Trump has won. The political goal of the GOP for the last four years has been successfully achieved. But with this victory won, we must look forward now, not being too quick to slide into a comfortable laziness that seems to always follow a sweeping Republican victory. We must equip the GOP, particularly in Iowa with a new mission, a new game plan, a new mindset.
We are seeing an increasing number of young people that are tired of the status quo in the Republican Party. They want a party that is actually and actively conservative, not the party we have today that is indistinguishable from the Democratic Party of 15 years ago. They want a party that heeds the voices of its constituents, not the political machine of Washington. That is what we need to see in the Iowa GOP. What we need are Roosevelt Republicans!
When a young Theodore Roosevelt won a seat in the New York state assembly, he immediately began a crusade against the political machine Republicans of his day, which were known for their corruption and constant working of “political favors” in exchange for money and positions of power in resulting administrations. Guided by a sense of incorruptible, biblical morality, young Roosevelt and his handful of allies in the assembly, known as the Roosevelt Republicans, fought for positive change in the assembly, and in the New York GOP, to try to end this cycle of corruption and adherence to machine politics instead of the voters that they represented.
We need a group of these “Roosevelt Republicans” today in the Iowa GOP. Young Republicans are tired of the lackluster legislators that seem to fill our positions of power. They are tired of party leaders that can change platforms behind closed doors without any vote (or even against one). They are tired of a con-man conservatism that promises a strong defense of traditional values and active pursuit of positive Republican legislation but turns into a legislative session of empty promises.
We need Republicans who fight for conservative values and positions at all costs in our government. And I mean actually fight for it and not simply give lip service to it like the great majority of our state party does today. They must be willing to buck the political machine that is driving the Iowa GOP and push forward with a new strength of virtue.
If we don’t recognize and correct these failings in our party, it won’t be long before we lose these young conservatives to a third party. The Iowa GOP must embrace a bull moose before it becomes a lame duck.
Respectfully,
- T J Webb
Dows
