Seth Newkirk is the former communications manager for North Carolina Congressional candidate Steve Von Loor's campaign.
In case you haven’t noticed, modern political discourse has changed.
The possible causes for these changes are varied. Social media, the war on terror, the Cold War, the Great Recession — all of these events have had wide-ranging effects on various forms of American life and our political ideals as well.
The most noticeable change is how reliant both parties’ identities have become on their hatred for the other party. Long gone are the days of “conservative” or “liberal” philosophies as the defining quality of the Republicans and Democrats. Now, both parties find themselves in a situation where the defining characteristic of most of their members is how much they despise those on the other side.
Hillary Clinton was not an American figurehead in terms of innovative policies and vigorous defense of tightly-held principles. In fact she seems to hold tightly to no principles, choosing what is merely politically expedient. Look at how she borrowed from Bernie Sanders’ platform. Her platform was one of opposition to Donald Trump at its most basic form. So too, much of Trump’s campaign was defined by his — and your — ability to “own the libs;" not some visionary philosophical outlook on how the government should work.
This type of attitude results in the type of candidate that Steve Von Loor exemplifies.
Von Loor might seem, at first glance, like a worthy challenger to David Price, the current Democratic congressman serving the 4th District of North Carolina. Von Loor is relatively young, he’s a self-made man, he’s even Hispanic. These qualities seem as if they might add up to a man who is capable of mounting a legitimate challenge against Price, who has contented himself with doing relatively little during his 30 years in Congress.
Yet none of this is true. During my time working for Von Loor I watched as he was unable to grasp basic policy concepts, failed to stick to pre-written and practiced speeches, and boasted about how he would beat David Price in a debate while he struggled to answer my most basic questions. The only member of his team with legitimate campaign experience quit in disgust after Von Loor unfairly criticized him one time too many. My resignation soon followed.
The entirety of Von Loor’s platform can be summarized by two things: blind support for Donald Trump, and a hatred for David Price.
