Stop the Presses: A Republican I Could Vote For

John Williamson

Ran into my old pal John Williamson over the weekend and got a good look at a Republican candidate I could vote for. John's running for the board of supervisors in Botetourt County and is a likely winner because people know him, trust him and like him. He has always been a voice of good sense, moderation and insight. He'll be running against TeaParty people who carry anything but those traits.

He is the kind of candidate the Republicans need if they are to become relevant again. A new study by and of young Republicans (here) has concluded that the party is "closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.” That's blunt and sounds like it was uttered by a Democrat, but these youngsters want very much to be Republicans because they believe in the party's basic philosophy of smaller government and individual responsibility.

In a board of supervisors race, party affiliation doesn't--and certainly shouldn't--make any difference, but it has become necessary to identify with a party even in these elections.

There are efforts around Virginia--especially in light of the current state-wide ticket that is embarrassing the party and most Virginians nationally--to counter the far right's stranglehold on the GOP by running candidates from the middle. They're there, they're pissed and they're ready to do battle with the nutcases who would shut down government and turn this into a Monsanto of a country, one where even the most outrageous acts of rhetoric and action go unchallenged. Liberals incorrectly think Americans are too intelligent to fall for the stupidity of these morons and moderate Republicans (nearly an oxymoron) are to embarrassed to speak out.

This doesn't seem like a high enough level to make a difference, but it is the school boards, the city councils and county boards of supervisors and other local elected positions where the grass roots are watered. These are vital elections in rebuilding the base of a party gone astray.

John Williamson is and always has been a man of courage and conviction, a man known as a mentor to many in business from his days as a county administrator (he knows government inside-out) and CEO of Roanoke Gas. It is time now for him to teach us all and to get this train moving that will run down the TeaParty and get us back to some good sense in government--even if it's Republicans issuing that sense.