05 April 2005
Rifts
However, as was argued by David Brooks in today's New York Times, the diversity of the GOP is also a source of its strength:
Conservatives have not triumphed because they have built a disciplined and efficient message machine. Conservatives have thrived because they are split into feuding factions that squabble incessantly. As these factions have multiplied, more people have come to call themselves conservatives because they've found one faction to agree with.
Events such as the Terry Schiavo matter, the overarching internationalist theme of President Bush's inaugural speech, as well as the most recent Republican budget debacle, have brought the divergence of views within the GOP into public light. Such diversity often leads to overtly inconsistent positions. (For instance, the Party of small government got caught writing a law that applied to one individual.) Such public inconsistency has lead some commentators to predict the GOP's eventual breakup. Well, assuming arguendo that some members of the GOP who long for consistency and have principal differences with its leadership would be willing to part ways with the Grand Old Party – Where would they go?
If any reader here was about to suggest the Democratic Party as an answer, stop now. Because for Blue Republicans, the choice between becoming Democrats and remaining powerless as Republicans is not a difficult one. In other words, Republicans, disenchanted in their leadership, prefer to disagree with the extreme elements of their Party and remain powerless over being associated with the extreme elements in the Democratic Party. That the Democratic Party seems to have been taken over by their extreme elements does not help the equation.
Growing up, this author was schooled to believe that the Democratic Party was the bigger tent. Recently, however, Democrats who authentically believe in American leadership’s ability to inspire freedom and democracy throughout the world – and believe that someone named Bush deserves praise for efforts in this regard – are being pushed out of the tent. Democrats who think that allowing working Americans to get a market rate of return on a portion of their social security contribution is not a bad idea are called "faint-hearted" and are threatened to be purged from the tent. And if a Democrat dares to question the virtue of moral relativism, the tent closes down around them. The tent looks smaller and smaller.
And though a few prominent Blue Republicans do still tout the GOP as the bigger tent, no Blue Republican is considered a serious contender for leadership of the Party. Republicans who consider environmental protection a virtue, those who turn to science and research to find the answer to the world's most daunting problems, and those who do not take issue with Marbury v. Madison, are constantly and often publicly being pushed out of the tent. And Brooks' observation may indeed prove to be the GOP's undoing.
Independent minded members of both Parties seem to be unwelcome in their respective ranks as of late. However, Freedom & Progress believes that the majority of Americans are primarily independent minded. The majority of Americans are not nearly as dogmatic as the leadership of either Party. Most Americans are liberal on some issues, while conservative on others. And commonsensical Americans will listen to one another's differences and be ready to compromise. Compromise is not sin. Compromise is virtue, and necessary for progress.
So as we collectively witness the rifts in both Parties develop... and if indeed, some honorable, clear thinking members of each Party are brave enough to defect, where will they go? There is no credible Third Party. Perhaps the time has come for one.
