ON PARTISANSHIP & US
We are not, nor do we aspire to be, a political party
The common thread that binds a political party is its ideology as expressed in a party platform. The current platforms of the Clallam County Republican Party and the Clallam County Democrats run about 4 single spaced pages each. Most of their platforms are devoted policy prescriptions (where most people will disagree) and not basic guiding principles (where unity can be crafted). There is also an overemphasis on National issues, which do not seem to make sense in a local county party platform. When you as a candidate approach a political party for support, you will be expected to uphold ideological party line (including National issues). In fact, the Clallam County Democrats state in the preamble to their platform that: "We expect Democratic candidates and Democratic elected officials to hold these values." There is no room for independence.
When you approach the us for help and guidance, the first discussion we will have with you will be over your electability. We will then talk of character, experience and leadership. We will discuss whether or not you have the motivation and passion to see a campaign through to the end. We will discuss whether or not you are serious about the challenge of governing or simply desire a soapbox to air factious propositions. Finally, there is that intangible: heart-of-service. It is important from a passion and commitment standpoint as well as how it affects your electability. Without it, an independent candidacy is an uphill climb all the way. When all of this is done we may get around to talking ideology. Maybe not.
We do not engage with extremists at either end of the ideological spectrum. Ideologues of either flavor: Bernie Sanders Marxists or Anti-Government TEA Partiers, lack the heart-of-service to their communities. We find them unelectable as independent candidates and of little use to the community if somehow elected.
Some in the media take this all for a whole lot of baloney. Therefore, we must be some kind of conspirators with some kind of hidden agenda. The fact that you do not see any of the usual suspect conspiracy theories listed on the pages of this site is just proof of how sneaky and underhanded we must be. So, reporters who love their labels slap some label or another on us. Funny thing of it is, when it comes to popular conspiracy theories, we are neither apologists nor are we opponents. We are simply deniers. We believe that exists a cottage industry of hoax generators whose mission in life is to generate labels for the popular media, or as Jim McEntire describes it: "making ghosts in the social media universe" or as Donnie Hall describes it: "vapors in the social media mist".
Unlike a political party, we make no demands for loyalty. We are fiercely loyal to the candidates we support but, at the same time, we encourage them to work with other organizations, even the local county branches of the major political parties if they feel a kinship there. As can be seen from these pages, we are even willing to work with candidates who identify with a party. Partisanship at its most basic definitional level is all about loyalty to a faction. We fail in that regard. True to our name, we actually crave and strongly encourage your independence.