How should we react to alleged leaders in the second category?
It will depend what sort you are dealing with.
The wrong-headed individuals within an otherwise worthwhile party? Try to reason with them. It could be that you are finding fault with an idea or policy that they haven’t fully thought through. (Unless, of course, the one with the wrong idea is actually you.)
For those who fail the competence test either ethically or functionally — get involved locally. Speak with the party representative’s overseeing candidate selection. Do not let that candidate run unchallenged. Rally around a better candidate, or throw your own hat in the ring.
If party brass do not cooperate, stand up to them. Become a member and speak up in meetings. Let your voice be heard. Choke off their donations until they do cooperate. You might even be able to modify the nomination rules so that The Party’s favorite candidates cannot be “parachuted in” without the consent of citizens living in that jurisdiction, or better still, that the brass remain neutral until the local membership has made their decision.
Equivalent strategies were proven effective with the Tea Party groups in the last “midterm elections”.
If the party itself is too deeply flawed, you will have two options. Neither one is easy. Both will take work, drive and commitment. And this is the ground figuratively littered with the bodies of pragmatists.
Unless you are the type to “let your chains rest lightly upon you”, this will prove a long and difficult fight. If you don’t have a clear idea of what – specifically — your goal is, you will probably give up before it really starts (the status quo types are banking on this).
One option is the path of Wilberforce. Commit to spending a lifetime plugging away, within the system. Fight and do not grow weary. Refresh your strength every day, and jump back into the fray. Wilberforce began his fight as a youth, and finally saw victory from his deathbed.
The second is the path of Lincoln. Abandon a hopeless party entrenched in its ways, and start fresh. It, too, is hard work virtually guaranteed not to have early success. Even if successful, results will be uncertain. Canada went through this process recently (see: Reform Party) with mixed results.
If you plan to fight, first know with certainty WHY you are fighting. Rudderless pragmatists can but stumble and fall.
Image: Memorial statue of William Wilberforce in Westminster Abbey, London; author: Slp1; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
