Rotarian Political Party?

[Major Crimson]

Hey guys just had a random thought whilst arranging some events with my local rotary club and the thought dawned on me, is it possible that the Rotary Club could have evolved into a political movement?

They've got a clear symbol, some easy messages and a good base for policies; populist, egalitarian, internationalist, non-interventionist, socially liberal and pro-chatity/developmental.

I can see it doing quite well in the Anglosphere and maybe expanding from there; populist/humanitarian vaguely left wing but not revolutionary or threatening at all, if it comes about early enough maybe a less radical alternative to Socialism in capitalist countries?

For those who don't know, Rotary are a social and charitable club with an international focus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_International

 

[overoceans]

According to this certainly not exhaustive list, American Rotarians have run the gamut from Colonel Sanders(extremely right-wing) to Dianne Feinstein(fairly left-wing for the US mainstream).

So, if they wanted to form a political party, they'd probably need to narrow their ideological focus a little. As it is, I'm surmising that they don't have much identifiable ideology at all, otherwise their membership wouldn't be so broad.

 

[overoceans]

Maybe you could have Rotarianism in SOME places become like what Freemasony was in Catholic countries for a while, ie. a safe-house for upwardly-mobile people holding sociopolitical ideas that aren't entirely respectable to express in polite company(eg. secularism and liberalism in France). Within a Roatarian context, I'm not sure exactly what those ideas would be, beyond that they would be things that the rest of the community would tend to frown upon.

Of course, the masonic model would likely preclude the formation of an actual political party, but it could see individual Rotarians become fairly prominent players in the political arena.

 

[Knoxville Jim]

In my town, here in the south. I would say a great
Majority are moderate Republicans. More Christie
Kasich etc. Which may say something as this is a very
Conservative in the norm.

 

[Meadow]

One of their defining features and reasons for success is their apolitical nature and freedom from ideology. I think this wouldn't work.

A Rotarian-inspired breakaway party, however, that I can see. A specific kind of Rotarianism becoming a political force, or trying to.