Photo obtained from Wikimedia Commons
Congressman Doug Collins (R-GA-09) has drawn an opponent in the Republican primary this coming May. Former teacher and Lanier Tea Party President Roger D. Fitzpatrick will be challenging Congressman Collins again. Fitzpatrick came in last place with 17% in the 2012 contest after redistricting left the 9th district open with no sitting congressman. From WDUN:
Fitzpatrick made his announcement Monday on WDUN’s Morning Talk, saying he knows there’s a growing dissatisfaction among conservatives in north Georgia with so-called establishment Republicans.
“It has to do with what’s going on with our representative in Washington,” said Fitzpatrick. “He’s voting with establishment, he’s voting with leadership and that’s not what we sent him up there to do.”
Where is the Party compass pointing when you have conservatives lamenting that their conservative congressman isn’t conservative enough. Not everyone can be Ted Cruz (thank goodness) and have a perfect score from the Heritage Foundation’s PAC. I’ve tweeted my opinion on effectiveness and these conservative scorecards:
Just because you get a 100% @Heritage rating doesn’t make you an effective legislator. #gop #gagop #gapol
— Nathan A. Smith (@Nathan_A_Smith) December 4, 2015
Photo obtained from Tea Party Cheer
Some may consider a “do nothing” Congress and Congressmen and Senators who consistently vote “no” the best form of representative government, but I believe we can do something better and at least move the ball down the field in terms of better policy.
We aren’t going to get everything we want especially with a Democrat as President, but it seems like there are people who would rather see Republicans who don’t receive a 95%+ rating from Heritage or any other get defeated than Democrats. Of course, I believe there is a lot of overlap between that and those who believe that Donald Trump is a conservative.
Before people start commenting on how I’m in the bag for all of our Republican incumbents, I’m not. I don’t believe in an “incumbent protection program”. If someone feels led to run for office, then they should, but I wonder how many do it just to take a jab at the (seemingly nebulous) #Establishment with no real plan or expectation to lead or govern. Or, to put it succinctly, “we elected a Republican who votes with his fellow Republicans, we must defeat him.”