It isn’t only Reagan Democrats, (increasingly extinct) moderate Republicans, independents and traditional conservatives who are being turned off by Tea Party Republicans and the more extreme parts of the party’s talk radio political culture. It’s also some young Republicans. And now there’s a bit of news that is bad “branding” for far-right conservatives: a top young Republican in Mississippi is leaving his party — to join the Democrats. The Clarion-Ledger’s Sam R. Hall reports:
The chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans has resigned his post and “will be changing my party affiliation to Democrat in the next few days.”
Evan Alvarez resigned his post this morning, which was made public by a release sent out by MFCR with a copy of his resignation. In the letter, he says that tea party activists have too much of a voice in the party, “and because of that, the platform of the Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion.” In a separate email to me, he says he has already begun talking with Democrats about joining their party.
First, here’s the background:
Alvarez’s resignation comes after the MFCR board decided not to remove Kolby Busby from the organization. Busby faced impeachment charges because he issues two robocalls on behalf of Chris McDaniel in the Republican Party primary and primary runoff for U.S. Senate. In the robocalls, Busby affiliated himself with MFCR, which violates the organization’s policy of remaining neutral in primaries.
Alvarez came under scrutiny from McDaniel supporters and some members of MFCR who criticized him and others for openly supporting incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. Alvarez defended individual members’ support of either candidate so long as they were not doing so in an official capacity with MFCR.
Here’s the full resignation letter run by Hall:
I over the last 48 hours or so, I have been in deep thought about the future of MFCR and of the Republican Party. I have come to the conclusion that I no longer want to be the leader of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans. I refuse to simply let people break the rules and think they don’t have to answer for their actions, admit they were wrong, or even apologize. When I ran for Chairman in the spring, I ran to be Chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College REPUBLICANS, not the Mississippi Federation of College “Tea Partiers”. Also, I believe that the Republican Party has allowed these groups of extremist to have too much of a voice and because of that, the platform of the Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion. For example, the drastic cuts on needed federal funding that these groups of Republican extremists support would leave society weak and crippled. Secondly, their far right stance on immigration is not only ignorant, but it is cruel. After all our country is a nation of immigrants and should welcome immigrants from every country. My father was an immigrant from Cuba and came to America in 1959 because of the freedom that this nation offers. This freedom should be available to each and every individual that wants to come work hard and pursue his or her goals in America. Finally, I believe the Republican Party has not done enough to put a stop to the hatred and cruel words and actions of the far right extremist in the party. The Republican Party consistently says they are trying to appeal to minorities, but this will never happen when we allow members of party to say cruel and ignorant things about Women, African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities in our country. I simply cannot be apart of organization that have members who support these far right extremist views, much less be the Chairman of the organization. So in conclusion, I, Evan Alvarez, am hereby resigning my position as Chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans, as well as my membership at the Mississippi State Chapter of MFCR. This change is effective immediately!
There is so much in this statement that those who’ve been alienated from the GOP –0 people who would love to see a strong, affirmative alternative to the Democratic Party — will understand and agree with.
Let’s recap a few and boldface them:
When I ran for Chairman in the spring, I ran to be Chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College REPUBLICANS, not the Mississippi Federation of College “Tea Partiers”. Also, I believe that the Republican Party has allowed these groups of extremist to have too much of a voice and because of that, the platform of the Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion.
And:
Finally, I believe the Republican Party has not done enough to put a stop to the hatred and cruel words and actions of the far right extremist[s] in the party.
There’s a lot more but you could almost take this and the D.O.A. Republican Party “autopsy” after Mitt Romney’s and the GOP’s 2012 defeat and run them side by side. They are almost one and the same.
But the Tea Party is bolstered by the conservative political entertainment media and by some on the Internet so the voices of (potential) Republicans, young and old, who want to see a politics focused on solving problems, fostering consensus, and expanding the party’s tent get drowned out. Or beaten down by the powerful talk radio and ideological cable hosts, who serve as managers of political think town halls, setting the narratives.
I suspect Alvarez won’t be the only young person who was ready to cast his lot with the GOP who’ll either become an independent or join the Democrats because he’s so turned off by what he sees in his first choice for a political party.
It’s a generational problem — put into clear focus by Alvarez’s resignation statement. And, of course, he’ll now be called a RINO. Given how the Republican Party is increasingly being perceived as the Tea Party and its supporters seemingly maintain a strangle hold on the party, someone considered a “RINO” may be considered admirable by an increasingly large chunk of the American electorate.
Read Hall’s report in full.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.