I have heard a common refrain among Republicans. The big reason why there is so much infighting is that Republicans are free people, individualists, willing to think and do for themselves. Every member has grand ideas on how matters should be run. Clashing visions create conflict and can lead to chaos.
In the military, there is one general and clear set of goals. The need for distinct, personal leadership is a must.
Democrats, on the other hand, or collectivist. They are willing to conform to any "great leader" and do what they are told. The issue of outstanding identity overruns a lot of clashes surrounding principle. The issue of attaching or following an inspiring leader–Republicans cannot lose sight of that necessity.
Leadership and unity are very difficult to accomplish. The force of strong identity makes a difference, or at least someone who can touch, speak for and effect results for the concerns which people have. Ronald Reagan and then Donald Trump accomplished those tasks very well.
But what about the Democratic Party and their members?
Yes, they have their intense infighting, too.
Read these remarks from the Orange County Register about the leadership of the Democratic Party in OC:
Infighting
Party chairman, whether Democrat or Republican, can be a thankless job
– particularly given the perennial infighting by factions within the party.
“Everybody just seems to be at each other’s throats all the time,”
Barbaro said in 2012 about his decision to step down after 12 years. “I don’t
want to do it anymore.”
Barbaro served as the previous OC Democratic Party chair. Notice the upset and frustration about intraparty fighting. Democrats are human beings (for the most part), and they love to get into fights with each other. Ambition is the norm, not the exception in political parties, even among Democrats.
So much for the arguments about Democrats remaining a tightly-knit team.
So, what is going on with the Democratic Party in California? Why does it seem that this political party has its act together? One simple answer: the media rarely airs the Democratic Party's dirty laundry. Notice how they do not ascribe internecine conflicts to the current chairman who is stepping down.
There may be an aspect of that behind Vandermeir’s decision as well,
although his stated reason is to spend more time at the communications firm he
runs with his wife and to travel.
Most leaders do not want to play the inside, backside, upside-down games. There is just no time for many people are more interested in winning elections and changing tings for their better.
What else holds the Democratic Party together? Labor unions and their coercive core. Not much else is holding a party which is defined by power at any and all costs.
Despite the infighting and the surging Democrats, county GOP chief Fred
Whitaker says he will seek reelection at his party’s meeting later this month.
So far, no challengers have surfaced.
Notice how the OC Register does not go into details about what is happening with the Republicans. The one thing that should be getting people's attention, however, especially in the Republican Party, rests on the diminishing Republican Party registration. How about the fact that Republicans have lost another assembly seat in Orange County. Young Kim took the seat back from the Democrats. Two years later, the voter registration shifted dramatically to the left, and Kim lost her re-election bid.
Terrible.
Let's also talk about the Orange County Congressional seat, CD-46, which was represented by Loretta Sanchez. She ran and lost in her bid for US Senate. The contest to replace Sanchez was fought between two Democrats.
Terrible. Just terrible.
What is happening to the political parties in our state? What can the Republican Party do in the midst of so much of its own division, and with no strength at its core or in an elected office to help enact Republican policies and expand the brand?
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