By Carter Bundy
One of the most common refrains in politics is that each of the major parties should be tolerant of a wide range of views. As a general rule, the party with the biggest tent tends to win elections. And winning elections is the primary purpose of the two major parties.
To have a big tent, a party has to accept that not all of its members, and not even all of its leaders, will agree on every issue or every candidate. Democrats have benefited over the last two cycles from a relentless Republican purge of voices who don’t toe the party line.
The GOP’s ferocious ideological purity has ensured that only a hard-core group of hawkish, evangelical, big-business advocates consistently vote their way.
There are only two regions of America where those purists are strong enough to give the GOP a majority: the Deep South and a largely unpopulated swath of land stretching from just east of the Cascades through the Great Plains.
Ideological and issue purity is a sure way to marginalize one’s own party. Having said that, each party is also a private organization with an obligation to its registered voters, active members and elected officials to ensure that it is not being directly sabotaged from within.
Internal sabotage is exactly what’s happening with former state representative Robert Aragon. Aragon is not only registered as a Democrat, he’s a member of the state party’s governing central committee.
Aragon’s recent decision to become an active member of the Republican state and national political machines, as witnessed by his participation in the announcement for a Republican campaign for Congressional District 1, should result in his dismissal from the Democratic State Central Committee.
Bipartisanship can be good
When one decides to join one of the major parties, that doesn’t mean that one will support every plank in a party platform, nor each candidate the party nominates. My last column, for example, highlights an issue (hate-crime legislation) where I am far more libertarian than other Democrats.
Further, both the union for which I work and I as an individual have, on more than a handful of occasions, supported Republicans. Even though I generally disagree with their philosophies, in some districts and with some candidates, the Republican is either the better alternative for issues I care about or the only viable candidate.
And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with reaching across the aisle on policy matters, as often happens at the Roundhouse. Bipartisanship unquestionably has an important role in our system and should be embraced.
DINOs — not just Bedrock pets
What Aragon did last week, particularly given his position within the Democratic Party, is entirely different.
A little background is important here: Aragon supported GOP congressional candidate Darren White for CD 1 in 2008. He also was a vocal supporter of John McCain.
With all due respect to Aragon, if you’re a Dem who is so opposed to Obama that you have to publicly switch allegiances at election time, AND you’re opposed to a very mainstream pro-gun Democrat who fits the district well like Martin Heinrich, ummm… why are you a Democrat again?
It’d be one thing if Aragon were merely registered Dem and didn’t feel like changing his registration. It’d also be different if he simply quietly voted for Republicans. But the man’s on the state central committee — the body responsible for drafting the party’s platform and developing the party’s strategy to win elections. And he’s regularly choosing to make a big publicity play on behalf the other party.
Tolerance isn’t sabotage
Given that the governor’s race seems about as big an uphill climb for the GOP as one can have in an open seat in a swing state like New Mexico, and Republicans are unlikely to take back the state House of Representatives, the CD 1 race is going to be at the heart of the 2010 elections.
You really shouldn’t be on the governing body of an organization that exists to win elections if you’re consistently working against that organization’s candidates in key elections. It’s intellectually dishonest, deceitful and an embarrassment to both the mole and the party allowing it.
I’m not saying Aragon can’t support whomever he wants. He can and should. I’m not even saying he can’t remain a Democrat. He can.
But the governing body of the Democratic Party shouldn’t allow a mole to continue to participate in its innermost strategies and shape its policies while simultaneously working for its opponents on one of the most important races in the next two years.
Aragon has chosen to officially participate in the campaign of a Republican who stands against most every Democratic principle and policy. His free choice should have consequences.
It’s time for the state Democratic Party and Bernalillo County Democratic Party to draw the line between big-tent tolerance and internal sabotage by expelling Aragon from its central committee and any other official party positions.
Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME in New Mexico. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com.