Photo Credit: Republican Party of Iowa
The mainstream media has made story out of fractures in the Republican Party of Iowa, but is that sensationalism or fact? The elections at RPI Saturday demonstrated the truth–we are united behind our conservative principles.
It is true that the Republican Party is in transition that the baby boomers are growing older. The collective memories of Vietnam and Carter years are being replaced by the present day reality of TSA and over 10 years of war in the Middle East. Concerns over the diminution of personal liberties after 2001 overshadow fears of Soviet nuclear missiles.
Today, the election of the Chairman and Co-Chairman best display that the future of the Republican Party is well grounded in the principles of personal liberty. Steve Scheffler, not a Ron Paul supporter, made the motion to nominate AJ Spiker. In his speech Steve emphasized the need to unify around our Republican principles. Steve spoke of the events at the national convention when Ben Ginsberg sought to remove Iowa’s first in the nation status, and the efforts that he, AJ, and Kim Lehman undertook to defend Iowa. Steve informed the committee how AJ has fought for Iowa and Republican unity through principle. He expressed how personal attacks of Republicans against Republicans are unwarranted, uncalled for, unbecoming, and only play into the hands of the far left. Steve, being a man of courage, provided this nomination because it was the right thing to do and he was the right person to deliver it.
David Fischer beat out Wes Enos, to serve as Co-Chair alongside his friend Chairman A.J. Spiker. Mr. Fischer spoke of his introduction into politics in 7th grade knocking doors for then Gubernatorial Candidate Terry Branstad. “Unity through ideas and not personality…We don’t need to agree on everything but all agree that we should be free,” said Mr. Fischer. He expounded the principles that unite the party, principles of liberty, life and accountability.
“We are a party of educational freedom,” he said telling of how 20 short years ago people fled to Nebraska because they wanted to home school their children. “In the end we need to unite behind our principles and not the personalities, just because a person has an R after their name on the ballot does not make them a good Republican. Those in elected positions that compromise principle keep Republican voters home.”
Wes Enos, has served on the Central Committee faithfully provided a well-articulated, motivating speech emphasizing, like Mr. Fischer, that the election of 2012 is over and by advancing the ideas of the Republican party it will continue to grow. Wes is truly one of the classiest people to have graced the central committee, he is articulate, motivated and genuinely a nice person. Every speech today carried those ideas to some degree. The Central Committee is stronger having men like Wes and David under the leadership of AJ and our party is stronger having Steve as our National Committeeman.
Some may portray the party as fractured, but that is not true. We are in a period of transition. Those that are coming to the party seek to restore liberties lost since 2001. Some of us remember a world without TSA, traffic cameras and endless wars on terror. National debt levels now dominate not only our domestic agendas, but also dictate our foreign affairs. That is not American, we are not a beggar nation, but the Republican principles of local control, individual liberty and small government will ensure our continued exceptionalism.
It might be popular in the media to showcase the party as divided, but instead I think the truth is more about some louder, long term party members being fearful of newer people assuming positions of leadership. They have nothing to fear other than liberty. The party is growing from the grassroots, and that is the natural progress for political parties. The energy brought by new members coupled with our Republican principles is the future of the Republican Party.