In 2008, the Republican Party lost the election and multiple levels and responded to defeat by making the clear, calculated decision to go insane. That decision was made at the top, in the well-thought-out belief that going insane was a winning electoral strategy. And it did, indeed, prove highly successful. Republicans won sweeping victories in the House of Representatives in 2010 and won unified control of many state governments. In 2014, Republicans won control of the Senate and further sweeps in the House and at the state level. In 2016, the craziest Republican candidate was elected President. In 2020, Republicans held fast to state legislatures and made gains in the House. Insanity worked!
But Republicans lost the Presidency in 2020. And they have responded to defeat by getting even crazier. This time the decision was not made at the top, or in a rational or calculated manner. The decision was made by the party rank-and-file, and the leadership had little choice but to go along or be swept away.
Just to be clear, I do agree that having a strong democratic conservative party is essential to the health of democracy. This is a serious problem in the United States today because I see no space in our political spectrum for a sensible center-right party that respects democratic norms. Nonetheless, let us consider what such a party would look like.
And after giving the matter some thought, I have truly concluded that the issues are not the issue. A democratic conservative party could take a wide range of positions on a wide range of issues, but that is not what is truly important here. What is truly important is having a party that respects election results.
And what does it mean to respect election results? Well, to take the obvious, a democratic conservative party would not respond to defeat by inciting a violent insurrection. But it takes more than that. Respecting election results is compatible with asking for a recount when an election is very close. It is compatible with not conceding defeat until the recount is complete. It is compatible with suing to block changes in election rules before an election takes place. It may even be compatible with suits over election procedures after the fact in a few extraordinary circumstances. It is not compatible with filing vast numbers of lawsuits with no merit whatever. It is not compatible with trying to change the rules after a vote takes place, or with making clear ahead of time that you will sue to overturn the results if you lose. Respecting election results means conceding defeat once the result becomes apparent and telling your supporters that you lost fair and square.
But Republican behavior is showing that more is needed than that. Of course, it is perfectly reasonable for a defeated loyal opposition to vote against legislation that they oppose. It is acceptable for the party that controls the legislature to pass legislation opposed by the President, and to override the President's veto if there are the votes to do it. It is acceptable for legislative committees to investigate the President and his officials. It is acceptable for the opposing party to sue to block actions they consider unconstitutional. It is acceptable when party rule switches hands for the incoming party to undo or modify what its predecessor has done.
It is not acceptable to make sudden, large-scale changes in the rules of the game when the other party wins (as Republicans have done in several states when a Democrat was elected governor), or to block all legislature regardless of merit, or threaten to hurt the country to force over legislation when you don't have the votes to overcome a veto, or to whip up hysteria with apocalyptic warnings, or to set out to hurt the country for political gain. In the end, the party that loses elections has to accept, not only that it has been defeated, but that the winning party will adopt policies that the the losers do not like, and that doing so is simply politics as usual.
The Republican Party has made it more than clear that it does not intend to accept any defeat as legitimate, and that it has no compunctions about hurting the country to advance its fortunes.
I do, nonetheless, intend to do some posting on particular positions a sensible center-right party might hold on specific issues
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