12th District Senate Race: None of the Above
[Update 10/22/08: We received a response from Becky Ruppe yesterday. Click here to read and/or discuss Ruppe's response.]
Absent a response from 12th District State Senate candidate Becky Ruppe to our question about why Democrats — especially liberal ones — should vote for her on November 4, the administrators of Scott County Liberals & Friends have decided to withdraw our endorsement of her candidacy. We do this not out of spite or a misplaced sense of pique– believe me, we have no delusions of power or influence as opinion-makers in East Tennessee. Neither do we necessarily take issue with her self-described status as “a conservative leader” or her apparent efforts to disassociate herself and her campaign from the Democratic Party; we knew these things going in. Rather, we are disheartened by her willingness to exploit anti-gay and anti-secularist sentiment in order to beckon conservative voters in her direction.
We know all too well that progressivism makes nary a blip on Tennessee’s political radar despite localized pockets of activism and the best efforts of a vibrant liberal blogosphere. Still, our minority-opinion status doesn’t give politicians license to marginalize or belittle ordinary citizens whose concerns fall largely outside the political mainstream. In using a widely-distributed campaign flyer to point out bloggers and blog commenters who are concerned about how she might act on social issues, Becky Ruppe has done her small part to further polarize a divided nation. She appears to want the voters of District Twelve to vote against certain types of people every bit as much as she wants us to vote for her. If this is Becky Ruppe’s brand of leadership, all we can say is thanks, but no thanks.
In initially endorsing Becky Ruppe, our hope for a Democratic Party majority in the Tennessee State Senate overshadowed our concerns about Ruppe’s conservatism. In all honesty, we figured we were seeing a Democrat steer to the right on token social issues in order to win– as Democrats often feel they have to do. Last week’s campaign circular dispelled our illusions. There can be little doubt that Becky Ruppe is a red-meat social conservative, and one who won’t hesitate to play one group against another. Given that she doesn’t seem to care which party gains control of the Tennessee Senate (she has described the question as “hoopla”), we see no compelling reason to give her our endorsement, support, or votes.
As gay rights activist Jim Maynard has observed, it’s sometimes better to lose on principle than to win by sacrificing one’s principles. We can’t afford to settle for just any ol’ Democrat, much less one who campaigns on fear and loathing.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I will vote for BECKY RUPPE!