Guest Column: Gary Trauner

Bucking Partisanship The Western Way

By Gary Trauner, 2-26-07

One fine day last summer during my campaign for Wyoming’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, I happened to knock on the door of a leader of her local Republican Party – let’s call her Mrs. Lincoln (not her real name, but appropriate).  She invited me in to her home, and over the next twenty minutes we had one of the more interesting discussions of my entire campaign.  We agreed that partisanship is not inherently bad – it can allow people of like-mind, with similar philosophies, to band together for support and to promote their views.  However, much to my amazement, Mrs. Lincoln decried the blind and bitter partisanship she saw nationally, and even locally, in her own party.  To illustrate her point, she asked if I thought Republicans were inherently stronger on national security.  As you might imagine, I did not.  She then asked (rhetorically, I hope) if I changed parties tomorrow, would I be any stronger on national security as a Republican than as a Democrat.  The absurdity of it all was immediately clear.

This story came to mind while reading a recent interview in Newsweek with Vice President Cheney. I was floored, but hardly surprised, by his quote in regard to a question about Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.  The Vice President stated “Let’s say I firmly believe in Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”

Wow.

Is it really true that we should refrain from holding people accountable or responsible simply because of the party label they have chosen for themselves? Should I have blindly supported Republicans Mark Foley (inappropriate behavior with minors) and Duke Cunningham (bribery) or Democrat William Jefferson (likely bribery, cash in freezer) just because they might have checked the same box I did when I registered to vote? 

Our founding fathers foresaw this problem, and it worried them.  Deeply.  George Washington, in his farewell address in 1796, looks like a veritable fortuneteller.  He said:

“… to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; … to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests…serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions…

Throughout my campaign, I maintained that the biggest problem we have in our national government today is blind allegiance to party – on both sides.  Even as Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill disagreed bitterly about policy, it was said that they could enjoy a drink together after the workday.  Could the same be said today about almost any leading Republican and Democrat?  Personal attacks and blind party allegiance are poisoning our discourse and closing the door on real solutions to difficult issues.

This has real consequences for those of us in the West who are looking to government to act as a true partner in dealing with difficult, emotional and seemingly intractable issues: health care, energy development, or balancing growth with our natural wonders.  Regionally, we are moving to pragmatic leaders who value substance over slogan, people over party.  Leaders like Dave Freudenthal in Wyoming, Brian Schweitzer in Montana and, yes, even Arnold Schwarzenegger in California (okay, at least in his second term). These leaders are not about personal attacks or cheap slogans like “Cut and run,” “stay the course,” or “socialized medicine.” They are more interested in looking for serious solutions to complex issues.

I have spent my career starting and growing small businesses.  While every business should have a Business Plan, the dynamics of the free market usually force you at some point to review the plan.  Not listening to differing views or being open to new ideas will reliably result in the harshest judgment the market can bestow – going out of business.  A good business leader cannot afford to ignore market realities while holding to a rigid ideology – and the same is true for our elected officials.  However, as George Washington so presciently foresaw, without consequences, without the people zealously guarding our democracy by putting blindly partisan politicians out of business, we risk nothing less than the future of our nation.

I knocked on nearly 20,000 doors across Wyoming last year.  The question I was asked most often was simple yet searing in its message: “How do I know you’re not going to become one of them?” This question came from people across the economic and political spectrums.  “Them” did not have a label attached to it – it did not mean Democrat or Republican or Libertarian or whatever.  It meant DC.  It meant professional politicians who had lost touch. It meant putting blind partisanship ahead of doing the right thing.

We Westerners pride ourselves on our independence of thought and spirit.  We value strength and self-reliance.  We, the people, have it in our power to break the cycle of blind allegiance to party; to hold our elected officials to a higher standard.  This is, after all, our nation.

Demand integrity.  Demand the truth.  Demand solutions and accountability. We can accept nothing less.

Gary Trauner is a family man, businessman and entrepreneur who moved to Wyoming 18 years ago and lives in Wilson with his wife Terry and their two young boys.  He ran for Wyoming’s lone seat in Congress in 2006, narrowly losing to a 6-term incumbent.

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