The GOP: Where Do We Go from Here?

 

Note: the points expressed below are not intended to be watertight, nor even incredibly persuasive, logical arguments.  I am just a history professor, not an expert on any of the topics discussed.  These are just my opinions, based on the facts as I understand them.  I humbly admit that I may be wrong on at least some of the points.  I do not intend to get involved in lengthy debates with anyone.  If that makes me a coward, then so be it!

Allow me to begin with a little background.

For as long as I can remember, I have held conservative moral and political views.  Consequently, I unhesitatingly voted for the Republican candidates for president in every election from 1988 (when I was first eligible) until 2012.  In 2016, I was originally a “Stop Trump” voter who supported one of his opponents.  When Trump won the nomination, I rallied behind him, despite his many character flaws.  I figured he was the “lesser of two evils,” and so I held my nose and voted for him.

As time went by, I became increasingly convinced that in voting for Trump, I had made a big mistake.  By early 2020, I realized that I could not in good conscience vote for him that November.  But I also could not vote Democratic; their 2020 platform simply contains too many things that I strongly disagree with.  So, the first time in my life, I voted for a third-party candidate.

I am convinced that Donald Trump has hijacked the Republican Party and taken it in a sinister direction, one of which I want no part.  Today’s GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Eisenhower, or even Reagan and GHW Bush. This, I think, is highly regrettable. Rather than totally leave the party, however, I prefer to do what I can (which, granted, probably isn’t much) to help reform it, return it to it roots, and to help it to address the unique challenges of today. 

Therefore, for what it is worth, I have decided to list a dozen things that I think the GOP needs to do, not just to survive, but to be a party that is more attractive to Americans in the center of the political spectrum and also that has policies that will truly benefit our nation and the world.  In a few cases, I think the party is already doing a decent job.  But in most cases, I think that as of 2020, it is failing.  In most cases, I will not offer specific solutions.  These are just my thoughts. I will leave it to the experts to figure out the nuts and bolts.

 

1.      Advocate for the environment.  It is time for the GOP to unequivocally admit that climate change is real, that it is mostly man-made, and that action must be taken immediately.  To those in industry who claim that any environmental restrictions will cost jobs or even ruin their companies, I would respond that every time in American history that environmental or consumer-protecting legislation has been proposed, this objection has been raised.  Have corporations had to make adjustments?  Yes.  Have some jobs been lost?  Yes.  Was American industry destroyed?  No, and it won’t be this time either.  There are plenty of ideas out there that fall in between radical ideas such as the Green New Deal and doing nothing or even rolling back pro-environment policy.  In the end, what will it profit us if no jobs are lost but our children and grandchildren must live in polluted world (or no world at all)?

 

2.      Establish racial justice.  It is a great scandal and a tragedy that more than 150 years after the three great Reconstruction constitutional amendments were ratified, we still have systemic racism and racial injustice in our society.  Under Trump, a significant portion of the GOP voter base consisted of racists, white nationalists, conspiracy theorists, and others with hatred in their hearts.  To be sure, there have always been racists in the GOP (and indeed in both parties), but the lack of criticism and acceptance of racism in the GOP seems to be at an all-time high. The post-Trump GOP must show these people the door.  The party must make anti-racism a central part of its ideology.  People like those who stormed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 must no longer be welcomed in the party.

 

3.      Establish a sensible immigration policy. Immigrants are not our enemies.  The GOP should promote a welcoming stance to those wanting to come to our country, especially those who are fleeing persecution or political instability. As for the millions of undocumented immigrants who are currently living in the U. S., I believe that the GOP should offer them a path to citizenship.  I have often wondered why we do not simply make them pay a fine and grant them citizenship within a certain time.  Problem solved! 

