Guest Commentary: The Politics of Soda Pop

The Politics of Soda Pop

By Tom Shaw

Independent Candidate for Iowa House District 8

While a guest on WHO Radio’s “Deace in the Afternoon” program, I was challenged by a caller who disagreed with my decision to leave the Republican Party and to run as an Independent.  The caller believed that I should remain as a Republican and try to change the party from within.  His thought was “What if workers at Pepsi drank Coca Cola?”  This very question solidified my belief that an organization’s brand name was less important than its product.

A few years back, Coca Cola decided that it wanted to increase its market share by enticing Pepsi drinkers with a product named “New Coke.”  Now mind you, Coca Cola had been successful for many years with its recipe and had established a loyal customer base.  But for some reason the company’s leadership chose to follow the advice of their business advisors and change the recipe.   I believe that everyone recalls what happened … the “New Coke” was a colossal failure.  It did not attract new customers, but it sure created an outrage from their customer base and the company lost market share.  But give Coca Cola credit as they realized that it was not their brand name which sold the product but rather its recipe.  Hence they returned to “Classic Coke.”

So it goes with the politics of the Republican Party and its “Big Tent” strategy.  At both the national and state levels, the party’s leadership has abandoned the very principles that made the party successful in the past.  The party’s state platform is created through a series of committee’s which start at the precinct level.  The platform truly is the voice of “We the People.”  During the last election, rather than listen to their loyal customers (We the People) and promote a successful product (platform), the party believed that the way to victory was to promote candidates who did not adhere to the platform.   The net effect was that many grassroots republicans did not actively or enthusiastically promote Republican candidates, and even worse, stayed home on election day.

As I campaign throughout Iowa House District 8, I am told “I’ll never vote Republican again because I’m too conservative” or “It’s great to have conservative Independent to vote for because the Republicans are not conservative anymore.”    I truly believe that there is a major shift in how “We the People” view their party affiliation.   As I talk to more and more voters, I am reaffirmed in my belief that folks are looking for principled candidates and not whether there is an “R” or “D” behind their name.  Speaking on behalf of the conservatives that I have met, the Republican party “brand name” will no longer be enough to garner conservative votes and, to be successful again, they must revert back to the “Classic” Republican party.