Liberal Republicanism as a mechanism to reach cross-party consensus
If Lenin, Mao, Churchill and John F. Kennedy were to walk together down the streets of Shanghai, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Istanbul or Johannesburg (or even Almaty, Kazakhstan) today, they would not argue for a nanosecond about who “won” the ideological struggle among them. The world has become overwhelmingly a planet of people aspiring to live materially rich middle class lives, where substantial personal liberty if not democracy is the norm, and where people realistically believe that working hard will likely lead to a better future for them and their children. Today there are places all over the world that more resemble America in the Fifties (with local cultures and modern technology) than the overwhelmingly politically repressive, anti-capitalist places they were thirty years ago. These benefits have all occurred on America’s global watch, and many of these benefits have come from ideas and policies of which America has been the chief proponent.
So why does almost no one in America, neither conservative Republicans nor progressive Democrats, nor most people in between, feel like we have “won” anything in the last couple of decades?
Our political dysfunction and paralysis has led to an eroding standard of living for many in America and a lessening of our ability to assure for our citizens – and especially for our younger ones— that things will be better for their children than they were for them. Since this American Dream is the essence of what has long made America so special, we run a real risk that if upward mobility for most Americans ceases to be a reality, America will cease to be, well…America.
The rebirth of a significant place in the Republican Party for Liberal Republican views would again provide a mechanism for cross-party consensus to be reached on a range of issues that today our increasingly nasty partisan politics is incapable of bridging. Unlike a football game, where one side wins and one doesn’t, life is full of examples where both sides win, such as a good marriage or a successful business partnership.
My goals in creating the Lone Liberal Republican website are modest: (1) to get a decent conversation going about the benefits of resurrecting the liberal branch of the Republican Party, including some of the public policies such a branch might adopt to help us find consensus, and (2) to help mentor others who wish to actively pursue Liberal Republican politics. To help with the first goal, please share this with others who you think may be receptive to the message. To read more, click the link below.
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