Indiana’s NORML will sponsor a debate of candidates for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District (INCD5) this Saturday, February 8, from 6 to 8:30 pm at The Elite, 2820 South Lafountain Street in Kokomo. I look forward to this event!
Maybe Andrew Bales, one of my opponents in the May 5 GOP primary for INCD5, will, before the debate, respond to my blog of two days ago that replied to his Ground Hog’s Day tweet that I am an “imposter” as a GOP candidate.
Mr Bales’s tweet: “...when your platform is farther left than all 4 of the Democratic Candidates running in your District, you might be a GOP imposter...”
Another GOP candidate in the May 5 INCD5 GOP primary, Rev Micah Beckwith, retweeted Mr Bales’s comment. I think that’s spiffy - but fails to respond to the points I made.
When a person argues X and that person’s opponent refutes X, to simply repeat X (the original argument) is not an effective reply. For example - Person Blue: Earth is flat. Person Red: NASA photos show Earth is round. Person Blue: Earth is flat.
The Indiana Republican Party (Party) is a nonprofit corporate entity chartered by Indiana’s Secretary of State. A corporation has no raison d’etre - French for “reason to be”; Saturday’s debate will be on South Lafountain Street & French seems apropos - aside from what is stated in its articles of incorporation.
My points - set forth in standard English with citations to authorities - were not addressed by either Mr Bales or Rev Beckwith. Perhaps if I condense the arguments, those gentlemen might understand the arguments:
1. The Party’s articles include its purposes and powers: “To further the rights of Indiana Republicans to freely associate to achieve the goals of ... the Indiana Republican Party...” (Art. 3.)
Until the GOP State convention this summer adopts a platform, any issues to consider for the platform are subject to the free market of ideas.
2. Under the Party’s Rules (Rules 1-12, 1-24, and 1-25), I am a bona fide Republican.
3. Bales either misunderstands, or simply is ignorant of, the GOP’s history. Simply because people of his and Reverend Beckwith’s ilk hijacked the GOP after a century-and-a-half - with brief exceptions - as progressive does not mean they have a propriety claim to the party.
Their hostile takeover of a corporation, devoid of ideological restrictions - as I said before, Machiavelli would have loved it - did not change the GOP’s raison d’etre.
4. Perhaps Mr Bales is ignorant of the fact that, until relatively recently, both “major” political parties had conservative and liberal wings. Perhaps he simply wants to ignore this fact. History can be a bummer for those on the wrong side of history.
The populist sentiment redolent in my two opponents’ stands reared its head before; 2020 is the centennial of the arrival in Indiana of D.C. Stephenson. That is a matter of history chronicled quite well by Irving Leibowitz in “My Indiana,” 1964 ed.
The “Imperial Wizard of the KKK gave Stephenson the job of organizing the Klan in Indiana, specifically for the 1922 elections. ... Though the Klan principally backed Republicans (because they were generally in control), Stephenson crossed party lines to support some Democrats would in turn be obligated to the Klan.” Id., pp. 192-93.
If Mr Bales and Rev Beckwith find my allusion to the KKK in this context offensive, they are free to repudiate the Klan, its followers and its beliefs. And let me be clear - I repudiate the KKK, any who believe in its messages steeped in hatred and its cowardice.
5. I itemized issues and agencies - the environment, the EPA, Roe v Wade, civil rights, progressive income taxes, to list but a few - on which my views have historical foundation in the GOP. The relatively recent take-over of the GOP by elements of what was called the “Moral Majority” - it was neither - is antithetical to the traditional GOP.
Finally, an “impostor” one “who assumes a false character, or passes himself off as some one other than he really is.” Oxford English Dictionary, 1971 ed. I have not tried to pas myself off. I have been out front about my beliefs and my policy stands.
The GOP is in control of a minority. Each day it loses more support. I run as a candidate who opposes ignorance, bigotry and hatred. The crises we face today are similar to the crises this country faced in 1840 to 1860.
Perhaps Mr Bales will respond to my arguments. Rev Beckwith tweeted he wants to “have a lot fun dismantling the stupidity of your progressive ideology. Can’t wait to see you on the campaign trail!” Perhaps he will address my arguments.
If Mr Bales returns and only re-posts what he said on Ground Hog’s Day, at least he will do something in the spirit of the movie by that title. Maybe he’ll even drive a Jeep.
I am Mark Small, a candidate for U.S. House in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District. I am proud to be a progressive and carry on that tradition of the Grand Old Party. I approve of this blog. Hell, I wrote it.