KCRCC: A magnet for hypocritical critics

Listening to all the critics of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) one would conclude that the KCRCC is bad for…well…everything. Taken in total, it is a remarkable spectrum of contradicting faults that are laid at our feet.

Libertarians accuse us of being soviet fascists while democratic socialists claim we are libertarian anarchists. Democrats claim we are the extreme right while people on the right claim we are too liberal. Sleepy Republicans accuse us of being too active while activists complain we aren’t doing our part. Men who utter phrases like “Put her in her place’ and “She’s just a housewife” say we are misogynists. One elected official who says we aren’t “tolerant” goes on to say that Kootenai County’s “problem” is that we tolerate people moving here from Orange County and need to do something about it.

People in the media express their opinion that the people of the KCRCC should not express their opinion. Critics who say that voters should be more informed equate KCRCC’s efforts to inform voters as eliminating choice (when no actual ballots are harmed by our efforts). People who will accept anyone as a "Republican" claim the KCRCC isn’t composed of “actual” Republicans. Progressives who want to change our form of government and eliminate elected positions accuse the KCRCC of wanting to eliminate choice.

One could easily imagine that if all these accusations and claims were taken on balance the net sum would be zero. Every claim offset by an opposing claim or negated by reality.

What is the reason for this sputtering vitriol? It’s not based in any hard facts, but instead seems to flow from projection, imagination, and self-professed clairvoyance where the accuser somehow knows what others “are really thinking”. Perhaps the true catalyst for all this cognitive dissonance is simply ‘change.’

There was a time when the Republican Party spent most of its time hibernating only to awake after the primary to act as pamphleteers for the Republican candidates. This allowed anyone to claim the Republican brand. In 2012 the most conservative AND the most liberal members of the Idaho legislature were Republicans. That’s right, the legislator to the left of all the Democrats was a Republican.

Political parties define themselves with their platforms whose “planks” detail the shared beliefs and positions of party members. A voter should be able to read a party’s platform and get a reasonable idea if the party’s positions align with their own. It is not unreasonable for the party to make an effort to ensure the candidates that carry the party name also ascribe to their platform.

Candidates can call themselves Republican if they share, for the most part, in the policies and beliefs of other Republicans. The party has a fiduciary responsibility to the voter to ensure that candidates running under the Republican brand satisfy this simple requirement.

We absolutely recognize that anyone who meets the legal requirements for office can run for office if they desire, and we encourage them to do so. It is not unreasonable for the Republican Party to require that someone wanting to campaign under the Republican brand actually be a Republican. Without this basic stipulation, there is really no reason to have political parties at all.

A party’s platform is more than a way to identify other members. Republicans believe that if our Platform was public policy it would benefit our society. It would promote a prosperous society where the primary role of government is to protect the rights of the individual, where life is sacred and opportunity is equal. A just society where education is not indoctrination, where skin color does not determine class, and justice is equally applied. A fair society where the fruits of your labor are yours to enjoy and your full potential can be achieved. A generous society where charity is freely offered and not compelled for political gain.

I believe it is change that has upset the critics because what has changed is the mission of the KCRCC. Gone are the simple days of being pamphleteers for candidates. That mission nationally turned a bind eye to the progressives' busy efforts to replace our Republic with a socialist dystopia.

KCRCC's mission is now what it always should have been, to effectuate as public policy the ideals articulated in the Republican Platform.

An effective way to accomplish this is to recruit and support candidates for elected office that largely agree with our party platform. It really is just that simple.

The KCRCC has never sought to exercise "control" over elected officials. It is much easier to simply recruit, and help elect, good and competent persons to office and then let them do their job. To do this, the KCRCC has implemented a transparent Vetting and Rating System. We make the results of that process available to the voters to help inform their decision.

To our critics I would only ask that you take a moment to reflect on your complaint and attempt to find hard facts to support it. If your issue is real, I would be happy to take it before the committee for consideration. There is always room for improvement.

The KCRCC is on mission. These baseless accusations are simply the flak giving proof that we are over the target.

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Brent Regan is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.