A Call to Principle

I became a Republican because I believed that the party embraced certain core principles which I shared, and that those shared principles formed a bedrock for expanded freedom at home and abroad that would also facilitate our continued collective prosperity. Those principles included fealty to the concept of limited government, deep alliances with other democracies, resisting autocratic regimes like Russia, fiscal restraint with an eye towards a balanced budget, free trade, and a strong national defense. I also thought that the party was moving past the insidious vestiges of the Byrd machine and Nixon’s “Southern Strategy.” In turn, I also correctly predicted the Democrats’ inexorable march towards identity politics and more socialistic positions. I accordingly was delighted when, in the late 1990s, under the leadership of people like John Kasich, the federal government not only began balancing its annual budget but even ran a small surplus. Years later, I agreed with those Republicans who decried Obama’s expansion of executive power, including a then Congressman Ron DeSantis who wrote a book extolling the virtues of limited government and Obama’s assault on it.

So it should come as no surprise how dispiriting I find the current state of political affairs. It is personally depressing to watch many (but by no means all) of those with whom I worked  on behalf of John McCain and Mitt Romney jeer these same leaders and dismissively refer to them as “RINOs.”  Nor does the irony escape me that so many current Republicans label as RINOS the few Republican leaders who have stood true to traditional Republican principles.

Let’s face it. While we can debate why the Republican party was susceptible to Donald Trump’s wiles, Trump has hijacked the Republican party, at least on the national level. Trump embodies the antithesis of what it meant to be a Republican. He mocks the rule of law, he seeks unbridled authoritarian power, he disdained the notion of fiscal restraint while in office — ballooning our national debt. He embraces the likes of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and imposed tariffs on almost any import he could under the guise of national security (yes, we need to be wary of those devious Canadians). He also did his best to dismantle NATO. Trump doesn’t care about this country or the Republican party; he only cares about himself.

 Unfortunately, DeSantis has not proved much better. He casts himself in Trump’s image but without the personal baggage Trump carries. DeSantis is smarter than Trump, so DeSantis will likely eschew the self-destructive behavior Trump seems incapable of avoiding. But like Trump, DeSantis will eagerly sacrifice conservative principles for his perceived personal political advantage. The man who decried Obama’s usurpation of power now crows about how to leverage presidential power to circumvent Congress, and he punishes corporations and people who dare to criticize his policies. When it comes to leadership, he is the anti-Reagan. DeSantis is just plain mean-spirited.

But I remain an optimist. We can reverse the vexing state of affairs. As we approach the upcoming presidential race, I urge all those who thought Ronald Reagan to be an exemplary President to step back and remember what they admired about Reagan and why they initially became a Republican. Based on that reflection, select the candidate for president that you support.

To me, Republicans need to reclaim the mantle of optimism that Reagan exuded. That is not to say that we don’t change with the times. As Edmund Burke, the father of modern conservatism, explained, conservatives must evolve with the times. We need to adapt our policies to meet today’s challenges, but those new policies should still be informed by traditional conservative principles. We also need an optimistic leader that appeals to our better angels, a “happy warrior” to invoke a bygone phrase. Tim Scott comes across as perhaps such a leader, and I am keeping my eye on Youngkin.

But whatever you decide, I urge you not to fall prey to a sense of victimhood that craves an authoritarian leader, a sense that Trump and apparently DeSantis try to foment. We are a great nation that must confront great challenges. Let us, as a party, remember who we are and what we stand for, and rally behind a leader who can help us meet today’s challenges with a sense of optimism while relying on true conservative principles. We should want to be members of a conservative, right-of-center political party. We should have no interest in joining a personality cult.