“I certainly learned over the years that elections matter,” said Henry Barbour. The Yazoo City native, who spent 20 years as the Mississippi GOP’s voice on the Republican National Committee, was speaking to the North Jackson Rotary Club.
“And elected officials must be about more than just getting reelected,” he continued. “They have one job and that's to take care of the people – all the people, not just the folks in your party, not just the folks that look like you or live in your neighborhood, all the people.
“Their job is to lead on the issues, to focus on policy – policy over politics. And I don't mind saying we're far from that in the current political environment.”
Barbour’s thoughts come from deep experience. A key figure in Mississippi Republican politics for three decades, Barbour served as White House liaison for the U.S. Department of Energy under President George H. W. Bush in the 1980s and has advised other presidential candidates as well as managed congressional and gubernatorial campaigns. Elected national committeeman in 2005, he was known for his bridge-building approach to politics. In 2005, he also became a partner at Capitol Resources, LLC, a prominent political consulting firm.
“I'm here to tell you that both political parties have got real issues,” he told Rotarians. “I think it's a mess. And that's not to say there aren't some really good people on both sides of the aisle. But too many elected officials, in my opinion and I don't think too many people would argue, are in the self-promotion business. They play to the crowd. And I just think we need to do better.”
Barbour framed his remarks around America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He began his speech reading parts of Thomas Jefferson’s “greatest work.”
“It's been 250 years since our founding fathers decided freedom was worth fighting for,” he said. “250 years later, I think the founders would be astounded by our growth, our success, and yes, our shortcomings.”
“We are the most blessed people on the planet. And, certainly for me, it's easy to take those blessings for granted. It's too easy for me to forget the price for my freedom, my liberty."
Noting Benjamin Franklin’s answer in 1787 to the question about what the constitutional convention had accomplished – “A republic, if you can keep it,” Barbour pointed to Jefferson’s last line in the Declaration – “we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
“The story of the American Revolution and the birth of our nation should help remind us what matters,” he said.
Elections matter.
“Be diligent in these matters …Watch your life and doctrine closely” – 1 Timothy 15-16.
Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from North Jackson.
7 comments:
Anyone ever hear Henry Barbour complain about Mississippi's incumbent protecting early qualifying deadline?
He hasn't.
To HB's point about both parties being in a mess, the GOP is in a mess that pre-dates Reagan. The party establishment supported Bush which Reaganites knew would not sell in the South as well as Reagan. The party elites have never forgiven Reagan.
Fast forward past Bob Dole, Mitt Romney, the Maverick, and TEA party bashing (by Haley Barbour, among others). The GOP was and remains divided. The establishment ridiculed its base, and the party needed an infusion of talent. Enter Trump, which the party establishment ridiculed (and further alienated its base), and Never Trump was said like a badge of honor amongst people who were more interested in being right than being elected.
So, yes, the GOP is a mess. In the establishment side (or what remains of it), there is an abandonment of conservativism, sufficient to gag Wm. F. Buckley.
On the Trump side are appointments and elected officials who know nothing about conservatism. To them, or at least some of them, it means only promoting unspecified conservative values and then spending like a drunken sailor.
If the GOP wants to win elections, it needs to get off of its high horse, recruit and train good candidates, educate the public what conservatism and communism mean, and watch the electorate agree. But get over your piety and judgmentalism. Be better than a talk show host throwing barbs at liberals. Lead by example, not sound bites.
As for the Dems, your party has been hijacked and is headed to Cuba. Your best bet would be to start over. Completely. Be moderates and watch disgruntled GOP'ers move toward you. But that is scary and you are too timid to confront Bernie, AOC, and their brand of communism. Your inaction has ushered in "democratic socialist", a saccharine phrase for communism.
RMQ
An honest person who actually cared about the people and did what was best for the country could not get elected to dog catcher.
Thank you! Comment of the month.
10:34AM,
I second that emotion! I have always said the only thing worse than the Republican Party is the Democrap Party!
ABC system limits variety and adds cost for no rational purpose. State can get tax at point of sale and let retailer order and sell what they want for less.
Henry,
Have you considered that it's the obscene amounts of money that are dumped into every election cycle that attracts people with dirty motives and terrible character?
Maybe you could help figure out how to regulate the out-of-control election industry.
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