Alaska Republican Party On Shaky Ground in Disregarding Democratic Elections

The Alaska Republican Party entered untrodden ground Jan. 31 when the outgoing state party leadership chose not to accept the legitimately elected state chair, but instead staged a coup against him just hours before his term was set to begin. In doing so, these party leaders have unwittingly laid siege to the very sacred fabric that our Republic was founded on —respect for the succession of political power by popular vote.

Before we are so quick to give up this foundational right that was purchased on bloodstained battlefields by our ancestors, consider the oath you took the last time you pledged allegiance to the flag: “… and to the Republic, for which it stands.” What does it stand for? It stands for the freedom to choose your own leaders by popular vote and have that vote respected by both the winner and the loser. The state party just violated that sacred principle for internal political or personality differences.

You see, our soldiers didn’t purchase this right with their own blood just for individual politicians or political party bosses who come and go like the change in seasons. They gave their lives for an ideal, a principle, a dream. They died for our Constitution, our law, our right to choose. Don’t dishonor their memories by casting aside this sacred principle of freely choosing the succession of our elected leadership by popular vote — right here, right now, right under our noses.

We chose a new leadership team at the 2012 state convention by means of a free and fair election. Just because the past administration didn’t like who was elected, it is no excuse to circumvent the election results. Doing so places cracks in the foundation of the very institution that placed them in power in the first place.

It does not matter whether or not you personally like Russ Millette. His qualities for leadership were determined and voted on by a majority of our state delegates at the 2012 Republican State Convention and therefore are not subject for debate. The issue here for debate is our adherence to our own party rules and the sacred tradition of honoring the succession of political power by majority vote. If we are too morally weak to challenge this evil, our party will be hopelessly corrupted. You may argue that the old administration was just too powerful, too connected and too indispensable to be replaced by a free election. Charles de Gaulle once said, “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”

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