Political Futility

A couple of seemingly auspicious articles came to my attention yesterday.

First, Two Citizen Moms issued their endorsement of John Kane for chairman of the NC Republican Party. They had vetted him thoroughly and found he was “the real deal” from the standpoint of being a limited government, constitutional, Christian conservative.

Second, the North Carolina Senate GOP introduced election integrity legislation that would correct many of the circumstances that lead to election fraud and improperly influenced elections.

These stories seemed good on the surface. However, we need to recall some recent history.

Republicans in Congress and in the North Carolina General Assembly have repeatedly and incessantly surrendered preemptively and betrayed their supporters. (This has also been true at the local level). These elected Republicans have produced little of value during recent years. What benefit do we derive from election integrity measures if Republicans behave like Democrats?

John Kane seems to be a good man. But let’s recall how the North Carolina GOP previously had a conservative state party chairman– Hasan Harnett– but its executive committee quickly found “justifications” to throw him out. This occurred seven years ago. Harnett is a black man– and that complicates the picture a bit– but he was thrown out because he was conservative, not because he is black.

If Kane were elected chairman, he would be very quickly undermined. Moreover, he would have no control over legislative Republicans at the state and federal level, both of which have their own fundraising capabilities– and both of which tend to work for their campaign donors.

These efforts to elect Kane and to pass election integrity legislation are well intentioned. The GOP establishment tends to prevail, however, in the long run. It is not appealing to become jaded but it is unfortunately an acknowledgment of reality.