The chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans’ (MFCR) announced on Monday he was resigning and planned to become a Democrat following a brutal U.S. Senate primary.
"The Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion,” Evan Alvarez wrote in a resignation statement sent out by MFCR, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. “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,'" Alvarez said.
The resignation came after the MFCR board decided to not impeach the organization’s executive director, Kolby Busby, for publicly endorsing state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the GOP primary against U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. McDaniel eventually lost the race in a runoff.
“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,” Alvarez wrote in his resignation statement.
He then went on to criticize the Republican Party, saying the platform has allowed “groups of extremist to have too much of a voice.”
You know unless the Teabaggers follow through on their threats of starting their own political party, I think we will see a lot more of this kind of defection in the future.
I mean at some point if you are a Republican you have to take stock of your beliefs and ask yourself if they are in line with those spouted by the folks who claim to be the base of your party.
You know I could see myself feeling I could no longer in good conscience call myself a Democrat.
But there is no way, and I mean NO way, that I would ever defect to the Republican side of the aisle.
I do wonder about someone who would make an instant switch from one party to another, especially for a person obviously interested in being involved with party hierarchy. I would think that there would need to be some time involved in rethinking your beliefs before jumping headfirst into the opposite pool of thought.
ReplyDeleteI spent a bit of time when very young as a member of the mindless church inspired group of anti abortion fools. My beliefs changed rather rapidly as I became more aware of all the issues and realities but I needed time to formulate and articulate my new convictions before I became a fervently vocal supporter of the right to choose.
Maybe he had been mulling it over for some time, and reached his tipping point with that issue...
DeleteHow do you know how much time he spent contemplating this move?
DeleteAnd some people's brains work faster and more efficiently than others, also, too.
You are both absolutely correct. I was just stating my view of it.
DeleteSorry, Olivia, but I don't get the impression he made "an instant switch" here. From the sounds of it, he was waiting patiently and hoped the party would oust the executive director. When they failed to do that THEN he resigned. It sounded to me as though he was actually about half fed up anyway, but this was the final straw.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is there may be many Republicans defecting from their party to the Democrats. They aren't Democrats, they haven't changed their beliefs. Instead of fighting for their party and what they believe in, they are flooding to the alternative. That means that true Democrats and Progressives will be forced to the right or out of their party.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats cannot allow a shift to the right in the party to accommodate Republicans who won't stand up for what they believe in within their own party.
DeleteAs always, BearWoman @7:13, well said!
There are too many Republicans masquerading as Blue Dog Democrats in both houses of Congress, who have been undermining any and all Progressive ideas and legislative efforts for a long time, pulling the nation into an ever more conservative direction.
I Whole heartedly agree.
DeleteOld republicans are so set in their ways, they'll never leave the party no matter how much it has morphed into extreme extremism. Hopefully, the younger members will have the integrity that their elders lack. Bravo, Evan!
ReplyDelete“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.”
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you, Mr. Alvarez. I, too, became more and more disenchanted as I grew older and began to pay more attention politically. The 2000 presidential election was the final straw, I switched to indie, and never looked back. Biggest perk? No robocalls.
The Western Conservative Summit is being held in July in Denver Co. and Twitchy Sarah is scheduled to make her appearance the 19th, it will be interesting to see how many attend. All the usual suspects will be there, Cruz,West, Jindal and Bachmann. They are actually holding a workshop entitled Engage To Win Persuasion Bootcamp sounds like a cult which is pretty much what these nuts,carny's like Palin need to make their money now because the Tea Party is dying off and when President Obamas term in office is done the Tea Party will be on life support because their main gripe will no longer be in office.
ReplyDeleteIf Hillary runs and wins they'll trade their racism for misogyny.
DeleteHere in MS, even the Democrats are right of center!
ReplyDeleteEven a person who isn't that involved in American politics is aware that in order to back the Republican agenda, one must either be a multi-millionaire (the only people standing to benefit from their causes) or not have a working brain cell.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to imagine that college kids, at least the ones doing studying instead of partying, ever turn into rightwing jihadists.
But, then again, the propaganda is strong. The 70% of citizens who demanded healthcare reform, became the 70% who HATE "Obamacare," thanks to the hundreds of millions spent buying their opinions.
Ingratiate one's way into 'enemy' camp and filch the donor mailing list eh? Clever move but I don't trust a recovering repug anymore than I trust one securely in the fold.
ReplyDeleteThere's absolutely no way I'd change to the GOP. Although I agree with what he says, this guy's "conversion" sounds a bit questionable. The teabaggers didn't nose their way under the tent yesterday, Boehner held the door open and welcomed them in years ago.
ReplyDeleteOT. Three dimensional chess with one hand tied behind his back. President Obama does it again!!!
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/07/01/obama-flat-tells-boehner-republican-party-sue-me.html