 

4.      Work toward a balanced budget.  In my younger years, the Republican Party prided itself on being the party of fiscal responsibility.  Toward the end of the George HW Bush presidency, due to a combination of moderate tax increases and spending reductions, the federal budget deficit began to decrease.  During the mid-1990s, as a result of cooperation between the Republican-led Congress and Democratic President Bill Clinton, the budget was balanced for the first time in many years.  Since the presidency of George W Bush, however, the GOP seems to have abandoned all pretense of fiscal restraint.  While I admit that there is a time and place for deficit spending, running up huge budget deficits year after year as a matter of policy is not a good idea.  The US federal deficit as of late 2020 was $26.7 trillion, which is 43% of GDP. The Congressional Budget Office forecast in April 2018 that debt held by the public will rise to nearly 100% of GDP by 2028, perhaps higher if current policies are extended beyond their scheduled expiration date.  Is that really a legacy we want to pass on to our children?

 

5.      Avoid international military actions.  This is an area in which I think President Trump actually did well.  If there is one thing I have learned in my study of history, it is that (in General Sherman’s words), “War is hell.” Its costs, both financial and psychological, are staggering.  I would like to see the GOP continue President Trump’s military non-intervention policy and even advocate for moderate cuts in defense spending. 

 

6.      Invest more in public and postsecondary education. Rather than throw stones at the public education system, why not work to improve it (and I mean REALLY improve it…not just add more standardized testing)?  Having strong public schools has been one of the main reasons for America’s greatness, and making them even better can only help us.  As for postsecondary education, measures must be taken to address the ever-skyrocketing costs (for example, the cost of a 4-year public university education in Texas in 2019 was three times the equivalent cost in 1986, adjusted for inflation). Governments must invest more in both 2-year and 4-year institutions.  Tuition should be re-regulated.

 

7.      Maintain a commitment to federalism.  The GOP should continue to work to check, if not roll back, the growth of the power of the federal government, particularly the judicial branch.  Laws should be made at the lowest level possible.  American presidents, regardless of which party they belong to, should not be able to rule by fiat.

 

8.      Stand for religious freedom and freedom of speech.  Lately in our nation, there have been calls for “hate speech” laws and other restrictions on speech.  As odious as hate speech is, restricting it is fraught with peril, because deciding what is and is not hate speech is often highly subjective.  The temptation to brand disagreement as hate is often too great for some in power to resist.  As for religion, doctors, business owners, and others should not be punished for refusing to violate their deeply held religious beliefs.  Freedom to exercise one’s religion does not stop at the door of the church, synagogue, mosque, or other sacred building.

 

9.      Become consistently pro-life.  The GOP should not merely try to restrict abortion but try to change the conditions that make women feel they need abortions.  Additionally, the party should promote policies that prevent the taking of life at all ages, including eliminating the death penalty.

 

10.  Work harder to reduce crimes primarily committed against women, especially domestic abuse and sexual trafficking.  Further elaboration on this point is hardly necessary.

 

11.  Here is a position to which I have recently come, and this one will really get me in trouble with my fellow conservatives:  Work to ensure that everyone has access to health care. Obviously, the health care issue is a huge, highly complex problem with no easy solutions.  GOP leaders should assemble a bipartisan commission of political, medical, business, and other leaders to come up with practical and just solution to the problem.  Personally, I would prefer a hybrid system rather than single-payer, but my main concern is that we implement something that reduces costs and makes coverage universal.  It is shameful that in a nation as wealthy as the US, so many people do not have adequate medical coverage and have to go deep into debt just to keep themselves alive.

 

12.  Finally (and this may perhaps be the most important of all), the GOP needs to adopt a kinder, gentler approach in dealing with its opponents.  The Trumpian practice of calling anyone who even slightly disagrees with us as a “loser.” “stupid” or any other pejorative needs to be tossed into the dumpster. We must stop demonizing those with whom we disagree.  Instead, we must treat them with respect and work with them to solve the nation’s problems, just as President Reagan worked with Tip O’Neal and the Democrats in Congress.  It is time that the GOP, and the nation as a whole, finally realizes President George HW Bush’s dream of a “kindler, gentler, nation.”