By Samuel G. Howard in RIFuture.org
I have been thinking
about the RI GOP situation for a while. I’m one of those people who agree that
it would probably be better if the Republicans were a stronger party, that they
could actually threaten the Democratic agenda in the state, etc., etc.
A
problem, I think, is that there are plenty of people who feel this way, but
simply would never vote for a Republican. And they’re not wrong to do that
(despite what Republicans might say).
A great number of Rhode Island voters
legitimately dislike Republican policies. Believing in multiparty democracy
won’t change that.
Anyhow, if the RI GOP
legitimately believes this is the case, I have a proposal for the Republicans:
disband and become Democrats.
By adhering to this
philosophy entryism, Republicans would achieve all of their current aims. They
would gain more power by being able to ally with conservative Democrats. They
would gain the ability to check Democratic policy. They would functionally
remove the master lever as a political evil. Essentially, they’d make the
Democratic Party a nonpartisan political party. Yes, the primary would essentially
become the election, but it essentially has been anyway, with the battle
between the left and right wings of the Democratic Party.
Who knows, they might
actually get one of their own made Speaker or Senate President.
Here’s the issue at
heart: do Republicans care more about their party or more about their ideals?
If they care more about their party, they’ll remain Republicans, essentially
declaring tribal identity superior to principles. If they care more about their
principles, they’ll do what it takes to win. They’ve tried the separate party
thing, and it failed.
Liberals learned the
same lesson in 2000. Since that point, liberals and progressives have eschewed
third party politics in favor of primary battles for control of the Democratic
Party. RI Republicans could use the same tactic.
Another way to look at
this is as the “Andrew Jackson” strategy. RI Republicans could be described as
ascribing to a “Rhody Reagan” strategy, in which a true conservative arrives to
lead them to glory. But a Jackson strategy, forcing a split within the single
dominant party based on ideology might be more successful; much as Andrew
Jackson did with the Democratic-Republican Party, leading to the formation of
the Democratic and Whig Parties.
At the end of the day,
it’s about where you’d rather be in the political world: inside the tent
pissing out, or outside the tent getting pissed on.
Samuel G. Howard is a native-born Rhode Islander, educated in Providence Public
Schools, went to college in North Carolina and a political junkie and
pessimistic optimist.