The year 2016 will be remembered as when our two political parties collapsed inward, dragged down by their worst instincts. This meltdown will create the opportunity for renewal in each party.
The Republicans are imploding first. A party that was once built on individual rights, personal responsibility, less government, free enterprise and ”peace through strength” is now lead by a “crony capitalist” who stiffed customers and small business suppliers alike, who advocates religious persecution of Muslims, a police state against Mexican immigrants, and withdrawal from global commitments.
But the Republican Party’s problems go beyond Trump. The Republican platform, written by the activist base, seeks a “human life amendment,” condemns gay families, and advocates for dangerous reparative therapy for gay youth. The right is still fighting the culture wars of the 1990s that it already lost.
Democrats are also reverting to old pathologies, offering something for every possible voting group: free college, expansion of Social Security, Medicare, and a “public option” for Obamacare, a national minimum wage of $15, plus mandates on business, states and local governments and more taxes on the rich. At the same time, their platform offers no solution to the deficit, supports government-subsidized abortion and has dropped its 2012 commitment to religious liberty.
On immigration, both parties chart extreme positions. The Republican platform would deport 11 million people, while the Democrats’ suggests no plan, or need, to secure our borders.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton affirmed her support for implementing the Democratic platform as written. Trump is less attached to the Republican platform but named a strict social conservative as his running mate and still displays the egoism and bigotry that should have disqualified him in the party of Lincoln.
Neither of the parties has a plan to address today’s $19 trillion federal debt, which by 2026 reaches $29 trillion under Clinton and $39 trillion under Trump. Instead of solutions, each party blames a “them” for American’s problems: “illegal immigrants” and “Muslims,” or “the 1%,” both decrying “a rigged system” and the other party.
In short, each party lacks balance and has retreated to its political corner. Each embraces pandering and the politics of division. And each has nominated a candidate that voters rightly don’t trust, leaving us a choice of “lesser evils.”
As lifelong Republicans who have spent our political life seeking to build bridges, we know that Trump’s bullying, imprudence, and unpreparedness would be dangerous for our country. On Election Day, we must vote against Trump, to protect the country, and for most down-ballot Republicans, to restrain the Democrats in Congress.
But Americans deserve better. Gallup polls now confirm that most Americans are “socially liberal and fiscally conservative.” As hopeful believers in the American dream, most Americans want a sustainable society based on innovation and opportunity, security and trust, private charity and public safety-net, inclusion and religious liberty, personal freedom and human dignity. That aspiration should be at the core of each political party. It is not.
And we Republicans must create a Party that once again champions civil debate, science, inclusion and religious freedom for all faiths, including Muslims. We must build a movement that fights for prison and police reform because we do not have justice until we have justice for all. We must stand for the middle class and the poor, one nation of opportunity, undivided by class, race, or gender. We must remain committed to fiscal and environmental sustainability, for the benefit of future generations and support a strong defense–including a plan to defeat terrorists and minimize war.
For America’s sake, Trump must fail, but each party still needs real change. The irony is that, in the wake of Trump’s self-destruction, we Republicans may be more motivated to make that change, from which could rise a renewed, inclusive party of Lincoln. That is our opportunity.
Rich Tafel is the CEO of Public Squared and Founder of Log Cabin Republicans. Ted Buerger is Co-founder and Chairman of AmericanTowns.com and previously was Chairman of the non-partisan Center for the Study of the Presidency (1998-2000). The views expressed herein are their own.