This is another bad idea from Wayne Christian, who has no shortage of them: Require Republican candidates to support the party platform (which he was in charge of writing) or run the risk of retribution. Here are the provisions that seek to bind candidates to support the platform. The State Republican Executive Committee will be the enforcement mechanism. * Enforcing the Platform – The Republican State Chairman and county chairs are responsible for implementing this platform by requiring party candidates to indicate their positions on platform planks before their acceptance on the ticket and to make such information available on the Party website. The SREC should seriously consider candidates’ positions on the Party platform before granting support. My comment: So it isn’t enough for a candidate to pay his filing fee. Now he has to show obeisance to Wayne Christian and his ideas about issues before he can be “accepted” on the ticket by the members of the SREC. How does a candidate become “accepted?” I suppose that the SREC can sit as a revolutionary tribunal, as in the days of the French Revolution, deciding who gets the guillotine and who doesn’t. * Contributions to Conservative Candidates – We support the withholding of campaign contributions to organizations or campaigns, including the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and all other organizations or campaigns which would support candidates who do not support the principles of the 2010 Texas State Republican Party Platform. My comment: Mr. Christian wants to take the state Republican party platform national. He has the wisdom to know what is best, not just for Texas but for America, and if the national party doesn’t get it, if John Cornyn and the RSCC try to recruit candidates who can win even if they might not toe the Wayne Christian line, then the Texas Republican party won’t give them any contributions. Which is, at the moment, an empty threat, since the Texas Republican Party doesn’t have any money. * Platform/Legislation – We urge the Legislature to permit a political party to require each of its candidates to indicate their position on each platform plank before their acceptance on the primary ballot. Publication and distribution of candidate responses should be permitted. My comment: And here is the enforcement mechanism: a statute requiring candidates to say yea or nay to each platform plank before their “acceptance” on the ballot. Can you say, “Died in Calendars?” There is a word that describes how Wayne Christian’s ambitions are leading him to want to impose his ideas on every Republican candidate, and that word is “hubris.” Arrogance caused by excessive pride. Extreme sense of self-importance. Mr. Christian and I have one thing in common: We are both proud that he was on our Ten Worst legislators list last session.