I Am a Republican

Today, I am declaring myself a Republican.

I wasn’t always a Republican. Quite the opposite, in fact. For most of my adult life, I've considered myself an independent but usually voted Democrat, though I’ve cast votes for both parties and for third parties. To be clear, I do not support the present administration. I am on record as having supported Ms. Clinton for the presidency, and today I have a lower opinion of the President than I did on election day.

This administration is an immediate, important concern. But even more frightening to me is how unequipped our government is to deal with this threat. Despite the fact that many Republican lawmakers publicly denounced Mr. Trump, they backed off when pro-Trump protesters showed up at their rallies, and rolled over entirely after his election. You may recall, back in October, congressional Republicans told us they would serve as a check on the President no matter who it was.Now, Speaker Ryan is content to just pretend he didn’t say, only months ago, that attempts to ban immigration on the basis of religion was immoral. Congressional Republicans, by and large, have proven to be cowards.

I certainly don’t mean to absolve the Democratic party of blame for this mess. The Democratic establishment linked arms and pushed everyone aside to nominate Hillary Clinton, even though it was clear she was a dangerously unpopular candidate. And when it was (or should have been) obvious that Mr. Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee, still the Democratic party actively colluded to put the weaker candidate on the ballot. Even before that, I already had acquired a distaste for their tactics. I have yet to see a fundraising email that wasn’t laced with shrill hyperbole about the awful things opposing candidates supposedly believe.

However, these parties are American institutions. You may think (and most Americans do) that it would be better if we had a third party. I have believed that at times myself. But the truth is that Americans cannot agree on what a third party should look like, and until they do, there will be none. In the meantime, let’s call the Republican and Democratic two-party system what it is: the way American government has operated for over 150 years.

Right now all our institutions are under siege. We have lost trust in our leaders, in our media, in our courts, in our scientists, and most importantly in each other. A lot of Americans are, understandably, in the mood to tear everything down. However, the lesson I take from history is that when the institutions that protect a free society are dismantled, more often than not, the new society that rises from the ashes is anything but free.

I believe the Republican Party can and must be reinvigorated with moral integrity. For myself, I believe in free markets. I believe that large, persistent deficits are going to catch up with us if we don’t get smarter about our budgets. I believe (like most mainstream economists) that infrastructure development pays long-term dividends. I believe education is incredibly important but that we have to stop trying to protect an industrial-era vision of school and learning. I believe taxes and regulations work best when they are simple and streamlined.

However, I will not accept having the largest incarcerated population in the world. I will not accept using our ineffective, expensive war on drugs to tear apart families and impose lifetime bans on citizens voting as a result of their conviction. I will not accept congressional districts that are precisely gerrymandered to rob people of meaningful choices. I will not accept burying or obfuscating scientific evidence to win an argument. And I will never, ever accept the premise that Americans with different skin colors and different languages and different religions than myself are entitled to anything less than the same protection under the law I receive.

I want to be clear that it will be extremely difficult to transform a party. Many of the administration's policies remain wildly popular among self-identified Republicans. Defeating the lawmakers that prop him will require massive support from politically exhausted Americans that often don’t vote and independents who have wandered away from the party. It will require luring in moderate Democrats who are disaffected with their current leadership. And most importantly, it will involve contesting primaries from the bottom up. Success will require hundreds of candidates in primaries for state legislatures throughout the country with motivated supporters that can get out the vote.

In the coming months, I will be posting more thoughts, including but not limited to policy suggestions, thoughts on election strategies and election targets, and hopefully making connections with like-minded people. 

For now, though, I leave you with the words of Aziz Ansari: “If you look at our history, change doesn't come from presidents. Change comes from large groups of angry people.” It is time to be angry that common sense, decency, and integrity are being thrown in the dumpster. It is time to stop believing that being a moderate means being docile. It is time to fight, and it is time to stop making excuses and looking away when the best values of America are being assaulted.