Metamorphosis

As the Republican party becomes more and more theological, and the current Republican administration pays lip-service to the historically conservative ideals of fiscal responsibility, personal freedom, and small government, many Republicans have found themselves outside of the main-stream Republican Party. In fact, numerous pundits and authors have been harping on this very subject for some time. It has now become apparent that many Republicans are trying to distance themselves from the current Administration. For evidence of the split one can need not look further then the current mid-term campaign as many Republican incumbents and hopefuls shun the President's stumping. As one of the classical liberals now on the outside, it makes sense to wonder what has caused the division, and what in those causes can help us create a viable solution.

I have often lamented this very issue, commenting on these pages how persons who cannot identify with the shift the Republican Party has taken, have very few, if any, options when it comes to selecting public officials. The Republican Party astutely noticed the shift in the United States towards Christian Conservatism and early on aligned itself with that movement, taking away the Democrat's natural tie to Christian ideals. Many conservatives now consider the Republican Party not to represent their ideals and politics, commenting that the party has been somehow hijacked either by the religious right or by those savvy enough to realize that demographics were in favor of the shift. Either way us classical liberals (Conservatives) could fall back on our belief that we are not willing to compromise our core beliefs in order to win the popularity contest that is modern politics.

The argument raises a philosophical debate: at what point does the zeitgeist of the Republican Party replace the history of the Conservative movement? How long does the Republican Party have to remain in the grip of the Religious Right before that ideal becomes the most defining characteristic of its members? At what point do Classical Liberals as myself simply relinquish our claim to the title of Conservatism? Those on the other side of the argument would surely respond that parties and movements evolve, and that if you are not part of the modern evolution of the Republican Party then you are simply not a Republican at all. Perhaps from ego, or perhaps from my disgust of what the movement has become, I prefer to fight the battle, but in the interest of the movement itself, when is it smart to split?

The fact that recently several Republican campaigners have shunned the President provides me little solace, as the split is for all the wrong reasons. Those who shunned George Bush on the campaign trail are not doing so out of a difference of ideals, they are doing so out of a difference of popularity; they maybe (I am doubtful) acting out of a belief that the administration has flawed execution, but even if that were to be true it would not signal a rally against the ideological shift of the Republican Party.