The Bug And The Elephant

Aug. 19, 2016

Oh, dear. The Grand Traverse County Republican Party has declared former governor William Milliken a non-Republican.

It’s not at all clear that’s even possible since people are allowed to register in whatever party they want and stay there as long as they want while voting for whomever they want.

But let’s take a look at this disreputable Milliken fellow our local Republicans no longer wish to embrace as one of their own.

His father, James, was mayor of Traverse City and a state senator. His mother, Hildegarde, became the first woman in the city to hold elective office when she was elected to the school board. The couple had a rather large downtown department store that locals seemed to like. As you can see, the Milliken clan was trouble right from the start.

William Milliken is a decorated airman, having flown 50 missions as a belly gunner on B-24s during World War II. He served as a state senator, then lieutenant governor, then governor, all as a Republican. He was and, due to term limits, always will be, the longest serving governor in Michigan history.

It seems a pretty good track record as these things go — but not good enough to satisfy Grand Traverse County Republicans. Not even close.

His great offense has been to occasionally veer off the GOP script and — brace yourself — endorse and vote for some Democrats. I know, I know. It’s shocking and appalling.

Remember all those people who claim to vote for the person and not the party? Milliken actually does that. Apparently the last straw was his decision to support Hillary Clinton, joining a list of nearly 100 former or current GOP office holders or officials who have made the same choice.

Outraged by his break from local GOP orthodoxy, the local party members think they have given Milliken the boot, which, of course, they can’t actually do.

Led by the indefatigable Jason Gillman, who never met a philosophy narrow enough (or an election winnable enough), they’ve fallen into the rabbit hole of rank foolishness.

Making the party’s tent smaller while demanding ideological purity seems an odd strategy. Yes, everyone is welcome, except those who occasionally disagree or offer any viewpoint other than that espoused by the merry band of true believers.

Republicans out in Arizona tried this tactic a few years ago when the state party decided Barry Goldwater, then retired, should be demoted. His offense was saying the government had no business telling a woman what to do with her body and that we should leave the LGBT community alone.

So, the man whose ill-fated 1964 presidential run helped give birth to what was then considered modern conservatism was no longer nearly conservative enough. State Republicans wanted to remove his name from their state headquarters building. And, in a particularly tasty bit of irony, they also tried to have his name removed from a terminal building at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, an airport that Goldwater had helped create from scratch.

The Goldwater name still adorns both structures because much wiser heads prevailed. Likewise, the Milliken name remains on Republican voter rolls because the county party can’t remove it, literally or figuratively.

A better approach might have been a gentle nudge. The county party could have simply released a statement in which the members thanked the former governor for his long and honorable service to the state and expressed their difference of opinion with him. Then they could have moved on to the next inanity on their agenda.

Unfortunately, that sort of common sense no longer prevails at our local Republican Party. There is no big tent, no open arms, no willingness to even accept the longest serving Republican governor in state history.

The group is remarkably small-minded, and it’s difficult to understand what its members have accomplished.

Unless control was the objective. If everyone follows along in ovine fealty, it’s a lot easier to hone that entire purity-of-thought edge. So much easier to lead when no objections need be heard, no alternatives need be considered, and you can create your own political philosophy.

Then you have a nice, narrow group of same-thinkers trying to expel anyone not in tune with what a handful of Gillmanites decide. It works out perfectly — except the publicity is not so good. Declaring one of the leading lights of the party in state history, who did much for Traverse City, the region and the state, a non-member is both blind to history and deaf to those crying out for an inclusive and cooperative body politic.

In the end, the Grand Traverse County Republicans trying to expel William Milliken is akin to a bug trying to topple an elephant. The former governor, still a Republican, won’t even know it’s there.