To Recall or Not to Recall...

I have been hearing a lot of views lately about Republicans, especially ones who hold titled positions, leading recalls of Michigan Republican legislators.

The argument I have heard against this is that as Republicans we should support Republicans no matter what and not risk our tenuous control of one house of the state legislature and risk our chance to build towards control of another. I find this argument to be ludicrous.

What I think gets forgotten in all of this argument about party identity and how we should support them as Republican activists is the basics of what the relationship between me and my elected officials is. They work for me, I went out and chose them to represent me, and if I feel they aren’t representing me then I have every right under Michigan law to demonstrate that through the recall process. Now I can’t personally speak to this because my state legislators Rep. Kim Meltzer and Sen. Alan Sanborn, did not vote for the tax increase that prompted these recall movements. However had they, even though I consider Rep. Meltzer a friend, who I have known personally since she was on the Clinton Township Board of Trustees and I worked with my friend on a Clinton Township TV infotainment piece, and I think Sen. Sanborn has served with distinction and good conservative values his entire career, if either of them voted for the tax increase, which is making it harder for me to find employment, I would be right there seeking a recall vote on them.

Another part that I think is missed by people is that a recall vote is just that, a vote, it is a group of citizens getting together and saying, “We don’t like the way you have been serving in your office, and we want to see if the rest of your constituents agree with us.” There is no guarantee that if these recall votes are held that they will be successful. However we are upset at our legislators and we have the right to act as private citizens, just because we gain a title in some Republican organization does not mean we forfeit the right to act as a private citizen who has a problem with the people we have given a trust to do what is in our best interests.

I am the Vice-Chairman of a county YR chapter, I am a former CR Chapter Chairman, and I am running for a statewide YR office, does this mean I need to give up the right to advocate as a human being with a political belief system. Does my seeking these and other offices mean that I give up my right to think for myself and act on what I think is best. Have I signed away my ability to be an independent thinker and now I have to be a drone of anyone who won an office with an R after their name. I don’t think so.

So to those who say that because you are an activist in a Republican organization you have to bend over to support Republicans who don’t act like Republicans I say this…I am a person, not a drone.