The U.S. Constitution still guarantees the right of every registered voter to cast her/his vote in the secrecy of the voting booth. Even the Carroll County Republican Central Committee does not yet have the authority to use a litmus test inside the voting booth to punish a RINO (their view of what defines a so-called “bad” Republican as a Republican In Name Only).
So, who knows? Carroll County Republicans, in the secrecy of the voting booth, just might secretly consider voting for anybody but Trump.
Really?
Unlike the GOP Trump lapdogs of Congress who are under an hourly tweet threat and much worse from the self- proclaimed “stable genius” who claims he can get away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue without being held accountable, all Carroll countians who are registered voters are still free, as are all registered American voters, to vote in secret and thereby participate in the greatest peaceful, legal and most painless revolution free people have ever created. And our troops are willing to die for it ... but only if we make sure that Trump’s buddy Putin does not interfere again.
So, OK, let’s be really real. Why would a Carroll County Republican want to become a secret RINO, even once?
Well, for one thing, when the kids of Carroll County Republicans ask their mother and father about the way Trump treats women and minorities and fosters a policy of putting children in cages, why would their parents’ faces not turn purple, if not blue? Are they going to answer that Trump’s behavior is presidential?
“You could grow up to be just like him, Billy, maybe even be the same kind of president, and we would just be so very proud.”
And daughter Suzie? When she speaks up and asks why Mommy and Daddy ignored her as possibly rising to being elected to the highest office in the land, will they tell their daughter that she should have different goals and give up control of her body to the likes of Franklin Graham or Jim Bakker and then change the subject?
Or after being seated next to their children and listening to a preacher talk about morality, that no one is above the law and no one should lie, would GOP mom and dad want to cover their children's eyes and ears as they head back home every Sunday for the next four years?
When their children are worrying about tornadoes in Carroll County and ask if they occur because the ice caps are melting, would mom and dad respond by telling them to go to their room and play a game on their smart phones?
What will they tell their children when they fly a Trump flag rather than the American flag?
Why indeed would Carroll County GOP parents not want to become secret RINOs in November to change the course of the present Republican Party away from a threatening, authoritarian liar and self-proclaimed grabber?
Why would they not want become a secret RINO just once to return their party to the more distinguished party of Lincoln and Gov. Larry Hogan?
Why would they not want to leave a real legacy for their children and their children’s families where they all have access to the best health care and the best college education without having to declare bankruptcy?
Not yet, anyway, can the abusive, law-breaking, spendthrift, budget-blowing narcissist Trump, nor the CCRCC, come after any Carroll County Republican who freely votes their conscience in November 2020. World War II-era Germany, America is not, and hopefully, by God, never will be.
So what other reason would a Carroll County Republican really want Trump and his cronies to be given free get out of jail cards? Indeed, if that should happen, how will they explain that to their grandkids? Tell them they were Secret RINOs when in fact they were not?
John D. Witiak writes from Union Bridge.