republican Party.
The justification at the heart of this desire is legitimate criticisms
of the GOP. Many feel they are more concerned with trying to win by abandoning
Republican principles. That they have embraced the hateful labels foisted upon
the party by their political opponents.
It is my belief that these two wings of the party need each
other and if unified would become the party Oregon desperately needs. In order
to do that we need to reach agreements on both sides. The word compromise is
seen as a dirty word, but that is because its meaning has been corrupted
through misuse.
Too often the word compromise is used to mean you need to
compromise yourself in order to align with what one side wants to do. Instead
the true meaning of compromise is both parties reaching a win-win agreement.
The changes that need to be made to the Republican Party can
in fact be made by us, we just have to want those changes to be made. We elect
our party chairs and we create the party platform.
It reflects us, to change it we need to change ourselves.
While it is harder than it seems it is possible. The activist wing also needs
to understand that sometimes change takes time, but if your cause is right and
meaningful it will be worth the delayed gratification.
We need to stop listening to the people interested in dividing
our party in the name of being more conservative or real than someone else. We
also need to stop selecting people to lead us and create our platform who have
been doing so for the last decade or more. We need to be willing to take risks,
suffer the slings and arrows, and hit back when unjustly maligned.
It will be dirty, it will be painful, and it will carry real
risks of failure, but we are the party of Lincoln, the party of Reagan, and the
party of Trump. We have suffered before and produced something beautiful, and
now our country has come knocking again. She needs our help, the question is
are we simple mercenaries that demands payment for our service or are we
patriots who will instead ask what we can do for our country.
Let us unite, because united we stand, divided we fall.
