By Jack Koenig -
When a married person cheats on their spouse, the spouse may forgive them once, but seldom a second time. Cheating on your spouse is called betrayal and if you use “everyone is doing it” as your excuse, think again. According to the University of Chicago’s continuing study on male sexuality, male fidelity is in the high 70%s and female fidelity is even higher.
Why am I bringing this up? In much the same manner betrayal can shatter the bonds of marriage, betrayal can also shatter the bonds between an organization and its members. A case in point is the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). When the “leadership” of the BSA betrayed their members by caving into the homosexuals and accepting them in “leadership” positions the end was all but assured. But when they also caved into the feminists by allowing girls to become members, it was all over.
In the case of political organizations where the members are the elected committeemen and the supporters are those who contribute money, time, and effort, the shattering occurs when the membership takes their supporters for granted. In Illinois, history suggests that when the Republican Party gave voters “Scuzzball” Ryan (my opinionated tag) in 1999 as their gubernatorial candidate, it opened a fissure in the Republican Party that was never to heal. It seems that as far as the republican “leadership” was concerned, “as long as he had an ‘R’ after his name, he was good.” Unfortunately for them, that’s not how their supporters viewed it.
When the West Deerfield Township Republican Party betrayed supporters by purchasing land from the township assessor’s family to build their grandiose “Taj Mahal” township headquarters, their betrayed constituents threw them out of office along with the firewall between Cook and Lake Counties. As to be expected, the township Republican Party blamed the loss on changing demographics.
When Lake County Republicans elected officials openly suggested compassion for the disgraced chairman of the Lake County Board (a Republican) who used a county credit card for his own personal piggy bank, their supporters retaliated by voting out most county Republicans through abstention or by voting for the Democrats. The Republicans floated “compassion” because the chairman had an addiction issue. Addiction issue? Tell that to the poor “Joe Schmo” who just did prison time for doing something similar.
The above compassion appeal is a perfect example of “words have consequences” and still another example of betrayal. The Republican’s betrayal cost them control of Lake County government… forever. But that’s not what the Republican “leadership” is claiming. To hear them tell it, they were swept out of office because of Rauner and changing demographics. Uh huh. You can bet a dollar to a donut all remaining Republicans will lose their offices in the 2020 elections.
And that brings us back full circle to the governor’s office currently held by Rauner, a “Republican” who betrayed everyone. Many argue Rauner had zero leadership skills, zero organizational skills, and zero management skills. A big fat zero which seems to epitomize today’s Republican Party.
Borrowing a phase recently used by the despicable Hillary Clinton, the Republican Party is nothing more than a giant “nothing burger.” Swiss cheese with that burger anyone?
Jack Koenig
Past 3rd Vice Chair of the Lake County Republican Party
Past Communications Chair – Women’s Republican Club of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff
Past 1st Vice Chair – West Deerfield Township Republican Party
Past State Chairman, President, and CEO of United We Stand America – Illinois
