COLUMN: A primer for Republicans on how to lose elections

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This column first ran in June 2012 in the middle of the failed Mitt Romney bid for the presidency. It was titled “Do political parties matter — or not?” The same issue is perhaps even more revelant than ever this year, as the Republican Party elites have turned apopleptic from watching Donald Trump win the hearts of the GOP base voters. Although the Never-Trumpers hide under the banner of conservatism, their policies and history reveal them to be more liberals waging war against small government and common sense.)

I get confused about partisanship. Apparently sometimes its good and sometimes it’s bad. I may be wrong, but I think it is good when the Democrats are the party in power, and bad when the Democrats don’t have enough votes to do what they want.

Or maybe it is not Democrats — maybe it is liberals.

Because whenever I write a column about how politicians ought to stand up for their principles, a lot of liberal Republicans write to complain about how politicians actually ought to “go along to get along.”

This is where I get confused. I don’t mind admitting it. There is nothing wrong with being confused by a conundrum — in fact, that is usually the desired effect.

So just humor me while I puzzle this out.

Let’s start with “liberal Republicans.” What’s up with that? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Or worse, delusional? At the very least, If you are a liberal AND a Republican, you are probably even more confused than I am.

And where are the “conservative Democrats”? The last two prominent ones I remember were Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and both of them essentially got purged from their party because they were too... you guessed it, conservative.

But maybe that’s too strong a description. In fact, Miller got it right when he said (quoting another ex-Democrat Ronald Reagan) that he “didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left [him].”

That actually makes sense, doesn’t it? As a political party makes a transition through time, it will attract new members and lose old members because of the natural process of attraction of like-minded people.

The Democrats seem to understand that, and make sure that people like Miller and Lieberman self-eliminate from the party because they just aren’t comfortable there.

It just happened again last month, when former Rep. Artur Davis (a co-chairman for Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign) announced that he was regretfully leaving the Democratic Party because “this is not Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party” any more.

Well, this isn’t Nelson Rockefeller’s Republican Party any more either; it isn’t Richard Nixon’s Republican Party; and it isn’t even the Republican Party of George Bush (take your pick) any more.

So why are Republicans supposed to have this “big tent” philosophy that welcomes moderates and liberals into the party even though their views are diametrically opposed to the pronounced philosophy of smaller government, lower taxes and common-sense solutions that protect individual rights?

The only reason I can think of is that it helps the Republicans to maintain power. If they fudge what they really believe in, or don’t really believe in anything very strongly, then they can be the party of whatever they want whenever they want. Maybe that explains the presidencies of the last two Republicans (Bush and Bush), who said they were conservatives, but governed like liberals. But maybe it also explains why more and more people are disgusted with Republicans for looking like they don’t have any core principles.

So if Republicans want to lose elections, I would recommend that they try to confuse as many people as possible about what they believe in. This will drive away their natural constituency of core voters, and will also allow their opponents to paint them as opportunistic knaves who will do anything to get elected.

Meanwhile, the Democrats just keep doing what they do — approving more entitlements, more handouts and more government — and then blaming the Republicans for trying to hurt poor people.

Liberals who go along with this Democratic agenda are just doing what makes sense — acknowledging the philosophy of bigger government that they honestly believe will make all our lives better.

Republicans, on the other hand, who go along with this Democratic agenda are either, yep, delusional, or else intentionally trying to destroy their own party from within.

That’s not confusing, but it is scary.

Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake.