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It appears as if we have begun the 2012 GOP Presidential primary campaign and the long awaited Republican party civil war.
I will avoid playing the logomachist, specific to the editorials and blog posts written by Republicans and conservatives in recent days. For the most part, the critiques of Governor Palin have been addressed by blogger Matthew E. Miller, but many of the editorials written on the state of the Republican party, its political wings, desire for change and road map to success have been misdiagnosed and contained inaccurate facts and subtle attacks on Governor Palin.
The Republican party is not divided by conservatives and moderates, or by secularists and evangelical Christians. The GOP is divided by Tories and Reformers. This has always been the tradition, and the divisions will continue. McCarthyism, the Whigs, protectionism, the abolition movement…….the two different factions have always expressed themselves in different models, usually by attaching themselves to the cultural and economic movements of the day.
Tories- Lead by the Bush family over the past 30 years, the Tories are from old money, many tracing their heritage back to the aristocracy of Great Britain. Many fled to Nova Scotia after the revolution, but most remained to protect their wealth and political interests. Usually from the urban and the northeastern United States, the Tories believe in tradition, and they are non ideological. In recent decades, the Tories have been joined by the Dixeicrats, boss-hog type power brokers from the south, who are economic liberals, and partisan in nature. They care about power, corruption and social status.
Reformers- Certainly the most complex faction of the GOP. The reformers are ideological and cover most of the political spectrum, from libertarians, to moderates, to arch-conservatives, reformers believe in continuous change and have a deep distrust and distaste of the DC elite, our government, and most large organizations. Reformers believe in different variations of federalism, but agree that the Legislative Branch should makes laws and the Executive branch should execute on them as instructed. Reformers believe that most domestic policy/laws should be controlled by State government, not by the Judiciary.
Reformers are usually not life-long Republicans activists, traditionally from the west or mid-west, come from modest means, and are from exurbia, small towns and rural America. Reformers have always suffered from inter-movement factionalism (usually over foreign policy, family values, and the specifics of the change they desire). Reformers are in the minority of the GOP and only achieve victory when great change is desired in America (see Reagan and Gingrich).
Sarah Palin is a reformer, she is not a Tory. No matter how much the media and bloggers attempt to belittle her accent, lack of wealth, or knowledge of DC, she is one of us, and we embrace her. Tens of thousands of citizens in our great nation attend Palin events each week, send her donations and fight for her, because we understand Governor Palin’s values. Sarah Palin has begun the modern Whig movement in America and the similarities are striking. Just as the Whigs fought for domestic manufacturing, Palin fights for domestic energy development. As the Whigs fought against the culture of corruption in DC, Palin fights to destroy the ‘old boys network’.
Do not mistaken yourself for a reformer because you read David Brooks, or admire David Cameron, they are not reformers. Changing policy positions (for electability) is not changing a political party/system. Reform is not about changing the GOP’s positions on abortion, gay marriage or the Iraq war, it is about how you view our federation, the Constitution, and who should hold the political power in America.
So be prepared my friends, you will have a choice to make next year. Are you with the Bush family, John Boehner, Mitch Mcconnell, Haley Barbour, and Tom Delay, or are you with Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson, Paul Ryan and Bobby Jindal?
If (I hope) Sarah Palin is the standard bearer of reform, then so be it. I am ready for war! Let us get it on!
October 9th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Kristofer,
Interesting way to define the sides. But isn’t that kind of another way of saying “insiders” and “outsiders?”
Anyway, I’m curious into which camp you would place McCain, Huckabee, Romney, and Guiliani.
Gotta’ go, will check back later.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:48 am
#2, “insiders” and “outsiders” may be part of it.
As for listing names, I avoided that in the post, expecting the readers to take that lead.
Romney certainly governed in MA as a reformer, as did Rudy in NYC. It is tough for me to judge Huckabee, because I disagree with him on all three legs of the Republican party. Is Huckabee really a change agent, probably not?
