An Open Letter to Republicans

It has recently been made clear to me that many of you are worried or concerned or troubled by my many politically-oriented posts over the past few years. I have been told that I have changed. I have been called a liberal and a communist... by people that should know better.

So, let me say this; of course I've changed, we all have and continue to do so. But, I think you all have changed a lot more than I have. Your political preferences bear little to no resemblance to the values that have historically been a part of the Republican party. Let me justify that statement:

• It was a Republican president that created the EPA.
• It was a Republican president that granted the last large-scale immigrant amnesty.
• It was a Republican president that largely created and fostered the international order and understandings that we've lived under for the past 30 years.
• It was a Republican president that warned us against an unchecked executive and an unchecked military-industrial complex.
• It was a Republican president that chose to reach out to the Muslim world after 9/11 and make clear that the U.S. was not waging a religious war against Islam.
• It was a Republican president that championed cap-and-trade to combat pollution and global warming.
• It was a Republican president that guaranteed birth-right citizenship by signing the 14th Amendment.
• It was a Republican president who trusted and utilized the intelligence community in order to win the Cold War.
• It was Republicans in Congress that held a Republican president accountable for his crimes and misdeeds, twice.
• It was Republicans in Congress that passed the Civil Rights Act in cooperation with a Democratic president.
• It has been Republicans who, for most of the past century have championed the free market and open trade agreements.
• And, it was a Republican Senator who said, while working with a Democratic president, that "politics stops at the water's edge."

And yet, I have watched while most of you have chosen to support this administration that has actively worked to dismantle, circumvent, or negate every single one of these precedents, policies, or principles.

I don't understand it.

I'm told by the right-wing media and talking heads that to be a Republican in 2019 I have to be anti-Planned Parenthood if not completely pro-life. I have to subscribe to a single fiscal theory and only that fiscal theory despite a century's worth of evidence to the contrary. I have to fear Muslims, gay people, Mexicans, transgender people, minorities, women, and poor people and thus should support moves to limit their rights and their voices. I have to believe that America was somehow greater in the 1950s than it is today, and then I have to ignore almost everything I know about the 1950s. I have to believe that Antifa and Black Lives Matter are as dangerous or more so than actual Nazis and white nationalists. I have to feign a degree of ignorance of gun violence and always pledge my thoughts and prayers in the aftermath, but never, ever, anything more. I have to believe in grand left-wing, deep state, main stream media conspiracies that exist wholly outside of the realms of rational thought, while simultaneously ignoring the substantial and mounting evidence-based accusations of corruption and abuses. I have to choose to believe "alternative facts" rather than my own eyes and experiences. I have to excuse this president's average of 13 unique lies per day since taking office because the last president lied a few times too. I have to ignore victims, migrants, women, refugees and the brutality with which we deal with them.

Nope. That's not me. I'm not wired that way. I would still put money on the idea that you aren't either. But this administration and their enablers are wired that way. They prove it almost daily.

It's also not enough to erase what I thought I knew to be Republican principles.

Like most people, I was heavily influenced by the most important people in my life when I started figuring out what aspects of the political spectrum made the most sense to me. My parents made it clear that voting was important and a privilege, and in order to fulfill that privilege admirably a citizen needs to be well-informed and engaged in the world around us. CNN was rarely on the television, mostly because of a general disdain for Ted Turner, but the nightly news, especially the McNeil/Lehrer News Hour on PBS was an absolute staple. I can still hear the theme music. I watched as the Berlin wall came down, as election results were announced, as the first Gulf War was fought almost entirely on the television. I read everything put in front of me about the political history of the United States and democracy at large. I saw the innate flaws in political and economic systems that seemed to ignore basic human nature. I idolized (and often continue to do so) Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Goldwater, Buckley, and Reagan. I seem to remember actually trying to convince a friend as a sophomore in high school that they were a Republican too.

