United We Stand --- Divided We Fall. This is a saying, a concept that is known to all of us. It is as old as Aesop’s Fables. In the 6th Century BC, Aesop gave us the fable: The Four Oxen and the Lion … a lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time, the lion tried to attack the oxen; but whenever he came near, they turned their tails to one another … so that whichever way he approached them, he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then, the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.
United We Stand --- Divided We Fall … A biblical tale: The Bundle of Sticks … An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a bundle of sticks and said to his eldest son: “Break it.” The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the Bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. “Untie the bundle,” said the father, “and each of you take a stick.” When they had done so, he called out to them: “Now, break it” and each stick was easily broken. “You see my meaning,” said their father.
And those of you who know the bible … Mark 3:25 - And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
In Maryland, we recently concluded our primary voting season and because Maryland is an “off cycle” state, we vote for our Governor in the mid-term period of a 4-year Presidential cycle. Our current Governor, Larry Hogan (R), has an outsized opinion of himself and what has been achieved in the eight years of his governorship. For many Republicans in Maryland, the term “RINO” …
… Republican in Name Only – would be the moniker they would choose for him.
Now the Republican primary race featured, among others, two prominent Republican politicians. One was endorsed by Larry Hogan, i.e., Kelly Schultz; and the other, Dan Cox, was endorsed by Donald Trump. The media, who loves to love Hogan and hate Trump, saw this as a readymade head-butting session.
The candidates campaigned, the voters cast their votes … and the outcome? Dan Cox soundly defeated Kelly Schultz in what the media saw as a Trump / MAGA agenda win. There can be no doubt that Cox’s agenda will be the MAGA agenda --- and that is what the Republicans in the State of Maryland voted for by nominating Cox.
I don’t think there is any question that Larry Hogan, who has spoken vociferously against Trump and the MAGA agenda, was “butt hurt” by this outcome. The voters have spoken and they did not speak on Hogan’s behalf. So, with the outcome decided, The Republican Party in Maryland is uniting behind its nominee for Governor because we all know that … UNITED WE STAND … If only it was so!
On August 4th, a local Maryland on-line publication, The Daily Record, ran the following: The nomination of Dan Cox as the Republican candidate for governor has some GOP candidates running away from the top of the ticket, complicating the gubernatorial nominee’s hopes of uniting his party in time for the general election. The article goes on to tell us that: Republican Allan Kittleman is squaring off against Democrat Howard County Executive Calvin Ball in November. Four years ago, Ball ousted Kittleman, a moderate Republican, in a year that was bad for nearly every incumbent Republican county executive in the state.
This year, Kittleman supported Schulz over Cox. “I’ll be doing campaign events actually with Governor Hogan,” said Kittleman when asked if he would be campaigning with Cox.
Hogan himself has said he will not vote for Cox. Hogan Thursday said he hasn’t yet decided who he would vote for. “There’s a third candidate in the race we’ll have to take a look at,” said Hogan. “He has more experience than the other two.”
Hogan has a solid reputation of dissing the Republican candidates when he votes. In the 2018 election, the Republicans nominated a solid, well qualified candidate for the US Senate. Again, Hogan let us all know … loud and clear, as he exited the voting booth and announced to the media … that he had cast his vote for the Independent candidate and not the Republican.
In a state that is decidedly “Blue,” it is difficult for Republican candidates to win political office … difficult, but not impossible … IF THE PARTY IS UNITED. Efforts are underway to try and make that happen. Our former Governor Bob Ehrlich called on Republicans up and down the ticket to focus on “kitchen table issues” — the economy and inflation, schools and related concerns. The former governor and congressman said he would not address specific candidates or specific issues and did not talk about Hogan’s contrary view. Similarly, Hogan avoided talking about Ehrlich, his former boss.
November 8th is less than 100 days away. Republicans will have to decide if they want to act like a petulant, adolescent, teenage girl who was just dumped by her first boyfriend for her best friend … or unite behind a candidate who may have run to the extreme in the primary but will surely move to the center in order to demonstrate that Republican leadership in the State House is what will be needed to curb the actions and instincts of the Maryland Super Majority Democrat Legislature.
There is a lot left to be said and not a lot of time to say it. So, as each one of us forms their decision about who to cast their vote for in November … Let’s all keep in mind the 11th Commandment as given to us by Ronald Reagan: “THOU SHALT NOT SPEAK ILL OF ANY FELLOW REPUBLICAN”