A New Tent

The Republican Party is alternately known as the GOP, for “Grand Old Party.” It’s old, all right, but is there anything still grand about it? Not according to conservative figures like George Will and William Kristol, who say they can’t call themselves Republicans anymore, insisting that they did not leave the party, but rather that the party left them. There are others who cling on to Republican identification, but openly admit they won’t vote for the re-election of the current President. And there are still others, who won’t oppose the President, preferring silence. So is it time to fix up the old tent or put up a new one?

The GOP was formed in 1854, primarily to oppose the expansion of slavery. Many of its members were former Whigs – yes, we had them. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President. He signed the Emancipation Proclamation in the middle of the Civil War to free the slaves. and much of Reconstruction occurred under another Republican President, Ulysses S. Grant. With that sort of history, you would think most African-American voters would feel a connection to the GOP.

Fluidity is a popular term these days, but it’s really nothing new. I am old enough to remember when the colors blue and red meant the exact opposite of what they mean today. Coziness with Russia was unthinkable to true-blue Republicans, and even moderate lefties were considered “pinkos.” In the party,  there were the likes of Howard Baker, Jack Kemp, Ed Brooke, and Margaret Chase Smith. The other side was not the devil. Republican legislators could even confront a flawed leader of their own party when it was time to talk turkey. When did the GOP become the party of yes people, conspiracy theorists, and mask resistors?

We may not be quite there yet, but if it’s felt the Republican brand is beyond repair, let me suggest, and I’m sure I’m not the first, that the new party to replace it be called simply Lincoln. “The party of Lincoln” is already a common phrase, and prominent Republicans who oppose the President have created the Lincoln Project, producing all those devastating new ads we are starting to see.

The benefits of the two-party system have long been debated, but this is not a binary world anymore. Maybe two big tents are no longer enough to accommodate the new politically homeless out there, of which,  it seems, there are way more than a few.