The 2019 election season has been a win for Democrats. They rode an anti-Trump wave in Virginia, taking control of both legislative chambers for the first time since 1994. But it wasn’t the case in Kentucky and Louisiana. Republicans won all of the two state’s other constitutional offices.
It is, therefore, time for Republicans to have a “come-to-Jesus moment.” What exactly went wrong? What does it mean to be a political conservative or a member of the Republican Party currently? One is a party label, and the other is an ideology. Party labels change. Ideologies, not so much. In this current partisan political era, however, are the current alignments politically sustainable?
For some, conservatism means conserving a government-organized around a belief in natural rights. These ideas were championed by thinkers such as John Locke and Thomas Jefferson — specifically, the belief that certain rights belong to human beings by virtue of our humanity.
Both major political parties have turned their backs on the principles and ideals of the American founding as expressed institutionally in the Constitution. The Republican Party, in particular, has become more extreme. Trump, in the last several years, has been single-handedly reshaping conservatism in his image. The president, who, according to his closest followers, can do no wrong, has a cult-like following. This is already having consequences. Young people who come of age politically during the Trump era will likely be Democrats, or at least more Democratic than other age cohorts, for the rest of their lives.
The retirement of so many Republican members of Congress ahead of 2020 is a sure indication that the party and its grounded ideology of conservatism has failed to articulate a vision that presents a clear path for America’s future while isolating groups that otherwise might have been recruits to the ideology. This is further complicated by an unwillingness for many Republican members of Congress to perform their constitutional oversight.
The Republican Party could attract a broader, more diverse constituency than it does currently if there were an earnest willingness to reach out. But the “harsh tone” and, quite frankly, discriminatory oratory used by some Republican leaders is driving people away. This is not to say that the conservative movement will not survive. But will the Republican Party continue to be its vessel?
As a professor of politics, the advice I proffer to younger conservatives and progressives alike is to stay close to their philosophical principles rather than acting according to hard partisanship. In an environment of tribalism, one of the worst things that one can do is align oneself with party, especially to the point of placing party before country. Another piece of advice is to respect the principles of other people, to stand up for not just the people with whom one agrees, but also for whom one disagrees.
It was Evelyn Beatrice Hall who wrote the line, as an illustration of Voltaire’s beliefs, that “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” That line, often misattributed to Voltaire himself, perfectly describes what liberty and natural rights in America are about: The ability of all too openly espouse ideas.
Partisan division is nothing new. As long as there have been political parties in America, they have been at war with each other. As policy battles are deprioritized to make way for Democrats’ effort to impeach Trump, the recent near-death experience of the Republican Party and conservatism will only lead to his storied history in a book.
Quardricos Bernard Driskell is a federal lobbyist and professor of legislative politics at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. Follow him on Twitter: @q_driskell4.