October 9th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Interesting. Have you not indicated on this site that you are in favor of legal equality for gay marriage, and are pro-choice? How does that not place you within the “moderate” part of the GOP. I’m sure a large section of the party would be happy to tag you as a moderate, or even a liberal, based on those positions.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:52 am
This is a great point that I’ve seen made before, only with the names of the groups changed. It’s true. The Republicans are composed of different factions, but the biggest four are the paleoconservative Republicans, movement conservatives, principled moderates, and election Republicans. Reagan united the first three to get elected and got the election Republicans to use and warp his name in elections to follow. The grassroots fall generally in the first three categories and I’d place them into Kritofer’s Reformer section. Here’s how I’d view these people –
Paleoconservative Republicans – Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan, Tom Tancredo
Movement Conservatives – Mike Pence, Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin
Principled Realists/Moderates – Gerald Ford, Dwight Eisenhower, Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, George Pataki, Arlen Spector
Election Republicans – George W. Bush, Tom Delay, Dick Cheney, John Boehner, Haley Barbour, Dennis Hastert
People like John McCain have the appeal they do because they fall into the Movement Conservative and Principled Moderate category, thereby bridging the gap between these seemingly diverse groups — both of which want a better party and a better nation. I want the first three groups running the party, and I want the currently in power Election Republican either accept the reform wing as the more principled group, or get out…
October 9th, 2008 at 11:54 am
#3, they would call me moderate or liberal. But that is not the point, the point is to look at all the pro-choice Republicans who support McCain, or all the pro-life convervatives who supported Rudy.
Polls actually support the fact that for a strong percentage it is not about ideology, it is about choosing either tradition or reform.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Being a reformer does not automatically translate in being able to reform. That is, Sarah Palin may have the best of intentions and values, but so do you and I. I want someone with serious qualifications that can get the job done. Sorry, Palin, as of right now, seems a little weak there.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:55 am
You said it well, #6.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Interesting viewpoint. One item of note is that the modern Whig movement is already upon us. It’s a mainstream organization that was started by Iraq/Afghanistan veterans and caters to those who cherry-pick between traditional GOP ideals and traditional Democratic ideals. Their general viewpoint is fiscal responsibility, strong national defense and bold social progression. The Modern Whig Party has been deemed the fastest growing political movement in the country and also perhaps the most innovative. They realize where they stand at the moment, and this is why they have a strategy of running candidates on major party tickets starting in state/local 2009 elections, so as to establish a winning track record. A movement to keep an eye on.
http://www.modernwhig.org
October 9th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
#6, she has 4 years, and that is enough time.
#8, Thanks for the link.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
both sides will unite under petraeus
October 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Pretty early for this stuff, isn’t it?
October 9th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Petraeus is not the solution. He is a general and belongs on the battlefield, not the White House or Congress.
I like the theory, but may agree with some that Palin may not have the gravitas YET to achieve success. Palin is a GREAT choice for a VP, but not ready to be the leader.
So who could fill that position….
Romney, Giuliani, Fred (although maybe too old), Gingrich (although may be tainted)
October 9th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Kristofer,
I agree to a point, but the reality is that there are enough factions within the reformer side to allow the Tory side to win next time. Unless the field narrows for whatever reason, reformers will be split between at least three well funded and well known candidates and perhaps more.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
#13, I fear that.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I am afraid I have more bad news all. The Supreme Court of Alaska said the Palin Report will come out tomorrow. I fear what is in it because McCain and everyone faught hard to keep it from coming out.
If it is a hint of wrong in it, the focus will be on that for the weekend.
Now the dow jones is down over 600 and it is below 9k. This is serious and I am afraid if McCain does not get a message on the ECONOMY it is over. Bradley affect, I am afraid we will see a GREEN affect when it comes to money and people who may not vote for Obama because he is black in a usual election, may if they feel he has a better message to fix this mess which it appears people do
October 9th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Kristofer – another excellent post my friend. I was not at all surprised when I saw you were the author of this thoughtful piece. You bring up some excellent points and I actually am sort of looking forward to Nov 5th so we can move onto reforming the GOP, whether McPalin or the Socialist wins.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I’m sorry, but this post is mindless pap. It is overly simplistic and fundamentally flawed in its understanding of politics… which is not tearing the party apart through internecine warfare.. but coalition building.
The winning Republican leader must be able to knit together the myriad (not two) camps that make up the big tent party.
So start figuring out how a unifying republican message can bring people together, rather getting “ready for war!”
October 9th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
[...] READING: A great discussion of the different factions in the Republican party, & Sarah Palin’s place in them. (via [...]