Conor Lamb’s win in one of the reddest congressional districts in Pennsylvania Tuesday was a defeat for the failed Republican Party, but it was not a win for progressives. Lamb is only 33 years old, but he is a skilled politician. He pandered to the voters of Pennsylvania’s 18^th district and defeated a Republican candidate who was less than popular.

Trump campaigned for his competitor, Rick Saccone, but after he lost, Trump claimed that he ran a ‘weak campaign.’ Meanwhile, Lamb supported the gun lobby and attacked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Now don’t misunderstand me; I am always happy when a hypocrite who represents the cowards in the Republican Party loses, but Lamb is not what we need in America. Progressives do not want or need men or women who choose to move further to the right; this is not good for America. If we are not moving forwards, we are moving backwards.

Right wing extremists have led other Republicans and even members of the Democratic Party to reject their more progressive beliefs; beliefs which once made the Democratic Party great, and our nation on a path to greatness. I supported those on the left more than those on the right for decades simply because they did the right thing. Democrats, as recently as President Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren have pledged their support for minorities, women, and members of all religions. They were and are fighting for the working class, women’s rights, and the majority; not special interests.

I am an independent and will not support any Democrat who fails to adopt the principles of past great men and women who refused to capitulate to ideas and ideals which would deny the rights of all Americans for the purpose of winning elections. I will not accept traitors to my country’s base principles.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called Democrat Conor Lamb a “pro-gun, anti-Nancy Pelosi conservative.” And White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters Lamb had “really embraced the President’s policies and position, where he didn’t embrace Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leader.”

Are they wrong? No; and that’s the sad part. Our nation’s people are not represented by either party in Washington. Winning elections has become the only goal for those who claim to sit on either side of the aisle. This is fascism, and the effort to destroy democracy in America is escalating.

Conor Lamb is not the future of America. A new group which claims to be a progressive wing of the Democratic Party is claiming victory; they fail to understand the importance of conflict and fighting for what is right.

There is no doubt that this election was a denouncement of the worst president in history, but was it a show of support for progressive ideals? The answer is ‘hell no.’

Op-ed by James Turnage

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Photo courtesy of kelly bell photography

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