Dakota Beacon

There are a lot of agendas being served in the national and state Republican party. As you listen/read the news, social media, blogs, and radio, it is difficult to know what to think. It can be difficult to filter through the noise and bias to know what is true.

One of the establishment narratives is that the state GOP is out of control and being run by a bunch right wing nuts . I happen to disagree. I believe the party is under solid leadership. They know what they believe and actually invite serious debate, and they support the platform and ideals of the party.

I must admit my generation (including me) has not done an adequate job of translating the foundational message of freedom to our children. In fact, we have contributed to attitudes of complacency, indifference and put them in danger of “falling for the narrative.”

Things are not OK, and they won’t necessarily take care of themselves. Protection from nefarious influence and power that corrupts comes from a solid base of a philosophy which bears the truth from trusted sources. Sources that have historical precedence and have stood the test of time.

What do I mean by narrative versus philosophy? It all boils down to what drives a person to become involved in the political process.

Is it the sanctity of life, local control, lower taxes, the centrality of private property rights in the pursuit of happiness or does it involve going with the flow of what‘s acceptable to those established in positions of power so no one can disagree with what is presented as “fact”?

Is it deciding that certain things are worth standing for and that “we the people” really are the voice that matters and not that of the state? Is there a difference in someone who believes there are certain philosophies that transcend all distinctions such as office, class, socio-economic status, race and gender and those who believe that every situation is relative and calls for its own rules? 

Shouldn’t it follow Lord Acton’s quote that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” that the same moral standards should apply to all people, regardless of their station in life? Acton goes on to challenge the person in the position of membership in a legislative body: “There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”

I’ll admit that these are high-sounding thoughts and that truth and freedom and their relationship to the discussion might be hard to follow, but given our relatively recent departure from the tenets of individual rights and our embrace of a more statist stance on basic issues has made me take a long hard look at what I would stand up for and even die for.

Could I stand with the likes of Nathan Hale, Patrick Henry or even Thomas Jefferson who said, “Error of opinion can be tolerated if reason is left free to combat it.”

I call on conservatives to push back on the progressive narrative and fight for the ideals that made America great!

Emineth is a North Dakota native businessman and political activist. He is a former executive director and chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party. Emineth has served on the Republican National Committee and chaired numerous presidential campaigns in North Dakota. He is the host of “The Legislature Today” and “Open Range” daily TV shows on BEK. He is a serial entrepreneur and has 40-plus years of business experience with multi-national companies. He has traveled the world extensively and has served as CEO and president of mid-tier companies.