[ARC DIGITAL] Politically Homeless? You're Not Alone

I like the concept of "political homelessness." I think what the author writes here is just as applicable for Democrats who lean moderate to conservative, especially older Democrats.

Politically Homeless? You’re Not Alone
Hard for principled conservatives to be Republicans these days, but they can’t be Democrats either
Sarah Quinlan
May 28 * 7 min read

If you, like me, currently feel politically homeless, we’re not alone. In a recent Gallup poll, 44 percent of respondents said they consider themselves independents, compared to 27 percent Republicans and 26 percent Democrats.

But I didn’t always feel this way. As a lifelong proponent of limited government and the guiding principles that made our nation great, I viewed the Republican Party as the best vehicle for promoting these beliefs. I thus aligned myself with the GOP and voted for the Republican candidate on the ballot in every election until 2016.

That election unexpectedly left many Republicans like me feeling politically homeless. We had been pushed out of — or, for some, willingly ran from — the party we had called “home.” But we, with our conservative principles, weren’t a good match for the Democratic Party, either.

And as much as we wanted to deny Trump the nomination and stop him from taking over party of Lincoln and Reagan, our efforts were in vain. At each stage, and then throughout Trump’s first two years, I wondered — and worried — how Trump would affect the Republican Party and what this meant for the conservative movement as a whole.

I grew dissatisfied with sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what would happen. I started writing about politics because I felt there were too few commentators — on both sides — consistently writing pieces I wanted to read, and I grew frustrated with the clickbait hot takes that glossed over one side’s misdeeds yet feigned outrage over the other’s, fueling anger and refusing to acknowledge any nuance.

Writing was, and remains, enormously gratifying. I love the opportunity to reach new audiences, to speak for conservatives who feel the same way, to start discussions with Republicans who don’t agree, and to be heard by liberals who can’t believe they were willingly reading a conservative. And it provides me with an outlet to explain and defend my conservative beliefs, as well as to express disappointment with certain politicians. But I continue to worry about how a Trumpy Republican Party affects the conservative movement.

And so this spring, I began working with the Women’s Public Leadership Network (WPLN) and joined the board of Catalyst PAC. It was the missions of both organizations that appealed to me: WPLN provides women who believe in limited government and market-based approaches with the knowledge, resources, and support to run for elected office, whereas Catalyst hopes to “increase the variety of backgrounds represented in Congress, by supporting diverse Republican candidates running for Congress.”

In short, I joined two organizations dedicated to expanding the conservative movement, one of which is explicitly dedicated to electing Republicans.

After four years of watching Republican politicians behave in direct opposition to their self-proclaimed principles, these were not decisions I made lightly.

Yes, I want to vote for politicians whose principles align with my own, such as limited government, individual responsibility, the free market, and liberty. And I certainly want those politicians in power instead of politicians with opposing beliefs.

But I also want politicians who are able and willing to choose their principles over their own reelection and who are brave enough to go against the tide when necessary. And even the Republican politicians I believed in and defended — not Steve King or Louie Gohmert but Ben Sasse and Tim Scott — turned their backs on those principles when it was politically expedient for them to do so.

Such actions, by politicians I respected, made it easy — and necessary — to question the point of electing politicians based on “principles” when those politicians are far too quick to drop those principles at the very moment they’re needed most.

So then why risk it? Why work to elect more politicians who may end up voting hypocritically? Why work to elect politicians who claim they’ll stand up for the Constitution when they’ll simply bend the knee if Donald Trump demands it?

Because I believe it a healthy conservative movement is vitally important for this country and the world. And therefore, I believe, we need a healthy Republican Party.

True conservative principles make our country and her citizens freer, safer, and more prosperous. And there must be a healthy alternative to the Democratic Party to keep liberal overreach in check and provide conservative solutions to America’s challenges.

The Republican Party would be better if it were more representative of our country as a whole and if our politicians had a wide range of experiences that brought additional value and insight. And it’s dangerous what the younger generation thinks conservatism is and who they’re looking to as role models.

