The Republican Party has no future, and the Democrats may not have much of one. Does America?
Finally, a former CIA operative who had also served as the chief policy advisor to the House Republican Caucus came forward. Nobody had really ever heard of Evan McMullin. He got a late start and was unable to get on the ballot in most states. He ended up with only one-half of one percent of the vote.
Still, I'm proud of the ballot I cast for Evan McMullin. I agree with John Quincy Adams: “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”
In this New York Times article, McMullin discusses the future. I disagree with only one thing. The Republican Party has no future. Donald Trump has compromised it to the point where it can never be either a centrist party or a credible alternative to the Democrats again. And it's hard to see the tenuous coalition between Never Trumpers and the Democrats surviving Joe Biden's presidency. Though many centrist Democrats are in denial about this, a younger and more radical generation of Democrats stands poised to seize control of the party. Even Kamara Harris is probably too far to the left to sustain the coalition. So what next?
What McMullin sees as a contingency, I see as a historical inevitability. Donald Trump has ruined the Republican Party. Its refusal to accept the election results has only underscored the degree to which its rank-and-file have been radicalized and marginalized; its leadership has been too severely compromised by Trump ever again to be taken seriously. Our system demands both a center-right party and a credible alternative to the Democrats, and the Republican Party can no longer provide either.
It's time for the Republicans to go the Whigs' way and be replaced by a center-right successor party. What stands in the way is not a lack of support but a lack of courage and leadership. Some will continue to hope that the Republican Party can be rescued from what it has become; some have already joined the Democrats. But neither alternative is likely to be viable.
We need people with Evan McMullin's foresight and courage, people whose vision speaks louder than their fear. We Americans have cowered quite enough during the past four years. It's time to face reality and do what needs to be done.
America no longer has a center-right party, and once Joe Biden is gone, the Democrats will doubtless follow them off the deep end. There is simply no alternative: our way of life depends on having at least one, preferably two, political parties that can be taken seriously.
What McMullin sees as a contingency, I see as a historical inevitability. Donald Trump has ruined the Republican Party. Its refusal to accept the election results has only underscored the degree to which its rank-and-file have been radicalized and marginalized; its leadership has been too severely compromised by Trump ever again to be taken seriously. Our system demands both a center-right party and a credible alternative to the Democrats, and the Republican Party can no longer provide either.
It's time for the Republicans to go the Whigs' way and be replaced by a center-right successor party. What stands in the way is not a lack of support but a lack of courage and leadership. Some will continue to hope that the Republican Party can be rescued from what it has become; some have already joined the Democrats. But neither alternative is likely to be viable.
We need people with Evan McMullin's foresight and courage, people whose vision speaks louder than their fear. We Americans have cowered quite enough during the past four years. It's time to face reality and do what needs to be done.
America no longer has a center-right party, and once Joe Biden is gone, the Democrats will doubtless follow them off the deep end. There is simply no alternative: our way of life depends on having at least one, preferably two, political parties that can be taken seriously.
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