Log Rolling in the CA GOP

In deep blue states where Republicans are struggling for traction (or even relevance), the local media loves to review and highlight the internecine struggles of the GOP conventions in those states.

In Massachusetts, a center-left columnist referred to the annual Republican Party convention as a WWF wrestling match, where all the wrangling is choreographed and exciting, yet ultimately irrelevant. Despite this condescending perception, the Mass GOP now holds the Corner Office (with Governor Charlie Baker), and the Republicans have expanded their numbers on Beacon Hill (the state legislature in Boston). The wrestling match over the last two years actually had some real-life impact. Let us not forget that for two years, MA had a GOP US Senator (even if he was centrist to left on certain issues).

The Illinois press all but wrote of the Republican Party in the Land of Lincoln six years ago. Today, the state has a Republican US Senator, eight of eighteen Republican House Reps, and now a reform-minded Republican Governor who is bringing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's reforms to Springfield.

In California, state capital news organs like the Sacramento Bee, and also the larger newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and the Bay Area News groups love to discuss the divisions and rancor of the CA GOP. One small-time female delegate made a comment about abortion and rape, and the local papers jumped all over it.

When four Democratic state senators end up arrested, convicted, or indicted for corruption and voter fraud, the newspapers engage in the obligatory, even cursory reporting, then let the accounts drift away. The fact that former Senator Roderick Wright served barely one hour in jail got little to no press at all. Obviously, the California media is not just tilting left, they love reporting at any lone Republican who tilts at windmills, as though the idiosyncrasies one Republican speak for all California Republicans.

The latest controversy at the California Republican Party Convention centers on the Log Cabin Republicans, and their desire to become a chartered group under the CA GOP. The organizations by laws lay out that different chartered groups based on profit or alternative lifestyles cannot be chartered. I agree with that principle. The very discussion regarding this by law, and the nature of homosexual behavior brings up the bigger issue: how Democrats have distorted this issue, and how Republicans need to take back this who argument from the Left and get this country right again on this and other issues.

Yes, the Republican Party is the party of family values. It should stay that way, because free markets, free enterprise, and free people mean nothing where the love and nurture of families are diminished or rendered irrelevant. Families matter, and the culture of love and grace which prospers children into strong and productive adults begins and ends with families.

This structure is not compatible with homosexuality.

Regarding the truth of the matter, let us have the courage to love and respect all people, the same way the Blue State Republican Governor Bruce Rauner made his appeal to conservative Republicans, heard their concerns, shared his views, and yet appealed to their core shared values. "God hates fags!" or "You are going to hell!" is not going to get anyone to recognize the broken nature of certain choices.

And yes, homosexuality is a choice, and a bad one. This is testified to in research, history, and psychology. These points may offend, but we need to stand by the truth. Not demonizing anyone, but granting people a clear recognition of the truth. Homosexuality is not an identity, but an alternative lifestyle. Pro-family groups have been unwilling to be clear and convincing on these issues, for fear of offending someone, or not seeming "politically correct."

We should not readily fault conservatives and Republican politicians in general for balking at serious discussions on these issues. The media bullying which Republicans have endured, including the latest journalistic voyeurism of the California press into CA GOP convention controversies, has made many adverse to speaking the truth without the benefit of media support to back up the truth while pushing back against the lies.

Margaret Thatcher

Second, Republicans as the conservative party should not be afraid to remind voters that the conservatives are the true "Live and Let Live" Party. Conservative MP Margaret Thatcher worked hard to decriminalize consensual homosexual conduct. She advocated for and succeeded in enacting the truth libertarian position. Live and let live means allowing adults to engage in consensual acts, without government intrusion against people of conscience. Republicans and Democrats need to understand the true value of marriage, and put aside the notion that this argument can be reduced to tradition v. equality, which includes reducing the role of the state and expanding the worth and responsibility of the individual. Toward the end of her tenure as Prime Minister, Thatcher never embraced the notion that homosexuality should be recognized as a protected minority status, either. Once again: "Live and Let Live".

Third, regarding the Log Cabin Republicans as group: should they be chartered?. Individuals who believe in free enterprise, limited government, individual liberty, constitutional rule, and the supremacy of the states vs. the federal government on all other matters not relating to national security, natural rights, and fiscal policy: they have every right to attend Republican conventions and make their plea to promote those values. To argue for another chartered group around such behavior as though it is an identity, however, does not merit further discussion. Individual who want to identify as Log Cabin GOP should be honored for their natural rights as any other, yet the pursuant discussions about the redefinition of marriage or the static notion of sexual feelings as final identity cannot be accommodated.

Logo for the LCR

Besides, bastions of "the gay lifestyle" are no longer, like the Castro district in San Francisco, where families, where men, women and their children are moving in. West Hollywood actually discussed removing the rainbow flag, precisely because there were fewer homosexuals and a greater diversity based on. . .families, which procreate. The political argument about reaching out to individuals who live homosexual conduct is not a viable strategy precisely because it is not a viable community.

Most millenials do not even care about this issue, and many of them are not able to marry because they cannot find good, stable careers More importantly, they have not been taught let alone demonstrated the full value of marriage, that the institution is meant to enhance (not necessarily complete) our lives. Other conservatives are furious with the ongoing discussions on marriage, to the detriment of policy reforms on education, military engagement, tax codes, and labor issues.

Last of All, Republicans need to do a better job of holding the Democratic Party and their conventions to the spotlight. What kind of infighting goes on among their ranks? The American, particularly the California public, deserve to know more. What kind of log rolling are the Democratic operatives having to undergo?