Succession of political power by majority vote is sacred to our Republic

The Alaska Republican Party entered untrodden ground Jan. 31 when the outgoing state party leadership chose not to accept the legitimately elected state chair, but instead staged a coup against him just hours before his term was set to begin. In doing so, these party leaders have unwittingly laid siege to the very sacred fabric that our Republic was founded on —respect for the succession of political power by popular vote.

Before we are so quick to give up this foundational right that was purchased on bloodstained battlefields by our ancestors, consider the oath you took the last time you pledged allegiance to the flag: “… and to the Republic, for which it stands.” What does it stand for? It stands for the freedom to choose your own leaders by popular vote and have that vote respected by both the winner and the loser. The state party just violated that sacred principle for internal political or personality differences.

You see, our soldiers didn’t purchase this right with their own blood just for individual politicians or political party bosses who come and go like the change in seasons. They gave their lives for an ideal, a principle, a dream. They died for our Constitution, our law, our right to choose. Don’t dishonor their memories by casting aside this sacred principle of freely choosing the succession of our elected leadership by popular vote — right here, right now, right under our noses.

We chose a new leadership team at the 2012 state convention by means of a free and fair election. Just because the past administration didn’t like who was elected, it is no excuse to circumvent the election results. Doing so places cracks in the foundation of the very institution that placed them in power in the first place.

It does not matter whether or not you personally like Russ Millette. His qualities for leadership were determined and voted on by a majority of our state delegates at the 2012 Republican State Convention and therefore are not subject for debate. The issue here for debate is our adherence to our own party rules and the sacred tradition of honoring the succession of political power by majority vote. If we are too morally weak to challenge this evil, our party will be hopelessly corrupted. You may argue that the old administration was just too powerful, too connected and too indispensable to be replaced by a free election. Charles de Gaulle once said, “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”

Where are our elected representatives, our district officers or our state delegates on this grievous sin committed against Millette, the party rules and our flag? To quote Theodore Roosevelt, “They have no more backbone than a chocolate éclair.” Those who are silent now and accept this vicious evil in our big tent for the sake of “party unity” remind me of the person King Solomon referred to when he said in Proverbs 25:26, “Like a trampled spring and a polluted well Is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.”

If we toss aside the results of free elections, our Constitution and the Republican experiment of self-government will come to an end. Lack of moral courage in standing up to tyrants who don’t honor the results of free elections is what kills democracies. If we lose our moral courage now we will sound like T.S. Elliott, who said, “This is the way the world ends; not with a bang, but a whimper.”

Let me point out the fallacy in just rallying around Debbie Brown and calling for “party healing” because she was lucky enough to survive her political inquisition for the present, and soon forgetting about the political assassination of Millette. While we all rejoice and gather around and support Brown, it does not give us the excuse for quickly forgetting the evil done to Millette and not setting the evil right. Our ancestors pledged their lives, their fortunes and their scared honor to purchase your sacred right to vote and have that vote honored. Show them you are worthy to be called their descendants.

I propose all 40 state districts reject the result of the coup and recognize Millette as the rightly elected chair of the Alaska Republican Party and Brown as the vice chair until the 2014 State Convention.

Breaking our own rules and the rules of our republic for the “good of the party” (whatever that may be) is never acceptable. I believe that the succession of political power by majority vote is sacred to our republic and shall not be infringed.

Daniel Hamm lives in Palmer and is an international Boeing 747 freight pilot.