I vote Republican because I think the other side is crazy. I have on occasion voted for a Democrat in a local election when that candidate held conservative views and would stay with them, but that is becoming very rare. However, the Republican party does not really seem to care what its grass roots think. They have illustrated this many times.
On Monday, The Federalist posted an article that illustrates the problem with the Republican elite.
The article notes:
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., took a break from making folksy quips to let the mask slip during a Sunday interview about Texas’ Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. While often unpredictable in its accuracy, public polling has shown the race to be one of the most contested in the country.
Yet, despite the race’s apparent closeness and major fundraising disparities between the two candidates, the milquetoast Kennedy wouldn’t commit to the Senate GOP deploying money to aid Paxton’s election. He said that the Senate GOP’s campaign arm simply doesn’t have the money to spend in Texas (after pouring millions into the state primary alongside other establishment forces to try and save incumbent Sen. John Cornyn).
“There’s no sense bubble wrapping it — we’ve got a race in Texas. … [Paxton] is going to have to point out the deficiencies of Mr. Talarico. … [But] you can’t win an election by saying the other guy’s worse than me. Money is an issue,” Kennedy said. “We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas. We need help from the president. The president says he has $850 million in his campaign accounts. That’s a lot of jack.”
Put another way, “Sorry, Ken, you’re on your own!”
On the surface, it seems particularly rich that the Senate GOP is now running to Trump for help after refusing to pass the SAVE America Act and other conservative priorities. But there’s actually a bigger dynamic at play here that voters should pay attention to.
Whenever an establishment-backed crony wins the GOP nomination in any given primary, conservative voters are told to fall in line and back the party’s candidate, no questions asked. But when Republican voters nominate a grassroots candidate who will actually fight for their interests, those same establishment voices are more than happy to leave that candidate out to dry.
Every year the conservative voters are asked to support candidates that they know will not move the conservative agenda forward. That needs to stop. I may reach a point where I will vote for a Democrat in a national election rather than elect a Republican who doesn’t represent me. At least I know the Democrat won’t represent me, so I won’t be disappointed when that happens!