Is domestic violence really the issue in OKGOP joust?


To The Editor:

This is in response to the article about the Oklahoma GOP, Randy Brogdon, TC Ryan and the Oklahoma County GOP
 

(June 21, David Arnett, OK County gop notes complete disregard, re-posted from Tulsa Today):

Sadly, apparently, though the State Republican Convention has become but a speck in the rear view mirror of time, the furor over TC Ryan has yet to reach a crescendo. Certainly no one condones domestic violence, but is that really the issue here? I’m not so sure.


Realistically, the ‘Party’ (GOP) is but a club for people with (supposedly) like ideals. I personally don’t care about the club part, I care about the ideals the ‘Party’ is supposed to espouse and represent — a platform of principles I have endeavored to help write a number of years — a platform upon which every Republican candidate/office holder is supposed to stand.

For years I’ve tried to participate in the “party” from the precinct up (Chair/Vice-Chair) – going to meetings, attending state conventions – yet I am frequently disappointed that many “Republicans” who run for office and are elected, inevitably set about to govern in a completely different manner than the platform outlines (this goes way beyond Common Core here, but that’s certainly an excellent example). We have a “Republican” majority in this state in both houses, yet we are serially unable to balance our state budget, we continue to prop up private businesses with public tax dollars and kowtow to the unconstitutional federal bureaucracies of education and the EPA, as though the Constitution of the United States has simply vanished from the Earth. We have a Republican majority in this state that quite often ignores Republican ideals, yet the GOP continues to swim in the shallows, sticking to the mantra of, “We can’t let Democrats win.”
When I jumped through all the hoops necessary to attend the state convention and placed my vote for Randy Brogdon, I did so with every hope that this event might be the catalyst necessary to move the ‘Party’ from simple fundraising for the next self-proclaimed ‘Republican’ candidate to a more active pursuit of Party principles for those candidates wishing Party/voter support.

I’m not sure I knew/know what that looks like, but I was actually excited to have been a part of that election and to have the opportunity to see a change in the way we support “Republican” candidates in Oklahoma.

Instead, there’s been nothing but continued public drama surrounding the need for Mr. Ryan to step down in order to avoid “continued embarrassment” for the “Party.” This begs several questions for me. Who took the time required to ferret out an expunged (as far as I understand) record and splash it across social media? Why would any Republican do this if it would have hurt the “Party” in the first place? Is it “Party” faithful or Democrats who have continually resurrected the story in social media? Who in the “Party” has no apparent willingness to allow the issue drop though Mr. Ryan has paid his debt to society?

If the OKGOP chooses to bar Republicans who have had run-ins with the law from service in the “Party,” where does that line draw? What about current elected or appointed Republican officials with recorded unlawful activity?

Shouldn’t these people also be removed from their office or position so as not to be hypocritical? If so, there are a number who would also need to pack up their offices and hit the road with Mr. Ryan immediately.

It totally floors me that so many Republicans are willing to ruin the name and reputation of another Republican and then put the oneness for the fallout on the one whose name is being ruined. This is a tactic used by the Left (Saul Alinsky, particularly) — those the GOP are supposed to work against.

It is said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. If OKGOP factions can’t come together and let this issue go, I fear it will take bulldozers to pick up the pieces.

Jenni White


NOTE: White is a Republican activist, and a leader in Restore Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE), a grass roots organization that has opposed the Common Core, and supported traditional curriculum in public schools.
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