Blog: Party Above Principle: My Take on the Delaware Republican Primary

Statement

Recently, there was a Republican primary election in Delaware for the U.S. Senate seat. This election came down to a career politician, Mike Castle, versus an unknown, Christine O'Donnell. What happened there is a key reason as to why I left the Republican Party.

You see, when you run as a Republican (or Democrat for that matter), you sign a "loyalty oath" to the party that places the interests of the party above anything else.

The party establishment all said Christine O'Donnell couldn't win. This is what I call political conventional wisdom. We seem to hear fairly often about a candidate that "can't win". Admittedly, our current system makes things very difficult for an average person to run for office, and heavily favors the wealthy as well as the career politicians ("name recognition"). The media regularly touts money in campaign accounts, but fails to talk enough about something that is far more valuable- integrity.

As with anything else, something like the Delaware primary starts with one person. One person (Christine O'Donnell) decided to run for office. One person at a time had the idea to look into her and see what they might get if she was elected. They spread the word, and eventually enough people liked what they saw and she won the primary. What followed was a bunch of sore loser/sour grapes comments by the Republican establishment, up to and including the head of the state party. Even Mr. Castle has said he won't endorse her. What happened to that party loyalty?

The voters in Delaware voted 53-47 against business as usual and conventional wisdom. You can do the same thing here. I'm running on principles above party. My integrity means something to me. On a regular basis, we complain about money in politics and special interests. With me, this job is neither for sale nor up for grabs by a party. What happened in Delaware started with one person. Will you be the next person to recognize the value of thinking outside of the box? If so, please donate to my campaign- that is the only way I'm taking contributions- from the people, who are my only special interest.

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