And even though more people consider themselves independent rather than belonging to one political party, few of them are truly independent, because most lean towards one party. If people are going to vote, I want to provide them with quality candidates rather than allow candidates such as white nationalist Paul Nehlen to fill the vacuum.

The Republican Party is facing an enormous problem, and it’s one of the party’s own making. It’s losing women, people of color, and younger generations.

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https://arcdigital.media/tbd-64b6e64673de

 

conclusion:

As Politico’s E.J. Graff reported “[f]ewer and fewer American women identify as Republicans, and that slow migration is speeding up under Trump.” However, “Trump alone didn’t push these women to shed their Republican labels; other GOP politicians’ unquestioning support for Trump did that.” Several of the women Graff interviewed said “they were angry that an all-Republican government has become the party of fiscal waste, deficits, trade wars and rebates for the wealthy.”

The Washington Examiner reported that “[m]illennial women are leaving the Republican Party in droves in recent years, with less than a quarter of younger women voters now identifying as Republicans. Between 2002 and 2017, millennial women who identify as Democrat grew from 54 percent to 70 percent, according to a new Pew Research poll. Conversely, 23 percent of millennial women now identify as Republican as compared to 36 percent in 2002.”

Writing for the Weekly Standard, Kristen Soltis Anderson warned that “[y]oung people are not discovering conservatism on their own and they are largely repelled by what they see coming from the right in the Trump era.” She also noted, “[c]onventional wisdom incorrectly suggests that young people always hold progressive views and older people hold more evolved conservative views that have been duly informed by experience in the ‘real world.’ The kids, this reasoning goes, will eventually realize the error of their ways. The data tell a different story.”

Indeed, the 2018 midterm election should have been a warning sign for Republicans, but, as conservative writer John Podhoretz noted, although the Republican Party lost handily, “Republicans in Washington seem intent on denying it.” There is extensive data that registered Republicans voted Democrat in the 2018 midterm elections, helping Democrats retake the House. Vox reported that “suburbanite registered Republicans voted for Democrats over Republicans” in November 2018.

These numbers are concerning for the Republican Party. But they’re also telling to conservatives like me, since they reveal registered Republicans aren’t entirely happy with the party right now.

And those numbers aren’t the only promising sign. Consider what happened in February when Boston-based consultant Heath Mayo tweeted about setting up an alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after seeing the event’s speaker line-up included Candace Owens, Sebastian Gorka, Charlie Kirk, Jeanine Pirro, and Diamond and Silk. His tweet unexpectedly took off, so within a matter of two weeks, he organized meet-ups around the country aligned under the banner of #PrinciplesFirst; the first round of meet-ups were so successful that the second round of conservative working sessions took place this month. After attending the second NYC session, which focused on ideas and conservative solutions instead of individual politicians or “owning the libs,” I left feeling refreshed and optimistic.

Clearly, there is still demand for a movement focused on principles, rather than individuals, tribalism, or triggering the left.

And such a movement inspires others. One Republican in St. Louis was unhappy after his local Republican leadership invited former sheriff Joe Arpaio — who Trump pardoned after he defied a court order — to headline a Lincoln-Reagan dinner, so he wrote to his local newspaper criticizing the decision. The letter-writer told me that he would never have known about Arpaio’s misconduct if not for other Republicans and that he was so inspired by other Republicans speaking out and holding the party accountable, it encouraged him to say something.

My relationship with the Republican Party and the Republican label is more complicated than I ever expected it to be. I no longer call myself a Republican, and I will never automatically vote straight Republican again, although I will support and vote for Republican candidates who demonstrate they deserve my vote. Yet I am still a conservative, and I refuse to give that label up to right-wing media figures like Sean Hannity or Tomi Lahren.

I will fight to return the Republican Party to the Party of Lincoln, not the Party of Trump. And I won’t give up on the conservative principles I have believed in my entire life.

Sarah Quinlan is a columnist at Arc Digital. Read more of her work and follow her on Twitter.​