Many conservatives, increasingly accepting of the probability that Donald Trump is going to lose on Election day, are asking the question “how do we move past this debacle of an election season? How do we restore conservative principles to the Republican Party?”
I must admit a bit of schadenfreude in watching the GOP, which had shown some twinkles of embracing small and limited government in the season leading up to the 2010 mid-term election, immolate thanks to its hard tack towards nativism. The hope-against-hope part of me, hiding in a corner behind the cynic and raging-libertarian parts, is fantasizing about a phoenix-like “rise from the ashes” new GOP that actually embraces the principles espoused by, among others, the initial incarnation of the Tea Party.
An eyes-wide-open look at the landscape, however, quickly wipes that dream off the board. The biggest obstacle isn’t the unfortunate reality that a big chunk of the country will continue to embrace the destructive and illogical nativism that’s been driven by fear and that has arisen in reaction to the Left’s full-court-press of its current incarnation of (destructive and illogical) progressivism. Rather, it’s the disappearance of respect for principle over partisanship that saps the last vestiges of hope.
The drip-drip-drip of revelations about the degree of contempt that the Clintons and the entire Democratic machine have for the voters and for honest government in general is surpassed in despair-induction only by the blatant, blind, rank partisanship of the voters who excuse, deny, accept or cheerlead the lies, shenanigans and cheating.
Nixon did bad things. His party, choosing the high road, turned their collective backs on him. Not so today’s Democratic Party. They’ve nominated a candidate eyebrows deep in muck and scandal, muck and scandal that the insiders and apparatchiks were apparently quite aware of. And, when all the muck and scandal finally saw the light of day, they closed ranks and circled the wagons rather than take the high road.
Their excuse? The GOP, already deemed so awful that all was fair in defeating its politicians, nominated a candidate so loathsome that Clinton’s “imperfections” are no big deal. A chunk of the GOP (but by no means all of it), somehow managing to nominate the candidate least likely to defeat Clinton from a pool of 17, has taken the mirror position that Clinton is so loathsome that Trump’s “imperfections” are no big deal.
This is a race to the bottom, it’s a triumph of naked partisanship over principle, honesty and propriety, and, sadly, it’s an arguably inevitable outcome.
Richard Dawkins has described how altruism is an evolutionary loser because of “subversion from within.” Game theory’s “prisoner’s dilemma” tells a similar tale. The high road is a loser’s strategy when others can’t be trusted to also take it. That’s our current political world, and there’s little to suggest that it’ll get better. Sure, some have observed that many young people are finding libertarian and small-government ideals, and their greater social tolerance suggests the possibility that the simplified description of a libertarian as economically conservative and socially liberal might be apt for these young folks. That’s the hope I had 6 years ago, when a pack of “Tea Party Freshmen” stormed the House of Representatives and managed to throw a wrinkle in the Old Guard’s desire to simply be the guys in charge of Big Government. Alas, it didn’t work out that way, and that small-government movement morphed into one of social conservatism and opposition to societal trends in the direction of tolerance.
A Clinton presidency promises further expansion of government’s size and scope. It is very likely to do further damage to individual rights and liberties. It is also almost certain to do nothing to resolve the nation’s partisan divide. Clinton will come into office with more antagonism in place than any other recent President. And – she’ll do absolutely nothing to remediate it. She’ll embrace Obama’s I won bellicosity, both because that’s her mindset and that of her followers and because she’ll be untouchable by an opposition that knows it can’t beat someone who has emerged victorious from scandals that, properly addressed by the Press and adjudicated by an impartial Justice department, should have taken her down. Make no mistake, half the country will see her from Day 1 as not giving the slightest shit about them, and they’ll be right.
A Trump presidency, should that come to pass, would be its own special form of hell. Trump is a raging id, saying what he wants, often with little connection to reality, and apparently believing that his towering personality and ego are sufficient to miracle the nation into a “greatness” that half the nation finds horrifying.
Thanks to rank tribalism, to allegiance to party being placed ahead of principle, and to too few people opting for the high road even if it means short-term difficulty and loss, the nation will continue to spiral downward. There’s a drain at the bottom of that spiral, and it doesn’t lead anywhere good.
So, if you’re one of the conservatives asking the question noted in the first paragraph, allow me to suggest that the only way out is the high road. Point out to the partisans that their partisanship is the reason for the country’s mess. Over and over again. Only a critical mass of people taking the high road, demanding accountability and adherence to principle on their side of the fence, and walking away from the “other side is worse” rationalizations, can fix things.
Is this going to happen? Probably not. Too few people have the guts to stand on principle when doing so leads to near-term pain. Easy-but-wrong usually prevails over difficult-but-right.
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