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Howie Says SDGOP Filled with Democrats

Gordon Howie says the face of tyranny is right here in South Dakota, with one-party rule corrupting the South Dakota Republican Party and state government. Yet like Cardinal Raymond Burke blaming feminists for pedophile priests, Howie blames Democrats for Republican tyranny:

In South Dakota, the Republican Party has simply moved to the left, thanks to the efforts of political power brokers with lots of money and liberal perspectives. Infiltration of the Republican Party might have been the Democrats response to one party rule by the Republicans. They did, indeed gain some ground with regard to policy, but at what ultimate cost? Democrats are now so weak statewide that they have trouble finding credible candidates for most political races, thereby simply giving the offices to Republicans [Gordon Howie, "The Face of Tyranny," The Right Side, 2015.01.11].

Democrats infiltrated the SDGOP. Right.

Howie hopes for a revitalized Democratic Party (yes!) and says the key lies in re-recruiting Republicans:

If there is any hope for accountability to return to this state, it may be in a revitalized Democrat Party. That will only happen if they can entice their own to shed the costumes, leave the Republican Party and come home. That would leave conservatives to manage the Republican Party and once again, give South Dakota voters a real choice [Howie, 2015.01.11].

I agree with Howie that part of the recipe for Democratic rebuilding is finding candidates and issues who can win votes from some moderate Republicans. But I cannot adopt the Howie narrative that the SDGOP is filled with leftists. Howie and his Republican purists need to stop labeling folks like Mike Rounds as leftists and call them what they are: opportunists. Folks like Larry Rhoden don't switch their registration from Democrat to Republican as some plot to infiltrate the SDGOP and promote leftist ideology. They switch parties to get their names on ballots, win elections, and gain power. By Howie's own thinking, those opportunists have weakened the Republican Party; why would Democrats fare any better by drawing such self-serving opportunists "back"?

Instead of trying to get Democrats to lure other people our of the SDGOP, Howie challenge tyranny by a more direct route: forming his own True Conservative Party. His pal Gary Coe already has a PAC with that name; it shouldn't be hard to turn that mechanism into a party. Get the 8,474 people who voted for Howie for Senate in 2014 to petition a True Conservative Party into existence. (Forming a new party will require 6,936 signatures.) Line up True Conservative Party candidates for at least ten Legislative districts (including every Black Hills district, an easy task for a party centered around Howie's new world headquarters east of Rapid City). Abandon the SDGOP to its soulless, self-serving opportunists, cooperate with Democrats to fire on the depleted SDGOP from both sides, and upset the balance of power.

Even conservatives recognize that South Dakota needs a real liberal party to bring balance to Pierre and check the tyranny of Republican opportunists. But the solution is not for Democrats to catch the disease Howie says debilitates the Republicans.

30 Comments

  1. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    "Howie and his Republican purists need to stop labeling folks like Mike Rounds as leftists and call them what they are: opportunists."

    Cory, being an opportunist is what makes Rounds a leftist.

  2. larry kurtz 2015.01.12

    Rounds isn't a leftist, he's a crook who beat the system with money and dirty tricks.

  3. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    "Instead of trying to get Democrats to lure other people our of the SDGOP, Howie challenge tyranny by a more direct route: forming his own True Conservative Party."

    That would make the work of blacklisting by the SDGOP Establishment leftists that much easier. That is what happened to the Tea Party. And the Democrats supported that effort.

  4. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    Larry, Rounds can't do that if the government's size and scope was limited. Leftist Democrats favor a bigger and more encompassing government. That means you guys are feeding the beast.

  5. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    "cooperate with Democrats to fire on the depleted SDGOP from both sides, and upset the balance of power."

    That is Cory being an opportunists. Again, the solution would be Democrats understanding that the conservatives have the solutions, and thereby Democrats cooperate with us conservatives. Doubt that will ever happen as long as the hard left continues to demonize Christian conservatives.

  6. larry kurtz 2015.01.12

    So-called christian conservatives are demons, Steve. Democrats in South Dakota are powerless eunuchs subject to SDGOP whims.

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2015.01.12

    Good grief. Leftist is not a synonym for opportunist. Stop trying to confuse people, Sibby.

  8. Bill Fleming 2015.01.12

    LOL, Sibby, the master demonizer, whining about being demonized. That's hilarious.

  9. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    Cory, Rounds believes government is the solution. That makes him a leftist. So stop confusing leftists. Conservatives believe government is not the solution, but is part of the problem when it becomes too big.

    And then comes Fleming, the master of deception, confusing leftists some more.

  10. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    OK Cory. I made my point and you guys are not going to listen, so I will move on.

  11. larry kurtz 2015.01.12

    Put up a post, Sibby: you too, Newland.

