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Remove OTT from the local Republican Party?

By Scott Tibbs, July 17, 2008

On a local forum, a malcontent in the local Republican Party celebrated the election of Gene Moncel as chairman of the Monroe County GOP and posted the following as part of a longer rant:

i believe that there is only one thing left to do: Remove the last vestiges of the CATABOLIC CABAL: REMOVE OTT (One Testicle Tibbs) from the GOP Party.

The malcontent (naturally posting under a pseudonym) also claimed that my "hypocrisy" is "alarming and disturbing" and that OTT (that would be me) is "driving people away still from the Local GOP." The anonymous RINO malcontent demonstrates why he/she/it is anything but moderate, because fanticizing about silencing voices you do not like is not a "moderate" position. The anonymous author is an example of how - despite all of the complaints about conservatives trying to force moderates out of the party - it is the RINO malcontents who are the most intolerant tolerant of views they disagree with or consider objectionable.

I am curious as to how the RINO malcontents expect to shut me up.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that their wildest fantasies come true. I get stripped of my position as elected precinct committeeman, I am not welcome at party functions, and none of the candidates accept my help with their respective campaigns. The Republican chairman and central committee loudly denounce me - I am completely frozen out. To take it a step farther, I am even forbidden from voting in the Republican primary.

Exactly what does that accomplish? From the perspective of the RINO malcontents, absolutely nothing. You see, the thing the RINO malcontents are most angry about is not my participation in the GOP. What infuriates RINO malcontents is my letters to the editor and my (infrequent) calls to the Afternoon Edition, and (to a lesser extent) my blog. The ultimate goal of the RINO malcontents is not to have me excommunicated from the MC-GOP. The ultimate goal is to have me silenced. But how exactly do RINO malcontents expect to shut me up?

Simple. They can't.

That does not mean they will not try, of course. Anonymous RINO malcontents repeatedly called on Franklin Andrew to silence me when he was chairman and complained bitterly when he would not (and could not) silence me and other outspoken conservatives. I am sure they are pressuring Mr. Moncel to "do something" about me.

RINO malcontents would be better off worrying about something else. Anyone who truly thinks that I cost the local GOP votes or donations is deluding himself. In order for me to have that kind of an impact, people other than the small percentage of the electorate who closely follow local politics would actually have to know who I am. I would be shocked if 10% of people in Monroe County even recognize the name "Scott Tibbs". That number is most likely less than 5%. I am really not that important.

Regardless of the whining and crying about my political activity, I am not going anywhere. I am not involved in politics because I want to help a political party win elections and gain political power. I am involved in politics is to advance my convictions regarding free markets, individual liberty and limited government. Most importantly, I recognize that America is terribly wicked for not respecting the sancity of innocent human life and I am compelled by my faith in my Creator to advocate for the lives He created in His image.

While I want to see good conservatives win elections, the ultimate goal is not to advance the Republican Party. The goal is to advance conservative principles. For the most part, electing Republicans is the most effective way to do that, but I am and always will be a Christian conservative Republican in that order. When the Republican Party fails to stand by those principles, I will always choose my principles over my political party.