The “Splitting the Vote” Issue

JadedByPolitics has a great post at Redstate about the “splitting the vote” issue. Its catchy title “How to make the TEA Party irrelevant in one election cycle…” is spot on. I confess I struggle with wanting the emotional victory of mounting opposition to a RINO vs. the practical understanding that someone who will vote 85% correctly is better than someone who hands victory to the libs.

From the article:

Whether TEA Party candidates are placing that title on the ballot or running as Independents to “show them” they are by design electing the Democrat. I cannot believe the shortsightedness of the TEA Party, as they act as if 2 years from now they will not then have a BETTER shot at that seat and will send the RINO home. I cannot believe how small minded the TEA Party has become in what is going to be a decade long fight at least to send ALL THE BUMS HOME. To “accept” the winner of the Republican primary is NOT to sell your convictions down the river, oh no, it is to accept that person will vote with the Conservative caucus in the House and Senate at least 50% of the time (the Democrat will vote with the Alinskys 100% of the time. In 2012 that person can be primaried with a TEA Party candidate (Conservative) and held to account for those other 50% of the votes that he/she stood with the Socialists on.

It is easy for us to see how Tom Tancredo is really screwing things up in Colorado. It’s harder to swallow a 2 year delay in ousting one of those political elites in our own backyard. I think this is an area where the tea party may make some mistakes in its infancy. The things the tea party/liberty group movement is getting right are astounding for the brief amount of time we’ve been actively engaged in impacting elections and legislation. I’m hopeful a few missteps in the splitting the vote issue which definitely will occur will be not too harmful, and lessons learned quickly.

It is definitely an area for prayer that individuals and organizations who have been embattled with disappointments and betrayals can die to self and focus on big picture victory. And that those individuals whose race would lead to vote splitting would do what is best for our country and wait for the next primary instead.

I struggle with this conviction myself. Let’s hear your comments.

August 23, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Tea Party

Leave a Reply