  12. Owen reitzel 2015.01.12

    For Christ sake Steve, Rounds is no liberal. He believes in nothing that liberals. Get it through your head that he is a Republican. Just like you.

  13. mike from iowa 2015.01.12

    Did the wingnut elephant step on this guy's head? The only liberal element in a wingnut is the size of the tax breaks given to the wealthy and the liberal cuts wingnuts make in welfare to the needy.

  14. Roger Cornelius 2015.01.12

    Is there a single Democrat on this predominately Democratic blog that believes in big government and that government is the solution to all problems?

    From my own perspective, I believe in a government that serves ALL people and not just the elitist with money to control politicians.

  15. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    Funny how the crony capitalists work. They split the people up between two groups and have them fight like cats and dogs.

  16. larry kurtz 2015.01.12

    Liberal democrat Vice President Thomas Jefferson published a manual for parliamentary procedure and was convinced political parties would ultimately destroy the republic.

    Put up a post, Sibby.

  17. Steve Sibson 2015.01.12

    Larry, take that argument to the Krebs post. It is easier for party folks to collect a number of signatures in order to be on the ballot than it is for independents. Therefore, we should only require a very small registration fee in order to be put on the ballot. Forget about nomination petitions requiring signatures and validation.

  18. o 2015.01.12

    So much for the "big tent" philosophy; now a test of purity has to be administered in some eyes to allow any person to qualify as "conservative" (and yes, there are those on the left doing the same). The "P" on GOP now stands for purity.

    What gets me in this context is how much SD has moved toward the right (and how that reality can be ignored) - we have always been Republican as a state, but the Republican party has moved so much to the right that SD has bee swept up in that national movement. Issues that have no relevance to SD have become political mandates because of outside Conservative Republican groups (ALEC for example).

    I understood the old GOP; I understood pre-Reagan Conservatism; I don't understand so much of the radical, absolutist rhetoric of that party now. I don't understand how so many can sacrifice their own interests and continue to promote that rhetoric.

    Larry, Jefferson could not have been more correct in his assessment of the political party system.

  19. Disgusted Dakotan 2015.01.12

    Cory is right, these Rounds' Republicans are opportunists.

    O, how has the SDGOP moved to the right? Maybe in rhetoric, but not in apparent policy by those in office.

    Owen, politics are more deep than the two-dimensions of "Republican" and "Democrat."

    Sibby, while the opportunists may have political agendas that incorporate policies and practices employed by the Left, they are not "Liberals" but opportunists as Cory pointed out.

  20. Deb Geelsdottir 2015.01.12

    Republicans can best be described as Oligarchs.

  21. leslie 2015.01.13

    it is flat-out embarrassing that so many republicans vote against their own and similarly situated residents' interests. i would hope some republicans are rinos and are actually democrats and only register "R." for reasons of financial or keeping their own "peace", in such a red state.

    stan is an example of a republican not universally liked on his side for occasional non-partisan views, and would have been unelectable for congress or senate--no doubt he would have liked to be in that club. his blatant support covering up EB5 is indefensible.

  22. leslie 2015.01.13

    dd is obviously republican 'cause in 1st 5 mins of St of St adress, he spins our lowest highway design cost of montana to Wisconsin, but we obviously don't have any design complexity, largely, in this empty state, comparatively.

  23. leslie 2015.01.13

    cont) he thinks $14 billion of highway is greatest asset despite human capital and the $52 billion Homestake took after killing the Indians, then imprisoning the rest, "friendly" or not.

  24. leslie 2015.01.13

    cont) ..."because of the stimulus (Obama did it) the highway pavement is in a little BETTER condition than it should be." btw. my family built the states roads and highways since 1918 or before.

  25. Steve Sibson 2015.01.13

    "Republicans can best be described as Oligarchs."

    True Deb, and there are Democrats that are working with them.

  26. leslie 2015.01.13

    cont.) 'we, our criminal justice system makes "criminals" public tax burdens.' this is changing agonizingly slowly, destroying human capital. his massive criminal justice changes "i mean studies last year"... were not intended to do this. it was to make us "safer" and make it more profitable. imo

    almost EVERY line of his crime statements are arguable from a philiosophical standpoint. geez

  27. caheidelberger Post author | 2015.01.13

    Leslie, good read on that highway design issue. Indeed, aside from in the Black Hills, it's not too hard to design a South Dakota road, is it?

    But whatever roads cost, building roads is a government function that is light-years removed from the esoteric abstractions of Sibby's and Gordon's politics. In a way, I'm looking forward to a Legislative session dominated by debate of Senate Bill 1 and whatever counterproposal the Governor puts up, because building roads is not ideological. It's practical government that has to get done. I've never heard the Howie wing of the party talk practically about how we build and maintain roads. There's no ideology to it; roads are just dollars and concrete.

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