By Dr. Larry Moses
No one asked me but…There is an old cowboy axiom that goes: If you cannot ride for the brand, you should get off the ranch. There is a claim in the press that two hundred prominent Nevada Republicans have come out in support of the Democrat Senatorial Candidate from Nevada, one Harry Reid. In doing so, they have declared their unwillingness to Ride for the Brand.
Now as a person who belongs to no political party and crosses party lines with impunity, I see nothing wrong in voting outside party lines. However, if I were to declared loyalty to a party I would support the party candidate even if my choice lost in the primary. If the party moved to a point that I could not support their candidate, I would leave the party. In fact that is the reason I am non-partisan, for neither of the parties, controlled by their extremes, represent my political beliefs.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column that listed Bill Raggio among the ranks of the Republicans for Reid. I was taken to task, as he had not declared himself supporting Reid. I guess I was just looking to the future.
Mr. Raggio’s endorsement appears to be due to petty jealousy and personal slights, though he declares otherwise.
In a two-page letter endorsing Senator Reid, Raggio stated he was not happy with the Democratic incumbent and his role in America’s march to Socialism. Mr. Raggio wrote Reid “must vote more strongly to represent the views of his Nevada constituency in the future rather than the liberal agenda…” While he sees the Democrat leadership destroying the country, he feels he must support Reid because Sharron Angle was unkind to him.
I am not sure what makes Raggio, who has been Mr. Republican in Northern Nevada for years, think that Reid, as Senator Majority Leader, is going to be influenced by a term-limited Republican State Senator rather than by the Democratic President and the Democrat Speaker of the House.
Raggio’s support of Reid is merely a manifestation of ill feelings over the fact that Sharron Angle had the unmitigated gall to run against him in 2008. He states in the letter endorsing Reid that, after losing, Angle did not call to congratulate him on his win or apologize for things she said during the campaign. She called him a liar and a RINO. I wonder if he called to apologize for what he said about her.
He also indicated that when she served as a Republican State Congresswoman, before she had the audacity to run against him for the State Senate, she was totally ineffective. As an Assemblywoman she was one of the two Republicans who voted against raising taxes and increased spending. Which was, by the way, the platform all Republicans, including Raggio, campaigned on during the state elections. She and one other Republican were the only members of the assembly who held true to their election promises, which Raggio said shows she does not play well with others.
He feels she is too extreme in her stand on Social Security and education, though it is compatible with the National Republican Party Platform. He indicated that only Reid asked for his support and, therefore, he would support him.
It makes one wonder if Nancy Pelosi had called for an endorsement if Mr. Raggio would have complied. If a call is all it takes for Mr. Republican to become a Democrat, Barrack Obama should have dropped a dime.
Raggio was quoted as saying, “I oppose almost all of the Obama agenda. The next Congress will need to make changes, certainly in the health care bill and with bailouts which undermine the concept of free enterprise.”
Mr. Raggio is apparently unaware that health care is a law and the person who pushed Obama-Care and the bailouts through the Senate, and has no desire to change them, is none other than the man he just endorsed.
Raggio is still bitter that the candidate he supported for the Republican nomination lost in the primary. His preferred candidate was Sue Lowden, who was the favorite of the old guard and appeared to have the best chance of beating Harry. I was chastised when I incorrectly implied that Ms. Lowden too had joined the Republican renegades who had jumped to support Harry. With Raggio indicating he had supported her nomination and would have supported Ms. Lowden if she had won the nomination it would be a good time for her to disassociate herself with Bill Raggio and reiterate her support for the Party Candidate. She has been amazingly quiet.
I could respect these two hundred Republicans for Reid, if that number is real, had they got together and run a candidate of their own. Had these Republicans then gone out and sought support for their moderate Republican candidate, rather than supporting a liberal Democrat whose political philosophy they claim they diametrically oppose, I might not be so confused. Further, I then might have a candidate with which I, too, could be comfortable. As my youngest son has said, “If God wants me to vote, why doesn’t He give me a candidate to vote for.”
They surely are not worried about splitting the party for they have done so by supporting Harry Reid.
I can understand people changing their allegiances. I can understand people moving to new positions. I cannot understand people who want to remain with one party while supporting the other.
If Harry Reid is your man; all well and good. However, one should not remain in the Republican Party while supporting the second most powerful liberal Democrat in the land. What these Republicans are saying is they are more comfortable with a liberal left agenda they see destroying American values they hold dear, than a Republican not of their choosing.
Take this from a man who is in neither party: Ride for the brand or get off the ranch. I will be glad to welcome you among the mavericks who carry no brand.
Thought of the week…It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.
-Thomas Jefferson
to Richard M. Johnson, 1808.
