When you show up at large events with mostly like-minded people in a state the size of New Hampshire, you will see people you know. If you write for GraniteGrok, some will know your work. The odds that they will not all love it seem likely, which is a good sign. We’re not monolithic bots. Debate is good.
But sometimes, people feel it is better to walk away and avoid debate either becasue they can’t support their position or, let’s be kind, they’d rather not say some unkind words. I’m unsure which this was, but he was not interested in talking to me. While mingling in the midst of several people, I knew this additional individual was introduced with the common, you know Steve MacDonald, don’t you? From GraniteGrok.
That last part appears to have been a problem. After a weak handshake and a look that went from ‘Hello stranger’ to, I know you (but not really), I was told we (GraniteGrok) should stick to calling out Democrats and that I cost Republicans votes. He was not a fan of what I called our very big woodshed with room for anybody.
As he turned and walked away, I asked if he’d write an op-ed making his case and that I’d publish it, but he wasn’t having any of that. I sensed that short of being the NHGOP’s MSNBC, there was no pleasing him. I shrugged, filed it away in what passes for my brain, and returned to the conversation I’d been having.
And here we are.
Does GraniteGrok cost Republicans votes? Not nearly as many as Republicans do, but the two things are related.
While we have painted the odd GOP candidate in a less-than-favorable light, the why is more important than the how. Politicians and activists, as a class, get filtered through the same lens. NH Constitution, US Constitution, Party platform, and the idea that limiting government is the purpose for which we elect representation.
I get that deal-making is required to move the ball down the field and that sometimes you need to put some points on the board, but if no one reminds anyone why, they increasingly score goals for the other team, maybe without even realizing it. Or, we score goals so they can claim some accomplishment in time for the next election, even when that achievement chips away at natural rights and liberties.
The other – more important issue – is that a member of a private club (the GOP) who feels no requirement to uphold the club charter is less likely to heed their oath of office. If the oath has soft edges, so do the laws those members create. They make excuses for inaction or failing to reign in abuses. The club that got them there takes a back seat to a ruling class club, and at the far end of this path stands many a Democrat for whom the law is a thing to manage society. The Constitution enacted to prevent these abuses becomes less a road map and more a barrier.
Elected office becomes more about what political power can do for them, not how they might use their influence to restrain it.
Yes, we target wayward Republicans, and we won’t always get that right. And not every author agrees with every other on every issue or even how to approach it. We agree that creeping tyranny is a problem, and it is not limited to Democrats. That limited government is always better. And that there is plenty of room in the woodshed.
We are not the GOP’s MSNBC. You won’t get flowery praise for half-measures. If you disagree, we’ll happily publish any defense of your position, but you have to defend it and then send it, or that won’t happen. And not just 300 words but 600 or more. All you have to do is take us up on the offer. You’ll get front-page access, just like the rest of us.
Or you can walk away, but we’ll still be here.
