(Editorial by Erik Setzer)
The Florida Times-Union published an article Wednesday, May 26, detailing a number of the expenses that showed up on the Republican Party of Florida’s credit card statements, which were recently released to the public. Reaction among many has been shock and dismay, especially among Republicans, but some have come out in defense of the party. Let’s examine a couple of those defenses.
First defense: “We need to see the Democrats’ credit card reports too!”
Okay, sure, it would be great to see what the Democrats in Florida have been doing with their own credit cards. But are we members of the Democrat Party of Florida? No. Do we, as Republicans, claim to hold to a higher standard – especially on the subject of fiscal responsibility – than Democrats? Yes. So then, what difference does it make what the Democrats did? Would it suddenly make it right for us to have done wrong if they also did wrong? Of course not! Wrong is still wrong, even if both parties are committing acts that are wrong. If the Democrats do wrong, that does not make our own wrongdoing suddenly acceptable. It is still wrong.
Second defense: “It was donor money, not taxpayer money.”
This somehow makes it better? Perhaps I am a little selfish in my regard with this position, but I have donated a decent amount to my local Republican Executive Committee, which is part of the RPOF. My donations were to aid the party in electing Republican candidates, to give them extra funding to donate to campaigns or advertising, not to present opportunities for someone to spend my money to have a good time. I sincerely doubt that any donors gave away their hard-earned money to allow someone at the top of the party establishment to show himself to a good time.
Both of these are incredibly lousy defenses. Worse, they are trying to excuse behavior that is frankly inexcusable. How can we claim to be a party of fiscal responsibility when our own party leaders cannot exercise responsibility with party funds? How can we claim that we are better than the Democrat Party when we perform actions such as this, and then try to gloss them over by saying that the Democrats probably do the same thing?
These excuses are akin to telling a child upon doing something wrong that they were okay in doing so and finding a reason to support that notion, rather than scolding the child for doing wrong and seeking to punish them. How can you expect the child to learn when you do that? Similarly, how can we expect our party leadership to learn when we make excuses for them rather than holding them accountable?
The Republican Party of Florida leadership failed in their duties, and it is our duty, as Republicans, to hold them accountable for their actions and to let them know that there will be consequences for such actions. Whether it’s holding back funding in the form of donations, or calling them out, or something else, we need to make sure that our party leaders always know that it is not alright to simply abuse their position while expecting us to defend them.
Otherwise, we become nothing more than a party of hypocrites.
Loading ...
Mon, May 31, 2010
Homepage Featured Story, RLCNEF Blog