The GOP’s ‘Faustian bargain’
I first registered as a Republican because it was my father’s party and have voted Republican ever since — with detours to Democrats now and then. I shared their beliefs in strong family, prudent spending, meritocracy, vibrant economy based on capitalism that has raised people’s living worldwide, strong military able to fight two wars at once as during World War II, sensible legal immigration to fill the jobs waiting for high and low-skilled workers. Where I disagreed were guns and abortion. We still have a Wild West mentality about guns that needs checking. Gun ownership should be strictly controlled nationwide, not just by state. As for abortion I am personally opposed, believing science that life begins at conception but it should be left up to the woman to decide what to do with her own body. What if she is a teenager or a harried woman barely coping with three or four children?
Except for Nixon, Republicans have had a good run with presidents. Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan and the two Bushes were honest men who played by the rules. The Republican Party could be proud of them and I was proud to be a member of the party. Then Donald Trump came on the scene, a liar, cheat, blustering man with illusions of grandeur. Middle America was suffering from the neglect of both parties and the slow ending of industrial jobs. Trump was smart enough to appeal to them; they wanted a touch guy, with a large personality and they got it, sending him to the White House. Whether they wanted him or not, the Republican Party was stuck with him but happy to be back in power, except that it was a Faustian bargain. It was no longer the Republican Party but the Trump Party with Trump the demagogue fully in control. It took the loss of the Senate, Congress and the White House for the party to wake up but it was too late. For lifelong traditional Republicans it was a time of reckoning — what is the future of the Republican Party?
Our country is based on a two-party political system, each a check on the other. It is essential for the survival of democracy that both remain strong giving voters an honest choice between conservative or liberal. In the last four years both parties attracted extremes in their rank, Democrats with self-identified Socialists such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republicans with Ted Cruz. The election of moderate Biden and the exit of far-right Trump are good signs for those who believe in center politics that bring both parties together on crucial domestic and foreign issues. For Democrats, the future of their party is in good hands with Joe Biden. The future of the Republican party depends on leaving behind its image of white male supremacy and increasing its membership, which has seriously declined, to include lower economic racial and ethnic members. This will take time but if success is the objective, it is the only way to form a party that reflects voters of today. How long this will take is a question mark, but in the meantime I am changing my registration to Independent until the party goes back to its origins.
Greenwich resident Carla Wallach is an author of five books and writer of numerous articles in national publications. Her latest book, “In The Company of Originals,” is available at Amazon.