Susan St. Peters, SCARW President
March 2023 President’s Message San Clemente Area Republican Women
“In The Midst of a Cold Civil War”
By Susan St. Peters
A pervasive rawness is ripping through the Republican party at the present. People who are supposedly on the same side have lost all sense of civil discourse and go straight for the jugular when someone has an opposing view or even raises a question. Over a month ago, two women who had previously been friendly with one another ended up in a shouting match because one supported Harmeet Dhillon and the other favored Mike Lindell as RNC Chair. One accused the other of not being a patriot, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are both patriots, just patriots with differing views on what’s best for the party. Meanwhile, the no-longer-trying-tohide-the-left-wing-bias news media reports success after success for the Progressives. The true base of the Republican party, those favoring traditional values and America-first principles, are marginalized at best, criminalized and targeted for eradication at worst.
These are challenging times. One of the reasons people are so on edge is the sense of betrayal.
We feel betrayed by our justice system which punishes peaceful protestors (such as the J6ers) while exonerating those who riot, maim, and destroy in the name of a politically correct cause (BLM or Antifa). We feel betrayed by our electoral system, so obviously infiltrated and compromised, and again by our justice system which refuses to hear cases of election fraud in spite of overwhelming evidence. We feel betrayed by our elected officials who bear our party name but not, apparently, our values when it comes time to stand up and be counted.
We feel this sense of betrayal because we are at war, but it’s an unacknowledged one.
A particularly good article which explains so clearly the situation (written at the announcement of the formation of a long-overdue anti-woke caucus) is called “Woke Revolutionaries vs. Americanists” by Thomas D. Klingenstein and John Fonte who are, respectively, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Claremont Institute and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. (Click here for more information.)
In this piece, they assert, “National Socialism (Nazism) and Communism were the challenges for prior generations of Americans. ‘Wokeism’ is the challenge of our generation.” They go on to explain that the battle in this “Cold Civil War” is between woke revolutionaries who believe that America is and always has been systemically racist and thus must be destroyed and “Americanists” who believe “America is good, Continued on next page... Page 4 THE TIDE— MARCH 2023 “America is good, that its principles are the greatest antidote to racism ever created, and that preserving America and its principles is the highest and most urgent political calling. ”
One of the solutions Klingenstein and Fonte call for is for public officials to stand against wokeness: “Citizens desperately need to hear their elected leaders saying in public that the American way of life, the American regime, cannot possibly coexist with the woke regime, because the two regimes have utterly irreconcilable understandings of what constitutes a just society. This is what makes it a war. ” Alas, in the name of expediency, political correctness, or a host of other euphemistic labels, our public officials refuse to take such a stand.
Recently, to our great disappointment, we saw failed RNC leadership (Ronna McDaniel) be reinstated to lead us further down what looks like a dismal path. Now, in our own community, we’ve been told that OCGOP has early endorsed Scott Baugh, a candidate who has been defeated three times (and whom many have considered a vote divider), resulting in a win for Democrat candidates. Furthermore, a recent missive from OCGOP Chairman Fred Whittaker states, “the OCGOP Central Committee voted to endorse every single one of our incumbents up for election in 2024,” including Young Kim. The fact that party leadership is not listening to the cries of its base grieves my soul. It’s hard to preach “unity” when you feel like all those in power are concerned with is absorbing your time, energy, and money for pre-selected candidates, some of whom definitely merit the RINO (Republican in Name Only) label. We need only look at their voting records.
This problem was underscored by a letter I recently received from my Congresswoman, Young Kim.
I had contacted her recently and urged her to support H.R. 146, a bill that “prohibits the flying of any flag other than the United States flag over United States diplomatic and consular posts.” While Kim’s letter said she believes “our country should unite under the same flag that our valiant men and women in uniform have fought and died for,” when it came to what she plans to do should this legislation come to the House for consideration, she said, “rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind.” Young Kim promises to keep the request that only the U.S. flag should fly over diplomatic and consular posts “in mind”? How is that standing up for the values of her base or uniting our country under the flag that our soldiers fought and died for? I realize that some objectionable insertions to any bill might be made that might keep Kim or any other Congressperson from voting for a bill he or she would otherwise support, but Kim’s response still belies her reluctance to criticize and stand against the strong-arm tactics of the Left. Kim’s support of the House Resolution to censure President Trump in 2021 along with her vicious smear of fellow Republican Greg Raths in the last election reveal her true colors.
Yes, at some point, Republicans need to unify behind strong candidates who represent our true values and who can win. But this early endorsement may block otherwise stronger, better candidates from coming forward. Leadership might argue that since these incumbents were elected, they are the party’s choices. If we had election integrity in California, people might believe that. Our party’s leadership claims that “no voter fraud occurred in Orange County,” but most ordinary conservatives don’t buy that claim. The only conclusion I can draw from all that’s transpired is that we “Americanists” must stand together to preserve America. I don’t want to see our party destroyed and greatly hope it can be restored and transformed from within. But if I have to choose, and I hope I don’t, I’d choose to save my country rather than my party.
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