Just to put a wrap on the state election, there was a kerfuffle when Wyoming GOP State Chairman Frank Eathorne called for Republicans to ‘Ride for the Brand’, importantly calling out those that misuse all-important Wyoming ‘R’ to win an election.
While it’s great to see the fighting spirit and independence in a fellow Republican response, Rod Miller wasted it on a prideful, arrogant stemwinder. He was sure to tell the world that he and only he knows what the Republican Brand is.
We Wyoming Republicans are fierce and steadfast. We understand that each Republican voice is one voice of the consensus that defines what it means to be Republican.
The Wyoming Republican Platform is the document that quite literally spells out what it means to be a Wyoming Republican, defining the Wyoming Republican Brand.
Do you know who writes that Platform defining the Brand?
It is written by the thousands of precinct-men and precinct-women who each year raise funds for their county Republican Parties.
It is written by the Republicans who every two years go to the county caucus and get elected to go to the county conventions and debate every platform plank and each resolution large and small, each Republican fighting for the causes they hold dear.
It is written by the Republican county delegates who are lucky enough to get elected to the state convention.
It is written by the Republicans who spend two days or more every two years at state convention discussing, analyzing, and criticizing ideas gathered from every county of Wyoming.
Finally, It is written by the Republican convention delegates themselves who chose from the ideas hardened in the crucible of debate that decide what it means to be a Republican by drafting our Republican Platform.
I’ve no idea how many thousands of fellow Republicans take part in the convention process every two years, yet I am thankful for the work they do. I am also grateful that no more significant Republican than Ronald Reagan who promulgated a straightforward rule that says if you read the Republican Platform and agree with eighty percent of it, you are a Republican.
The simple, straightforward insight of Reagan allows each Republican to pick the 80% of the Platform they believe in, thereby enabling them to say with firm confidence, “I am Republican, and I believe these truths. I stand with my fellow Republicans for the betterment of Wyoming.”
This year has seen our Republican Party beset with criticisms from self-appointed elites, especially the pernicious Frontier Republicans. The Party has been under attack by the arrogant who mistakenly substitute their views and ambitions for the Republican Party’s Platform. This illegitimate self-appointed aristocracy does a disservice to the thousands of everyday Wyoming Republicans who forge our Republican Platform, our Republican Brand.
When Frank Eathorne asks us to ride for the Republican Brand, he supports the thousands of Wyoming Republicans who created it. Chairman Eathorne is standing up for all Wyoming Republicans against the arrogant elitists who think they are entitled to decide what it means to be a Wyoming Republican.
