Centrist Republicans, speak up! We must take a stand against the insurrectionists – USA TODAY

Lou Zickar, Opinion contributor Published 6:00 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2021

Within a few minutes rioters outnumbered police and rushed to the front of the Capitol. USA TODAY

If you are a principled centrist or principled conservative, now is not the time to remain silent.

As someone who has spent more thana decade working for the oldest centrist Republican organization in the United States, I admit that we have foughta losing battle for most of this time.

From the rise of the Tea Party in 2010 to the election of Donald Trump in 2016, centrists have largely been relegated to the margins of the Republican political scene content with promoting bromides about the importance of working together while those on the political right win elections and muscle through their priorities on Capitol Hill.

Yet, if you are a centrist, now isnotthe time to concede defeat.Far from it.

For as the tragic events on Jan.6at the U.S. Capitol made clear, the divide in the Republican Party is no longer between the center and the right wing.The divide in todays GOP is between the insurrectionist wing and everyone else.

Many Republicans will no doubt not want to hear this message.Ive workedfor GOP candidates and causes since the late 1980s, and whenever there was a sign or possibility of inner-party strife, the message from party leadership was always the same dont rock the boat. Well, we are long past those kinds of admonishments.

The question facing Republicans is not whether to rock the boat.The question is which boat do you want to be on.Do you want to be with the insurrectionists, who ignored facts, distorted realityand encouraged the storming of the Capitol last week?Or do you want to stand with principle-based centrists and conservatives who believe in and are driven by the ideas thatmade our party and our country great?

In this June 23, 2020, file photo Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine COVID-19 on Capitol Hill in Washington.(Photo: Michael Reynolds, AP)

If you are a principled centrist or principled conservative, now is not the time to remain silent.To do so will lead to more of the same a party devoid of principles and dominated by personalities.

It also will lead to centrists and conservatives being challenged by those who stand with and cheered on the insurrectionist wing.

Take Alaska, which Lisa Murkowski has represented in the U.S.Senate since 2003.Murkowski is conservative on some issues, and more centrist on others.The Ripon Forumrecently featured the senator on its cover because of the bipartisan energy reform proposal she has authored that not only acknowledges the threat posed by climate change, but also strikes a balance betweenmeeting our current energy needs while pursuing clean energy for the future.

Last fall, when some questioned whether Murkowski would support the Trump administrations nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court, former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin posted a video on Twitter warning Murkowski to do the right thing by supporting the yet-to-be named nominee.Implying that she might challenge Murkowski in the next election if she did not, Palin then added: I see 2022 from my window.

Recently, when Palin campaigned in Georgia in the run-up to the runoff election, sheclaimedthat the Nov.3general election had been rigged.Around that same time, her website published aninterviewwith Melissa Carone, the Rudy Guiliani-backed witness in Michigan who reminded people of a drunk Cecily Strong.

In the interview on Palins website, Carone repeated unsubstantiated claims that Dominion Voting Machines in Michigan had been tampered withand that the state had been delivered to Joe Biden as a result.

Does any rational Republican believe that Palin would be a more effective and responsible member of the Senate Republican Caucus than Murkowski?And yet in states and congressional districts across the country, like-minded candidates are no doubt considering similar campaigns.

In 2022, each would-be Republican candidate must be held to account for their actions in the days and weeks leading up to Jan.6.

Fortunately, members of the business community are beginning to do just that.Over the weekend, Forbesreportedthat Marriott International, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Commerce Bank were indefinitely suspending contributions to any official who voted against certifying the election of Joe Biden afterthe attack on the Capitol.

According to this same report,Bank of America, Ford Motor Co. and AT&T planto take recent events into consideration before making future donations, while CVS Health Corp., Exxon Mobil, FedEx and Target also planto review their political giving.

If the business community has the courage to step up, centrist Republicans should, too.Ten years ago, centrists stood by aghast as a member of their own ranks, then-Congressman and former Delaware Governor Mike Castle, was upset by Christine ODonnell in the states GOP primary.

ODonnells rise was rapid.She was embraced by the Tea Party, and then soundly defeated by centrist Democrat Chris Coons in the general election because of her extreme views.

That seat was Castles to lose.If it hadnt been for ODonnells challenge, it would be in Republican hands today.More significantly, the Senate would still be under GOP control.

ODonnell was a relative unknown and did not have a record to defend.The members of todays insurrection wing are known to all and do have a record.Which is why if you are a principled centrist or a principled conservative who would like to be in the majority and cares about the future of the GOP now is not the time to stay silent.

Rather, it is time to stand up to the insurrectionists who would like to carry the GOP banner in 2022 and have them answer one question: After fomenting a rebellion that claimed five lives and desecrated our nations Capitol, why are you still fit to serve?

Lou Zickar is editor of The Ripon Forum, a centrist journal of political thought and opinion published by the Ripon Society.The views presented here are his own.

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Centrist Republicans, speak up! We must take a stand against the insurrectionists - USA TODAY