"Members of both political parties in our local government, in Nashville and in Washington must ditch the idea that someone is the enemy if they aren’t in lockstep on every issue."

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Hardline politics is destroying our country
The Jackson Sun editorial, September 6, 2014

Gov. Bill Haslam is a traitor to the Republican Party because some of his supporters backed efforts in primary elections to unseat incumbent Republican state legislators.

That’s what state Rep. Rick Womick of Murfreesboro says, anyway.

Let us go on the record here saying definitively: That is absolutely ridiculous.

For one thing, the article on Womick’s comments we saw by The Associated Press presented no evidence that Haslam had any hand in directing what his supporters did. Either way, Womick appears hypocritical because he supported the primary opponent of U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a senior statesman in our country and one of the most respected Republican leaders in our state.

Womick’s issue is that a political action committee involving Haslam supporters tried to defeat incumbent Republicans who are opposed to Common Core education standards, which Haslam’s administration supports.

“You had the head of our party targeting individual members because we don’t agree with him 100 percent of the time; that’s treason,” Womick said in the article by The Associated Press. “That’s a traitor to the party.”

The entire scenario is a perfect example of what is wrong with party politics in our country. And the problem exists in both major parties.

We see it when U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, minority leader in the House of Representatives, pressure Democrats to vote a certain way or face consequences.

We see it at the state level, where lawmakers are forced to put the interests of their party ahead of interests of their districts.

We even see it at the local level when we hear that one person in a primary isn’t a real Republican.

People within political parties must be free to disagree on issues without worrying about their standing within the party. They must be free to find common ground and work with members of the other party. They must be free to vote their conscience without fear of retribution from their own party.

This is certainly not happening in Washington, which is why we see gridlock and hear accusations of a do-nothing Congress.

Do we agree with Gov. Haslam on everything? No, and you see evidence of that on this page. But that doesn’t make him a traitor. In fact, we agree with him more often than not, and we trust that he ultimately wants what is best for Tennessee.

Members of both political parties in our local government, in Nashville and in Washington must ditch the idea that someone is the enemy if they aren’t in lockstep on every issue.

Failure to do so is hurting our country and will ultimately be its undoing.

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