Dedicated to the GOP, Not Any Single Candidate
By Bryan Williams
I voted for President Trump in 2020. I don't regret that vote - still. I have thought a lot about re-registering as "No Party Preference" here in California, rebuking the party I have called a home since I was 18. I stopped and thought further: There are Republicans I haven't voted for since 2012 for one reason or another. In their respective race, I just didn't vote.
I cannot bring myself to vote for a Democratic candidate because of what they stand for. I have voted for Democrats in "non-partisan" races (local city council, etc.), but that's about it.
What about splitting the GOP into two, the MAGA-loving Trumpsters or a "Lincoln Party" comprised of Never-Trumpers? I have a problem with that too.
See, I'm not a Never Trumper. I voted for him. I liked a lot of what he did. But his obvious character flaws and the events of January 6 changed my views of Trump. So again, I was let down by a person. I wasn't let down by the Republican Party or it's ideals. I imagine you can ask many Catholics how they feel about their church leaders versus what their religion stands for.
I haven't voted for several Republicans in my local elections since 2012 because I don't like them as individual persons. I still believe in Republicanism. And there are lots out there who do too -- Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney to name a few.
So no, for now I won't be joining a "Lincoln Party," or a break-away party of any other name. I am not a MAGA-Trumpster. I am not a Never-Trumper. I am a Republican.
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Chosing Conservatism Over Party
By Andrew Boyd
Every day we make decisions whose first skew is pragmatic or principled. With respect to the grifters that make up the leadership of the Lincoln Project, pragmatism wins every time. On the other, more populist, less swampy and, I’d argue, principled side of the conservative movement are those such as me, who believe the Republican establishment has long since decoupled itself from anything resembling classic conservatism, perhaps not in word but most certainly in deed.
These two factions define the ends of a spectrum that constitutes the fight for the soul of the Republican party. Having said that, I’m not one who subscribes to the notion that political parties, in the pragmatic sense, have any soul at all. That’s why I am more inclined to think of myself as a conservative than a Republican. One is a principle, the other – well, as they say, every great idea starts as a cause, becomes a business and ends up a racket.
When precisely our national political system entered into the racket phase, I’m hard pressed to pinpoint, but we’re in it for sure. There is a deep and abiding cynicism in the body politic, arguably more so on the left than on the right, because as conservatives, we’re more predisposed toward suspicion of all power centers, regardless of ideology, understanding they all tilt toward tyranny. The left, in principal, seems to me to have nothing left to offer but cheap virtue signaling, manufactured outrage, and the diminishing returns of intersectional politics. And based on the news of late, it’s every bit as on-board with crony capitalism as is the right.
Into the fray rises the notion of a third party arising from one or the other side of the conservative spectrum. There are monied interests on both sides, and insofar as a Patriot party is concerned, I completely understand the inclination, as it resides within me. On principle, I’d love to stick it to the man, to say “see, you don’t own my vote, Mitch McConnell, you, swampy old toad!” But pragmatically, we’re a two-party affair. You dance with the one that brung you. There’s no pitching around it, so far as I can see. Any conservative, on either side of the divide, who throws his or her weight behind a third-party movement has essentially decided to take that principal and light it on fire just to watch the damned thing burn, and that’s just nihilism.