How did a Nazi end up standing unopposed for the Congress nomination in Illinois?

How does Arthur Jones, a white supremacist and former member of the American Nazi Party, have any chance at a career in politics? I’m not sure, but he is set to take the GOP nomination for the third congressional district of Illinois.

As an American Republican, I’m not shocked – which is really embarrassing.

Luckily, we know Jones’s chances of actually winning are practically non-existent. The particular district that Jones is running in has elected Democrats to Congress in 24 of the last 25 elections.

So why would any Republican – let alone a sane one – (yes, I think they might still exist) run when they know their chances of winning are slim to none? Well, it for sure wouldn’t be a rational decision. You’d be losing a lot of money and wasting a lot of people’s time to prove… to prove what?

Some might see Jones’s impending nomination as a freak misstep, but it's actually an unavoidable consequence, allowed by the uniformed and the unbothered.

This happened because more than 600 people signed Jones’s petition to get his name on the ballot. Did all of these people stand by Jones’s beliefs? It is doubtful. A reporter from the Atlantic went out and talked to some of the people who signed the petition to see if they shared Jones’s thoughts.

Sixty-three-year-old Linda Florczak-Wieser of LaGrange told the Atlantic: “I probably just signed it because he asked me to.” Another voter told the reporter that they didn’t even recall signing the petition in the first place. Ninety-three-year-old Alice Brunell, when asked how she felt about Jones’s views, replied: “I didn’t know that!”

Obviously, some of the people on Jones’s petition were aware of what he stood for, and however sick and twisted I believe his opinions are myself, I recognise that the Republican Party, which I proudly call my own, has some people who are revoltingly conservative. Although I don’t identify with any of their beliefs, I have to acknowledge that they exist.

Just look back at this past year – politicians like Roy Moore and Donald Trump have dragged the GOP through the mud. I understand how a moderate Republican would feel discouraged, and even too disgusted, to run.

Yet, if Republicans that have moderate beliefs and are socially liberal – or even just have the decency to promote human equality – don’t step up, we risk letting our party become synonymous with disgusting, morally corrupt politicians like Trump, Moore and Jones.

I have hope that not all of the 600 people who willingly put their name on that ballot knew what they were signing up for, but even that offers very little comfort and definitely no sympathy.

To the people who signed it: did you know anything about his platform, or did you just want him to leave you alone? Did you check his website, which openly states his antisemitic views and his preference for white people, before signing? Much of this embarrassment to the Republican Party could have been avoided, had people remembered the power of their signature.

If you don’t know enough about a person to write them a letter of recommendation, don’t sign a petition to support their candidacy.

That being said, Jones’s impending nomination didn’t happen simply because a few people forgot to do their homework. In truth, it happened because there were not enough Republicans willing to claim the party as their own. Or, maybe there weren’t enough Republicans willing to sacrifice their ego to represent the voice of their party. Both options are simply unacceptable.

As a result of no other Republican candidate stepping forward to run against Jones, a man who doesn’t believe the Holocaust ever happened, openly opposes any form of gay rights and believes white people are superior to all races, will run unopposed.

As I said before, it wouldn’t be rational to run for a spot that you aren’t likely to win. You would be losing a lot of money and wasting a lot of people’s time. But, in exchange, you’d be giving hope to the Republican Party – hope that it can fix the mistakes of its past to one day become a worthy opposition of the Democratic Party once again.

In today’s day and age, not using your voice is a luxury we cannot afford. So to both the uninformed electorate and the uninspired politicians, I beg of you: step it up. Let’s not give a person who doesn’t support human equality a platform ever again.