Principle vs. Politics in El Paso County, Colorado

I've always been one to stand on principle rather than politics, which is why I'm taking a very dim view of what's shaping up in El Paso county, CO at the moment.

In the Colorado House of Representatives, the state is mulling adopting Health Insurance Exchanges in anticipation of the arrival of Obamacare later in the year.

Republican Majority Leader Amy Stephens is campaigning hard for the GOP majority to pass this measure; but the lengths she's gone to have violated some fundamental democratic principles.

Realizing that there was considerable opposition to the bill amongst Republicans in the state (many of whom consider it a pre-emptive adoption of so-called Obamacare) Representative Stephens aggressively tried to silence dissent with resolutions that forced party members to "toe the line" despite their opposition.

One such example is in El Paso County – where Stephen's supporters introduced a last-minute amendment to an Executive Committee Meeting agenda that forbid party officers from "publicly opposing" elected Republicans – and, more significantly, their policies.

Violations of this resolution included posting on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and online forums – or even arguing against an elected representative's policies in front of a "large audience" or as part of a "large group."

This insidious little resolution essentially forces all officials in the El Paso Country GOP to obediently, unquestioningly and blindly support anything and everything elected Republicans push for; even if it flies in the face of every political principle they have.

Which, oddly enough, is exactly how many members of the El Paso Country GOP feel about Representative Stephen's bill to introduce health insurance exchanges – what's become known as so-called "AmyCare"

Now, I personally support Stephen's measure (after all, health insurance exchanges were originally a Republican invention and even touted as party policy until a few years ago) but I don't support the way Stephens has gone about trying to implement it.

This is one of those matters in which I stand on principle rather than politics – and my principles reject Representative Stephen's dictatorial directive.

This kind of political leadership smacks of everything I detest about European politics (and the way the Democratic party is run.) Amongst such parties, it seems like a "political elite" make the decisions because the rest of the party, and the voters as a whole, can't be trusted with such "important decisions."

It seems Representative Stephens, and the sycophants who enable her, share that disdain for democracy. So much is clear from her dismissal of those who opposed AmyCare: She called them nothing but a few "libertarians and anarchists."

But they're not anarchists, and they're certainly not few in number. In fact, Stephens is pushing an agenda that is clearly in opposition to the wishes of a significant number of her constituents.

But more worrying than Representative Stephen's behavior is that fact that it might only be the tip of the iceberg. An anonymous email sent by a mysterious "Henri Ducard" (the name of the man who trained Batman in the art of crime fighting) revealed that corruption and abuse ran much deeper through El Paso's Republican party than Amy Stephen's fascist resolutions.

Ducard accused the chairman of the El Paso Republicans, Eli Bremer, of organizing closed-door fundraisers, giving friends and cronies well-paid positions in the party and even selling access to GOP celebrities in exchange for power and influence. It seems like the political elite of the El Paso County GOP are trying to turn it into a microcosm of the worst of Washington's political excess.

The problem is that the Republicans they've disenfranchised - the so-called "libertarians and anarchists" - aren't going to let this situation continue for much longer. As one wise pundit said, this situation is a battle for the "heart and soul" of the GOP.

Is it a battle they can win? And can they do so in time for the 2012 elections?

Is Arlen Specter playing Benedict Arnold?

"There's little honor in betrayal."

Republicans have warned Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter, who defected today to the Democratic party, that he'll discover the truth of that saying soon enough.

But is Specter, a five-term Republican senator, really to blame for his defection? Or was he drummed out of a party that's crawling increasingly towards extremism?

Specter has long been derided by the GOP as a 'RINO' - 'Republican In Name Only.' He's voted with the Democratic party on several key issues - most recently Obama's controversial economic stimulus package. However, his moderate views made him a popular representative who's well liked in his Pennsylvania constituency.

What inspired his decision to defect wasn't an important national issue or political expediency - it was pressure from the GOP. Despite winning five terms in the senate - and being hugely popular amongst voters - Arlen Specter's moderate politics marked him as a maverick within the Republican party itself.

At the end of his current term, they planned to oust Specter from the Republican ticket - running another candidate in the 2010 election.

Most people agree that such a move would be political suicide for Pennsylvania Republicans - but the conservative element within that local party clearly cares more for their own political proclivities than sticking by a successful senator - one who guided them to victory five times over.

In short: The Pa. GOP would rather back a loser that towed the party line, than support a winner they weren't sure they could control.

Arlen's Future

Whatever his motivation for making this decision, Arlen Specter's defection was a very clever chess-move.

In sacrificing his uncertain future with the Republicans, Specter stepped into the welcoming arms of the Obama administration; who've promised him their full support when he runs for the senate in 2010 - as a Democrat.

For Obama, it's a boon. In addition to winning the champion of moderate Pennsylvanian voters, he's also managed to get one step closer to that all important filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the senate - effectively making his presidency politically unstoppable.

And as for Arlen - he's regained the backing of a major political party and gets to be on the side of the 'good guys' (as, thanks to Obama's continued popularity, the Democrats are viewed as.)

Of course, in an ideal world, Arlen would have stayed exactly where he was. The Republican party desperately needs men (and women) like him - people who understand that the future of the party doesn't rest with conservative Christians and blowhards like Gingrich and Limbaugh.

But it was the Republican party who manufactured this debacle - and, as the party continues to tailspin into oblivion, it's the GOP who'll ultimately pay the price for their short sightedness.

Good luck, Specter - the GOP will miss you (even if they don't realize it yet.)

