Two Good Arguements
There is some interesting discussion going on over on the comment section of Grassrootspa - specifically about Judge Saylor’s retention election.
I see two sides coming out - one in favor of Judge Saylor because he is a decent judge and the alternative would be worse. The other side saying that he needs to go because his recent votes are nothing more than pandering to save his hide and that the house cleaning is not done.
I can understand both sides because I’ve been on both sides of this debate in one discussion or another over the many years.
After reading all the comments, I wrote the following comments:
Here’s the real reason this discussion is happening in the first place - The establishment has violated its integrity. Integrity is one of the most, if not the most, important thing there is. Without it, there is no trust, no communication,etc. You see the results of the establishment violating its integrity ever since the pay raise fiasco up until and including today’s comments here. It takes a long time to build up integrity, and not long at all to destroy it. Right now the GOP establishment has no integrity in the eyes of the grassroots. That, ultimately, is why this whole discussion is occurring. Saylor may be a good judge or a bad judge, it really doesn’t matter in relation to the long term relationship of the GOP establishment with the base. Saylor could be the best judge who ever walked the planet, I would venture to guess that the same comments would still be made for the simple fact that the GOP establishment destroyed its integrity with the base. You can equate this to a marriage. If one partner has an affair, that is a major violation of integrity. It conflicts with all the vows, expectations, matters of trust, etc. that were set up at the beginning of the marriage. Until integrity is restored, I wouldn’t the expect the base to be openly supportive of any candidate that the establishment supports.
My question to the establishment is - what are you going to do to rebuild your integrity? It’s not a simple one step process. Integrity is too important to just give is a passing notice. It won’t fly with the base either. It will take a few years. What steps are you going to voluntarily do to rebuild the integrity you had with the GOP members? I’d love to hear what the plan is, as I’m sure so many others would as well.