Growth will require Unity within the GOP

Not long ago I posted a summary of my criticism of statements made by a certain local conservative, who has been a close associate of the incumbent HCRP Chair. I posted the criticism both on my blog, and as a comment to a post on another site. The gist of my criticism was that I thought it was wrong for Republicans to inject the sexual orientation of one of the candidates for mayor as an issue into that race, rather than focus on the policies and agendas that candidate is advocating.

After we cut the skin with that issue, the Houston Chronicle tore off the scab and infected the community with an indefensible editorial cartoon depicting Dr. Steven Hotze and Gene Locke. For the record, I am not a fan of “political correctness,” and I support raucous debate of the issues in print and electronic editorials and cartoons. Moreover, I know that one rarely wins in a war of words with a newspaper. But the Chronicle really lost all perspective when it printed this cartoon.

Did the editors not understand the impact that image would have, not just on the individuals involved and their families, but on Evangelical Christians in our community who care deeply about the issues being discussed in this campaign, and on our African-American neighbors for whom images of bondage and submission carry profoundly dark collective memories? Obviously, decency, let alone shame and restraint, were absent from the decision-making process that led to the approval of that cartoon for publication.

However, the real point of this post is not to dwell on the Chronicle’s action, but to challenge my fellow Republicans and independent conservatives about how we will react and move forward into 2010. The lesson we must learn from this entire episode is the lesson I have been promoting for the last year: we must grow this party on the positive message of our shared principles; and to grow, we must first unite. We are stronger together than we are separately, and if we unite we can defeat the forces who find the Chronicle cartoon acceptable.

During most of 2009, I have been both heartened and concerned by the forces emerging on our side of the political spectrum. While those who want to strengthen the social-conservative core of our party by purging any dissent or dissenters, and those who have started various non-partisan conservative organizations, have created great energy for us, if we don’t use that energy to bring all who share our principles together and fight together, the GOP will break apart and there will be no effective political force to combat the Democrats.

Now is not the time for one faction or another of conservatism to try to take over exclusive control of our party, or walk-away to create a third-party—such an effort will assure our defeat by shrinking our movement. Then, the policies we all abhor will become law, and those who promote them will become our elected leaders, for the foreseeable future.

Instead, let’s use this episode to look in the mirror—to understand who we are, what we stand for, and who our allies are. Then, with that awareness, let’s unite. If we unite all of our allies behind our shared principles, we will form the strong foundation we need to grow. Then, 2010 truly will be the watershed year for conservatism and the GOP that we all want.