“Stand on Every Corner” protest, St. Paul, MN
This year, several prominent Republicans have either left the Republican Party altogether, or at least have called for fellow Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections. In June, conservative columnist George Will called for Republicans to vote Democratic this November, primarily to punish Congressional Republicans for not exercising their constitutional powers to stand up to Donald Trump. At about the same time, longtime Republican strategist Steve Schmidt announced that he was leaving the GOP, citing the Trump administration’s cruel family separation policy. Schmidt was followed earlier this month by former U.S. Congressman David Jolly of Florida, who announced that he and his wife have left the GOP. And Republican pundit William Kristol heavily criticizes Donald Trump and seems to be implicitly cheerleading the Democrats in the upcoming elections, with tweets such as:
Republicans seem to have given Democrats the chance in the final three weeks to run against both increasing deficits caused by the existing GOP Congress and the prospect of Social Security and Medicare cuts by a future GOP Congress.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 17, 2018
There are more examples of Republican defections to varying degrees. So the question is, can and should Democrats realistically call upon Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates, at least for their U.S. House Representative, in the midterm elections?
The answer is yes, we should try to get Republicans to vote for Democrats at least for the U.S. House. The main appeal to such voters is that a Democratic majority House will place a minimum constitutional check on Donald Trump that, as George Will mentioned, does not currently exist. As most of us learned in our U.S. History or Government classes, the framers of the Constitution set up a series of “checks and balances” so that America could not become a monarchy as was the case in England, the place from which the founders of our country escaped. Chief among these checks and balances is divided government, as represented by the three separate branches of the federal government, as well as having a republic with each state having its own government. Thus, while the framers left the possibility that all branches of the federal government would be controlled by one party, the lawless, dictatorial Trump administration is a special case. Trump even wants to curtail peaceful protests, a bedrock principle upon which our nation was founded and which is spelled out in the First Amendment. In essence, the appeal to Republicans to vote for Democrats in 2018 is an appeal for the stability of our country.
So the next question is, who might be receptive to such an appeal? Well, we can eliminate the white supremacists and other extremists who sadly make up a portion of the Republican Party’s base. These folks think that Trump is the greatest president even though by objective measurements he’s the worst, and they are most likely unreachable. However, there is some portion of the GOP that could be considered thoughtful and maybe even moderate. These folks are not running around saying Trump was picked by God or Jesus to lead America. Rather, they hold good faith Republican principles, such as the idea of limited government and fiscal responsibility, and they have some basic human decency. They know deep down that the Trump administration does not represent their values. They also likely know that, from tariffs to Russia to Saudi Arabia to pollution to cutting Medicare, Social Security and preexisting conditions, the Trump administration is out of control and dangerous.
How can we reach such thoughtful Republicans? Let’s tell them that having some divided government — just one house of Congress — makes for a more stable country where no one will be able to do anything too extreme. We can also tell the Republicans, don’t worry, they will still have the presidency, the Senate and the Supreme Court, and will still be able to do lots of things unfettered by the Democrats. Of course, we need to work on changing that both in the 2018 and 2020 elections too.
Photo by Fibonacci Blue, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/xXwiWZ
