Pruning the Tree of Liberty

I wasn’t going to write this as it is a little too local for what I am trying to do here, but the more I thought about it, the more I came to the realization that if we are having these kinds of problems in “purple” (kinda…) Wisconsin, then I am sure that the problems are just as bad in other swingy states. If the GOP has any chance to make significant inroads in the 2024 election, then they have to start cleaning house locally right now.

There continues to be a certain small percentage of political actors here in Wisconsin that seem to be happiest when they are tearing down GOP candidates who disagree with them on one or two pet issues instead of attacking Democrats who objectively oppose virtually everything they stand for. Everything from the relatively mundane (demanding a formal, public apology for a joke) to the illegal (allegations of a GOP county party funneling money to a candidate in a different part of the state to violate state campaign finance laws), this small group of dissenters seem to be content to burn the whole thing down to rule over the ashes.

None of these activists are working on a major level. They are all at the county level or lower. Disrupting events; attacking political allies and their children, leading in some cases to the children being tormented in school; and generally embarrassing themselves, their families, and the party at large. Nothing seems to beyond the pale to them as long as they get their way. In that respect, they are not all that different than the extreme liberal fringe.

The worst offenders seem to have a personal, deep seated hatred of our Assembly Speaker, Robin Vos. By any objective measure (endorsements, non-profit ratings, voting record, etc), Vos is easily one of the most conservative members of the state legislature, but that doesn’t stop these disrupters from blaming him for anything that goes wrong and demanding his resignation for it. Don’t decertify an election because there is no legal way to do so? Blame Vos. Lose a statewide election with a mediocre candidate? Blame Vos. The state Senate (a body Vos isn’t even in) doesn’t pass a bill? Blame Vos. The governor doesn’t sign a bill or vetoes a bill? Blame Vos. Republican voters don’t go to the polls? Blame Vos. It has become so bad that we have started to call it Vos Derangement Syndrome, and these particular individuals are almost single handedly driving moderate independents away from the ballot box.

Most of the time, their actions are only noticed by the people who are plugged in a majority of the time (like me) to politics, so the effect is limited. Unfortunately, they have upped their game and have been attracting the attention of the local media. Like this gem from the past week. Now, there is nothing wrong with defending someone you agree with, but there are limits. The policies in question were not even in the district that the meeting was for (although the board member at the center of the issue is on this board) but that didn’t stop her. Neither did the fact that she is the sitting chair of the Republican Women of Waukesha County. Yup, a county level party leader making unflattering news headlines is not how to win over voters.

Until this kind of behavior is dealt with seriously and harshly, these elements will continue to undermine everything that the right is fighting for and will lead to laughably easy Democrat victories in 2024 and beyond. Yes, the Republican Party has traditionally been the bigger tent, welcoming in all sorts of varying elements, but allowing a scant few to tarnish the entire movement out of some sort of altruistic motive, is suicidal. If you truly want this country to get back to the ideals of liberty, freedom, personal responsibility, and a fiscally sustainable government, you need to prune the dead weight and the diseased parts now so the new growth has a chance to take root before the storm comes. Once the winds start to howl, if you don’t have a solid foundation to build off of, you will be just an aimless tumbleweed rolling towards obscurity.