An interesting statement was recently signed by an influential group of Republican conservatives, fighting for the soul of the Republican Party. They don't want a return to pre-Trump politics. Some of what they're advocating sounds very much like tenets of the Alliance Party.
An internal civil war broke out in the Republican Party when President Donald Trump effectively took it over during the 2016 campaign. Many of the old guard are biding their time in the expectation the political landscape will return to normal when his term is up. Others believe that the 2016 election was evidence of a real change in the political landscape. The authors of the manifesto think this is the case and are advocating some radically un-Republican, centrist ideas:
Their social values platform is naturally conservative but in many respects their economic and political ideas are definitely centrist.... Our policy must accommodate the messy demands of authentic human attachments: family, faith, and the political community....In recent years, some have argued for immigration by saying that working-class Americans are less hard-working, less fertile, in some sense less worthy than potential immigrants. We oppose attempts to displace American citizens. Advancing the common good requires standing with, rather than abandoning, our countrymen. They are our fellow citizens, not interchangeable economic units. And as Americans we owe each other a distinct allegiance and must put each other first.
...We seek to revive the virtues of liberality and neighborliness that many people describe as “liberalism.”
...We want a country that works for workers.
...The Republican Party has for too long held investors and “job creators” above workers and citizens, dismissing vast swaths of Americans as takers unworthy of its time. Trump’s victory, driven in part by his appeal to working-class voters, shows the potential of a political movement that heeds the cries of the working class as much as the demands of capital. Americans take more pride in their identity as workers than about their identity as consumers. Economic and welfare policy should prioritize work over consumption.
...We believe home matters..
...We embrace the new nationalism insofar as it stands against the utopian ideal of a borderless world that, in practice, leads to universal tyranny.
It seems that some people now appreciate that the real message of 2016 was that a large proportion of both Democratic and Republican voters are fed up with politics as usual. They felt they had no voice and the result was a startling upset. It could well happen again - in a way that might surprise both mainline parties.
-- Mike Power
No comments:
Post a Comment