Meghan McCain - Republican Rock Star?

Democrats have been rubbing their hands in glee at the tribulations of the Republican party.

They're politically bankrupt, ideologically challenged and searching desperately for leadership in the most inopportune places - Rush Limbaugh, anybody?

Yet quietly, methodically and efficiently, an unlikely GOP hero has been creeping into the spotlight - John McCain's daughter Meghan McCain.

Blond, beautiful and brainy, Meghan McCain makes an unlikely Republican, even by her own standards. Before her father stood for the presidency, she was a registered Independent with notably moderate views.

Clambering onto the campaign bus with her father, however, changed everything - starting with her signing up as a registered Republican.

During the 2008 presidential election, I argued that Meghan McCain was the Republican's secret weapon: She did something nobody else in the GOP had dreamed of - gave McCain's campaign a voice accessible to young, hip people (not easy, given that her Dad, no matter how cool he was, would still have been the oldest president to enter the White House if he'd won.)

She achieved this by hitting the information superhighway while she hit the campaign trail; giving us McCain Blogette - a regularly updated photo-blog showcasing her adventures on the trail.

Her blogs were fun, enthusiastic and real. She even kept readers up to date with hit tunes from her campaign play list (proving that those 'hip' credentials were genuine) and revealed the enthusiasm and support regular Americans had for her father's presidential bid (my favorite was when they visited a Harley Davidson convention.)

Meghan's grasp of social media gave her an audience that nobody else in the Republican party had access to - and the people who'd tuned in during the campaign continued to follow her even after the election ended.

That popularity stems from the way she continues to express her heartfelt, earnest beliefs. They resonate deeply with her audience, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that they defy traditional Republican dogma - like, for example, her most recent article for The Daily Beast - Memo to the GOP: Go Gay.

She confronted an ugly truth - that the Republican party needs to shed its homophobic reputation. While that belief sparked outrage amongst entrenched conservatives, it turned her into something of a Republican Rockstar amongst younger, more moderate voters - arguably the only political demographic that really matters.

"If the Republican Party has any hope of gaining substantial support from a wider, younger base, we need to get past our anti-gay rhetoric," Meghan writes. She goes on to highlight the support the gay community once had from an unlikely Republican hero - their revered leader, Ronald Reagan. "The ultimate Republican rockstar helped fight anti-gay proposition because he knew it was wrong."

Most Republicans argue that Reagan could do no wrong, so maybe it's time they started following their mentor's example.

If anybody needed proof that Meghan's article was powerful and convincing, they need look no further than the wags at Comedy Central. She stirred up admiration from the acerbic wits behind The Daily Show, who gently poked fun in this article:

"Meghan McCain may claim to be a Republican… But — as is easily evidenced in her newest piece from The Daily Beast — she has clearly shown herself to be neither borderline mentally-disabled nor small-minded and bigoted…"

The fact that she's softened the most hardened of the 'elite, liberal media' means that Meghan's actually onto something. She's a Republican young people listen to - proudly standing for the best of everything the Republican party represents - small government, low taxation, personal responsibility and individual freedoms - while soundly rejecting every negative albatross hung around the GOP's neck.

If the entrenched die-hards in the GOP can summon up the courage to listen to her, Meghan McCain might prove herself to be voice that leads the Republican party out from political obscurity and into the 21st century.

Keep an eye out - I hope we'll be hearing a lot more from her.

Steele on Life

The Republican party is currently in free-fall.

Conservatives have all but elected bloated political pundit Rush Limbaugh as their leader - a pill-popping blowhard who has successfully alienated most moderate Republicans.

Meanwhile, in an effort to counter the popularity of President Obama, the GOP billeted their token African-American, Micheal Steele, as leader of the Republican Party.

This is a decision they automatically regretted. Steele quickly revealed a sharp mind and an unwillingness to do as he was told.

Coming from a family of old-school Roosevelt Democrats, it was inevitable that Steele would have different opinions than the stuffy, white party elite. After all, he was the one who promised to bring a little 'hip-hop' to the GOP.

But in a recent GQ interview, those opinions raised more than eyebrows. Steele argued that topics like abortion and gay marriage should be dealt with by individual states, rather than by constitutional amendments - a sharp deviation from the pro-life, anti-gay party's policies.

When asked if homosexuality was a choice (which many Republicans believe) Steele replied: "No. I've never subscribed to that view. You just can’t simply say, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.”

When asked if women should have the right to choose abortion, he declared: "Yeah. I think that’s an individual choice, absolutely."

It's a tug of war at the moment, between right-wing conservatives and Republican moderates. This dispute threatens to tear the GOP right down the middle - giving even more impunity to President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress and the Senate.

It's unfortunate, too. Michael Steele's progressive attitudes offer a glimmer of hope for the Republican party. In the interview with GQ, he called the Republican party a 'Big Tent' party - one that can embrace people with fundamentally different views and opinions.

The party can go one of two ways now. It can retreat further to the right, embracing Rush Limbaugh and their core supporters in defence of guns and bibles. That way, they'll never again offer an adequete opposition to the Democrats.

Alternatively, they could embrace Michael Steele and become a more moderate party. It would infuriate the right-wing, but open the GOP up to millions of moderates who believe in 'small c' conservatism.

In reality, that's the only direction the party can afford to go in. A shift to center-ground will gain more voters than it loses. After all, even if the far-right are infuriated by compromise on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, who the hell else are they going to vote for?