I still wish that our leaders and scholars wrote with the style, grace, substance, and grasp of Jefferson and Hamilton. I still idolize and hold dear many of the words of Buckley and Eisenhower. I'm still an advocate for free markets and free trade. I still consider government for government's sake to be antithetical to personal liberties. And, I still consider the Constitution to be the paramount authority in American political and legal life.

But now my principles and my party affiliation are clashing. What's more disturbing is that I'm experiencing quite a bit of cognitive dissonance watching the values that were instilled in me clash with more recent conservative political beliefs.

My siblings and I were taught to tell the truth, be good to your word, be tolerant and understanding as much as possible, stand up for those who may not be able to stand up for themselves, work hard, be educated and informed, and cooperate even with those with whom you disagree in order to achieve a greater good. We were taught to try to be self-sufficient, not wasteful, respectful of authority but assertive when appropriate. The adult world we were prepared for was to be no place for tantrums, bullshit, laziness, and demagoguery.

But, now none of those values seem to matter. I had more of an issue internalizing many of those values than my siblings did, and in my mid-30s I still struggle with it. But I continue to try, and I simply can't quite resolve that effort with the unwavering support I see for this administration that doesn't seem to hold any of the same values. I fear it is rooted in the last but most pervasive and erosive of the aspects of being a Republican in 2019 to which I am told I must adhere: I have to hate the Democrats.

Not just dislike them. Not just distrust them. Not just hold them in disdain or dismiss them. But viscerally, emotionally, irrationally, and intrinsically hate them. They are the enemy. More dangerous apparently than foreign threats that continue to attack us or domestic terrorism that threatens our children. More important apparently than any considerations of morality or even productivity. The Democrats are the enemy. Any idea they advance must be negated. Any value they try to promote must be ridiculed. Any rationale they use must be attacked.

That's just nuts.

History teaches us that every single solely opposition party without a guiding ethos beyond opposition for opposition's sake in every western democracy ever has failed. All of them. Every time.

It seems to me that the GOP became an opposition party while Barack Obama was in office. The problem is that that is all they became. If nothing else, the election and administration of Donald Trump is fairly obvious proof of a distinct and troubling lack of a guiding political ethos.

Republicans are supposed to be for conservative fiscal policies that reduce the debt and the burden on future generations. Apparently not anymore. The only president ever that added more debt than Trump during their first two years in office was Obama ($2.07 trillion vs. $3.46 trillion), but Obama's was at least incurred during the Great Recession, when most economists agree, federal spending should be increased. So, more than any president ever presiding over an already growing economy, Trump has significantly added not only to the national debt, but also sped up the accumulation rate, so the worst is yet to come. That's the kind of irresponsible spending the Democrats are supposed to be guilty of.

Republicans are supposed to be for free markets and free trade. Apparently not anymore. There hasn't been an American president that levied anywhere near the totality of tariffs that Trump has in the last 100 years. William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt were responsible for the largest of the trade wars in our history, but, Trump is a very close third. Economics, especially international trade is based on specialization and innovation and it is absolutely not a zero sum game. That inability to grasp globalized economics and the benefits of free trade are the kind of thing that Democrats are supposed to be guilty of.

Republicans are supposed to be for limited government and a weak executive. Apparently not anymore. The sheer number of executive actions, and executive abuses, from ten counts of obstruction of justice to the whistle blower complaint that this White House is currently extra-judicially refusing to release, as well as the now dozens of unanswered and unresolved subpoenas for records and appearances all add up to a dangerously lawless executive. He has taken the dangerous principles of the unitary executive and combined them with a lifelong dismissal of the rule of law. That's the kind of shortsightedness and power-centric actions that Democrats are supposed to be guilty of.

