I went to an informative political meeting last night.
Our county GOP gave four candidates for governor a few minutes each for speeches.
Most people I know are agreed, we need to defeat Governor Whitmer in 2022. That was the main point last night. The unasked and unanswered question is - HOW? What kind of candidate and message will Michiganders prefer to Whitmer's governance?
Here's my quick take on each candidate:
Ralph Rebandt is a pastor from the suburbs of Detroit - anger is not a solution, and we need solutions.
Bob Scott is a local from Livingston County - not well-spoken, and a bit kooky and conspiratorial. It never works with the average Joe to say Whitmer WANTS to crash the economy.
Garrett Soldano started a popular Facebook group against MI Covid restrictions that got shut down, and he co-chaired the Unlock Michigan petition. Well-spoken, but his whole message was opposition to Whitmer. Invoked Trump and the Owosso barber.
Ryan Kelly is from Allendale. He had the best wide-ranging and specific speech. Anti-Communism, Critical Race Theory, cancel culture, BLM, and transgender agenda. Invoked God and Reagan.
It's very early in the process, but hearing each candidate speak, and the response of the crowd of 150-200, helped me sort some things out.
1. Anger is the main mood. Soldano and Kelly were by far most popular, and were 90% against things angrily, especially Whitmer, which got the most applause.
2. Rebandt and Scott were given the least time. Scott, with reason. But Rebandt's "anger is not a solution" message addressed directly what the crowd needed to hear. Because angry opposition is obviously what they wanted to hear. And he was not given the time to expand his case. I realized how much party operatives can mold messages and campaigns, giving more or less air time to the message they think the people want to hear. Do they ever consider what needs to be said? A statesman's call is to direct energy in the populace in constructive directions, not pander to and amplify energy and let it run wild. I didn't see much of the statesman last night. I saw a party hoping to turn out the vote based on anger. Yikes.
3. About 25% of the crowd wore something supporting Trump. The most popular candidate invoked him directly. The party needs to stop looking backward in anger, tied to a deeply unpopular president, and find a fresh face, or it is doomed. The emcee said at the beginning that if 51% of the country (GOP voters, she meant!) are split 50-50, we can't win. This is also very true.
4. Speaking well is essential to leadership. Flaws in this distract from the message and passion the speaker wants to convey to the audience. No flaws enhance the message and impression of the speaker.
5. On race. MLK's dream regarding race has come true in the Republican party, and this was evidenced last night. From what I could tell, there were less than five minorities in the whole crowd, which is typical of Livingston County. One is a school board member, two were African-Americans I didn't recognize. But MLK's dream was not that there be a proportionate number of minorities represented equally throughout the country. That is absurd.
It turned out one of the African Americans was a candidate for Secretary of State. She was very articulate and called for election integrity. Not once did she or the emcee introducing her mention her race or gender. The crowd responded as positively to her as the other speakers. They judged her by her message, not her identity.
This is how America should be.
6. Detroit police chief Craig has not surfaced as a candidate, despite rumors a couple weeks ago he was on the verge of announcing. He would dwarf these candidates. So my family was speculating last night what has happened. Did the GOP filter him out as not sufficiently conservative? Is he waiting until later? Did he decide against running? No idea.
7. Christians need to remember to keep their ultimate hope in the Lord, not a political candidate to defeat bad politicians. Going to a meeting like this isn't inherently idolatry, but it can express it, if your heart is misdirected in that way. Saying, as I do right now, "I hope Craig runs and that he's conservative," or, "I hope Rebandt wins," does not mean my ultimate hope is not in Jesus Christ to save and restore Michigan and all the nations.
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