Conservatives, Race, and a New Party?

Do we need a new conservative party?

At the time of Barry Goldwater, the Party of Lincoln doubled down on her conservative roots, but also alienated African-American voters. Some of this was accidental and some was intentional in a cynical ploy that culminated in the “Southern Strategy” of the Richard Nixon campaign. Millions of mainstream Republicans who were conservative and also supported civil rights did not notice the change, but millions of others did and left the Party of their childhood.

African-American Republicans had to notice the influx of old Jim Crow Democrats and the long decline of votes for the Republican candidate began. Growing up, this frustrated me and I looked to men like Jack Kemp of Upstate New York to help lead a conservative renaissance, but his message never gained traction because too many white Republicans were unaware, and this was a culpable ignorance of the continued struggles of the African-American community. More than a few, God help us, were just as glad to see our brothers and sisters go.

If you have never worked for “good” people who are uncomfortable to have so many of “them” around, then you don’t know the problem. I have and it is a stench in God’s nostrils.

I still think for the majority, the error we made was ignorance. For good hearted Republican white voters, the aspiration of a color blind society was treated as mostly a reality. That this was utterly wrong was not obvious to these voters because many situations were so much better compared to Jim Crow laws and voter suppression. The fact that minority voters continued to have votes suppressed and face more violence from police (if not fatalities) was undeniable, yet still ignored.

This was wrong.

On the other hand, in the great battle of the late twentieth century against godless communism, Republicans were steadfast and true. We won the Cold War based on a bipartisan policy created by Democrats like Truman and Republicans like Eisenhower, but by the 1970’s Democrats were giving up on that consensus. Republicans like Ronald Reagan got this right and so the Cold War was won.

This magnificent victory having been achieved left the Republican Party with her great twentieth century task accomplished, but with the evils of the Southern Strategy still in place. Now in states like New York and California there is no Republican Party. We cannot get votes in neighborhoods that need new solutions like Compton, California.

Of course, the Libertine Party, the Democrats, have no answers. They pay lip service to helping all God’s children, but the unborn, the poor, and even the middle class get death or table scraps. All races are badly served by an economic program that gives treats to donors in big business and favors big government. The poor and middle class will never have powerful lobbyists like the rich insiders. Both the rural poor and the inner city poor are ill served by the infamous marriage of big business with big government. The Democratic Party of the Clintons will never reform this system that made them rich.

Has the time come to start a new Party that has none of the baggage of the Republican Party, but rejects the Democratic corporate welfare model? Can a Party that rejects abuse of power by business and government be formed? We need a government that advocates for the poor and not the rich, but also a government that stays out of most of our lives so that we can maintain religious freedom and diversity of ideas.

We need a multi-racial Party for limited government, but a government that acts to do justice to the alien, stranger, and the poor. We need justice and not “law and order.” There is a Christian majority in most communities in the United States with shared moral values. Isn’t it time for a Party that is built on those values?

At the end of 2016, the answer is not to return to 1980, 1952, or 1861. Reagan was a man of his time, Eisenhower of his day, and Lincoln was limited by his nineteenth century. We need a Party where positions of power are held by a diverse group of people. We need a Party where conservative values do mean that big business and lobbyists get the government for which they pay. We have seen the alt-Right and we must say: “We are not your Party. We do not want your votes.” Even good men like Mitt Romney went to get endorsements from “birthers” and others. This was a major error.

The time has come to let the minority of white voters who are racist go. If that costs us in the short term, then it will win in the long term. Mostly, Christians should do it because it is right. Is this possible in a reformed Republican Party? Perhaps, it is, but perhaps not. For Christians, we serve God and love our neighbor first. We deal with our own souls and mind our own business, weighty enough and long enough to take up most of our time!

This new federalist, pro-life, small government Party could do good. Perhaps we could name it the Lincoln Party.  Could it win? Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not.  We will see, but there should be no going back to placating racism, dog-whistles, birthers, conspiracy theorists, or going along with the politics of hate.