Republicans are supposed to be for personal liberties, civil discourse, and accountability. Apparently not anymore. Trump is all for his own personal liberties, but not so much those in the military, women, minority voting rights, or human rights in general. Civil discourse is a distant memory with this president. He's done everything from encourage rally-goers to violence to publicly call for a foreign nation to commit acts of cyber warfare against us. And we've already touched on the lack of accountability he's experienced. Those treasonous, amoral, unchecked, hypocritical actions are the kind of things that Democrats are supposed to be guilty of.

Republicans are supposed to be for a strong and consistent foreign policy that leads the free world; a shining light on the hill. Apparently not anymore. Trump is neither a strong negotiator (evidenced by almost every international deal he's made or walked away from; NAFTA 2.0 is barely a 1.1 and is pretty crap for dairy farmers, autoworkers, and any appeals process for settling disagreements; the Paris climate agreement was non-binding, and many of our business leaders are following it anyway, so...; the Iran nuclear deal at the very least prevented Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons... until Trump backed out of it; North Korea has now tested more missiles since Trump took office than during any previous presidency, including those that were eight years long; and cancelling the INF treaty with Russia eliminates any leverage the international community had against... Russia) nor a consistent one (thanks Twitter). He's publicly ridiculed around the world, mostly for his tantrums, ridiculous lies, and inability to comprehend basic truths. Shining we are no longer. He has single-handedly drowned out any international concept of American exceptionalism. That's the kind of thing Democrats are supposed to be guilty of.

Republicans are supposed to be concerned with the economic and fiscal consequences of social policies instead of social engineering through fiscal policies. Apparently not anymore. This White House's own studies have shown that there are net economic gains to be had from immigrants, green jobs, and reducing tariffs... and yet, this administration has actively gone the other direction, not for economic reasons, but for social engineering ones. That's the kind of thing Democrats are supposed to be guilty of.

I'm actually more terrified that I might be wrong. If I am wrong about this, than the new guiding ethos of the party is without integrity, without consistency, without principle, without understanding, without tolerance, and without mercy. I can't or won't imagine that is the case.

Now, there are more nuanced aspects of this too. I am of the belief that immigration reform that makes immigration in all its legal forms more accessible can and should be a conservative priority. I am of the belief that in a nation that spends exponentially more on medical services than any other developed nation that some form of reform of that industry can and should be a conservative priority. I am of the belief that the preservation and advancement of civil liberties can and should be a conservative priority. I am of the belief that accountability, Constitutionality, and the letter of the law can and should be conservative priorities.

So, here's my question; have I changed, or have I simply not abandoned those same principles that prompted me to tell a very well-meaning teacher in the 11th grade who was glorifying Kennedy's idealism that "idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive?" (Buckley)

Why shouldn't we tackle arguably the easiest identifiable industry to help reduce the national debt? That's healthcare. But to listen to Fox News for more than 30 seconds, you'd think there weren't any ideas out there floating around that didn't amount to a socialist takeover of hospitals nationwide. Whatever happened to the marketplace of ideas? Markets reward efficiency, innovation, and productivity. By shutting down the conversation by presenting straw man arguments not actually based in reality, you betray the marketplace and remove half the population from the discussion. Now nothing can get done.

Why shouldn't we encourage the growth of a demographic shown to be more entrepreneurial, more self-sufficient, and more economically-upward-mobile than any other population in our country? Isn't that the basis for the Republican boot-strap ethos? Well, that demographic is immigrants, and even more so, asylum seekers. Immigrants start businesses at a higher frequency than native-born citizens, use fewer federal resources than native-born citizens, their children receive more merit-based scholarships to universities than native-born citizens, and on average have fewer outstanding debts than native-born citizens. Asylum seekers are, economically-speaking, the gold mine of immigrants, they do all of the aforementioned things in even higher percentages. But, by fear-mongering and providing a scapegoat (a wholly-inaccurate one at that) to blue collar America, you can both remove the blame from the familiar and direct their ire towards the foreign... all while shooting ourselves in the foot economically.

