Competition Is Always A Good Thing

One of the great things about our country is the open and free enterprise system.

Imagine if we only had one choice when it came to buying a vehicle or having repair work done. Imagine if we only had one alternative when it comes to going out to eat. It would not benefit the consumer if there was only one plumber, one electrician or one choice for medical care.

Many believe a part of the reason our public school system has so many issues is that leaders know those schools will always be there. Some believe it would greatly benefit the government educational system to make all schools private. This would allow the bad schools to be weeded out and closed down. That will never happen though and we all know it.

Fortunately when it comes to educational choice there are numerous private schools educating students in 2019. If you notice you’ll see the number of choices when it comes to private schools has skyrocketed in recent years. That is not a coincidence.

When it comes to politics choice should also be viewed as a positive even though it seems some don’t think so. When Sonny Perdue ran for re-election as governor of Georgia he faced a primary challenge from Ray McBerry.

As the campaign progressed McBerry found it stunning how the state GOP shunned him. The state party would not even list him on its official website giving the impression Perdue was running unopposed in the GOP primary.

We are now seeing another example of this on the national level for the Republican Party.

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld is challenging President Trump in the 2020 GOP primaries and caucuses. National party leaders aren’t happy about it.

Weld called Trump a “corrupt, narcissistic guy” in response to Republican National chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel comments at CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference.)

During a question-and-answer session before conservative activists, McDaniel was asked to comment on the possibility that Trump could face opposition from within his own party for the 2020 presidential nomination.

“They have the right to jump in and lose,” McDaniel was reporting as saying. “That’s fine. They will lose horribly.”

McDaniel bragged on Trump’s more than 90 percent approval rating among Republicans nationwide and said the country “is booming.

“Jobs are coming back. Wages are up. Our military has been strengthened. Our veterans have been taken care of. Our trade deals are stronger. We have put rule-of-law judges at every level of the courts. “So have at it. Go ahead. Waste your money, waste your time and go ahead and lose,” she said.

Weld fired back that McDaniel’s comments were “shocking” because the RNC chair is required to be neutral and “her endorsement of Donald Trump for president is an attempt to silence the voices of millions of Republicans across America who have every right to be heard.”

But the RNC in January also unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing Trump and pledging its “undivided support.”

It is possible President Trump could face another primary opposition. There have been other rumored to be pondering jumping into the race and are seeing how Weld’s candidacy plays with voters.

Regardless of whether Weld is the lone challenger, it is really shocking to see how his candidacy is being viewed. In theory, Republicans are supposed to favor competition and free enterprise in all ways. One has to wonder why that would not be true for political contests. One choice on the ballot is something you see in countries run by a dictatorship.

New Hampshire Republican Party Chair Steve Stepanek has said that Weld is not welcome in the GOP. It goes back to the fact that Weld was the Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate in 2016.

“He’s a Libertarian, and if he wants to run for president as a Libertarian, that’s fine,” Stepanek said. “But we don’t want him back in the Republican Party. He can’t switch political parties back and forth for his own political purposes.”

Well, actually he can. It all goes back to the benefits of choice. In reality Weld has run for and been elected to office much more as a Republican than as a Libertarian.

Certainly GOP voters are free to vote for President Trump. In all reality he is going to be the Republican nominee in 2020 and is the favorite to be president another four years.

That doesn’t mean voters shouldn’t have a choice. Weld is set to give them that choice if they want it.

In no way can that be viewed as a bad thing. It’s somewhat mindboggling that some in GOP power positions seem to think it is. And given President Trump’s nature, I think he would welcome the challenge from Weld or anyone for that matter.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He has earned awards for his columns from the Georgia Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Georgia Sports Writers Association. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.