Why shouldn't we encourage civil liberties? Isn't the Republican party based on the idea of limiting government? So why are we so focused on reducing people's personal and civil liberties through government; from drug legalization (which from a business and market standpoint should seriously be a Republican party platform item), to same-sex marriage equality, to abortion rights. Why must we make government so pervasive it finds itself in our lungs, uteri, and bedrooms? What's more, I think Jefferson, if he were a statesman of the 21st century, would probably include healthcare in his definition of civil liberties. He put it right in our founding document; "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." "Life," which could easily be construed to mean "health." And, while Jefferson obviously predates the Republican party, and even the Whigs, his ideal of an agrarian society of citizen-scholar-soldiers, each actively participating in the administration and preservation of the republic and in turn taking mortal responsibility for their neighbors while maintaining a stranglehold on the reins of governmental growth seems much more classically GOP than anything else.

Why shouldn't the letter of the law, Constitutionality, and accountability be encouraged? They sure used to be. When I was in high school, one of the primary strikes against the Democrats was their lack of accountability within their own caucus; if a member of leadership was indicted, they weren't even required to step back from the leadership, much less resign. But, the Republicans used to have a hard and fast rule where any wrong-doing, or even significant accusation thereof, was a grounds for removal from leadership positions at least, and usually from office completely. Since the Tom DeLay scandal, this rule has gone out the window, so much so that despite being the party that held Andrew Johnson (a Republican) and Richard Nixon (a Republican) accountable for their misdeeds, either by impeachment or the threat and process of impeachment, we now find ourselves with a Republican president having committed multiple crimes while in office (and seems to continue to do so) exactly one Republican out of more than 250 in Congress has endorsed the idea of impeachment. Apparently he was the only one to read the Mueller Report (and, because it is so often forgotten, Robert Mueller, like the majority of his staff, is a Republican). This president has acted against or spoken out against principles of more than twenty of the twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution, not to mention Articles I, II, III, IV, and VI. Apparently, he hasn't read them either.

I am baffled.

Can it possibly be that so many of my role models who obviously value hard work, integrity, culture, education, ingenuity, kinship, and respect support this president who's actions don't seem to support any of those ideals? I'm trying to think of anyone I've been told to emulate or respect and I can't think of a single one that would have the time of day for a reality tv star like Donald Trump.

So, I maintain, I am a fiscal conservative for the 21st century. I believe in and will promote free markets and free trade because nations don't really go to war with robust trading partners and that is the most reliable way to protect Americans both economically and security-wise. I believe in reducing the national debt so that we don't burden our children with our mistakes, and that the ripest fruit on that reduction tree are industries that bankrupt Americans while receiving tax payer monies and benefits, chief among them, the healthcare/insurance/pharmaceutical industries. I believe in a strong national defense, but that maintaining a standing military with an annual operating budget larger than 178 nations' GDPs might be ultimately counter-productive. I believe in a limited government that does not serve merely as a source of corporate-welfare, but instead as a manifestation of public will. I believe in a weak executive because our national welfare and foreign policy should never be at risk because of the whims of one person. And, I believe learning from our mistakes; a process that requires the acknowledge of the mistake in the first place (and it certainly isn't aided by doubling down and lying about the mistake to better suit one's concocted narrative).

My final question is, why don't you? This president is not a conservative, no matter how you try to dress him up. He's anti-intellectual, xenophobic, narcissistic, incredulous, inconsistent, and lazy... none of these are conservative values. And they certainly don't seem like values that have any place among the people I respect.

Maybe, in the 21st century, Buckley should be turned on his head a bit; maybe ideologies are fine, as long as it's not prohibitively costly that they eventually start to approach reality. The Trumpian ideology still has a long way to go before it gets anywhere near reality. Let's at least hope that the cost isn't our personal values and national morals. Basically, can we please be actual Republicans again?

Editor's Note: At the request of certain subjects of this article, specific details have been changed and/or deleted in the interest of harmony.