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Advice from a Canadian Conservative to American Republicans
I turned eighteen in 1979, the year Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau suffered his first electoral defeat at the hands of Progressive Conservatives (PC) led by Joe Clark (aka “Joe Who”). Unfortunately, all throughout the 80’s the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was so bad that it wasn’t until the 1993 Federal Election — when Preston Manning and the Reform Party arrived on the scene — that I actually voted for somebody for the first time in my life.
Throughout that bleak period, I never voted PC, not even once. Conservative friends would ask me, “Do you want the Liberals back in power?” I said I didn’t care: The PC’s and the Liberals are just a choice between Tweedlededee and Tweedlededum. The 1980’s may have been a flowering of conservativism throughout the world — the US had Ronald Reagan, Great Britain had Margaret Thatcher — but, in Canada, we got a clunker in the form of Brian Mulroney. A venal, petty, unprincipled, and vindictive Red Tory, I could never vote for a man so hell-bent on hard-coding left-wing principles into Canada’s Constitution.
My guiding principle during those frustrating years was that politicians need to earn my vote. I have no obligation whatsoever to support anybody, regardless of their party affiliation. Politicians ultimately derive their power from the people, not the other way around.
As a result, I voted for the Party for the Commonwealth of Canada in in the 1984 election. Decades later, I discovered they were a front for Lyndon LaRouche. They only received 87 votes in my riding (one of them being mine), but it didn’t matter. They weren’t a serious party and my message — that I hated every mainstream option — was delivered. I didn’t vote at all in 1988 and felt vindicated by the end of Brian Mulroney’s disastrous second term, which featured featured the aforementioned attempts at constitutional meddling as well as successfully draconian gun-control (Bill C-17). I hadn’t soiled myself by voting for him.
So, if you are a Republican who thinks Donald Trump isn’t made from presidential timber — and you hate Hillary Clinton as well — then my advice is to not vote for either. You owe them nothing. It is up to each of them to convince you that they are worthy of your support. Don’t let anybody tell you it works the other way around.
But here’s the good news. As a Republican, you have a lot to be proud of. In spite of this year’s disastrous presidential season, the GOP is at a historical level of strength. Republicans control 31 state legislatures outright (and split four more legislatures with the Democrats), hold 31 governors’ mansions, have an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives and a slimmer one in the US Senate. And while the Congressional Republican leadership has been disappointing — to put it mildly — the new Speaker of the House is much better than the man he replaced. Paul Ryan may be disappointing in some ways, but he stands head and shoulders above the execrable John Boehner, a man of no virtue or talent.
So if I were you, I would tune-out the presidential election. Regardless of who wins, the conservative cause has already lost that particular race. Rather, I would concentrate all my attention, energy, and money on local, state, and congressional races where you can make a real difference. These elections matter and there is a lot at stake.
Since we know that the new resident is guaranteed be bad (even if we don’t know his or her name yet), it is more important than ever to maintain control of Congress. This is especially true of the Senate, where — thanks to the success of the 2010 midterms — the Republicans have a lot of seats to defend. If I were a conservative activist looking for something to do, I would find a senate candidate to support. If there is none in your state, is there a close senate race in a nearby state? Perhaps there is a RINO who needs to be primaried.
To put things into perspective, I did not have this option as a Canadian conservative in the 1980s. Thanks to iron party discipline, I could only choose between a Liberal trained seal or a Mulroney PC trained seal in my riding. And because provincial and municipal elections are held separately, there was very little reason to even go down to the polling station on Election Day. But because the American system of government is more decentralized, there is a lot you can do even if you hate all the options at the top of the ticket.
Please note that none of the things I advise involve lost causes or tilting at windmills. There are real, consequential elections out there that you can affect in a practical way.
So cheer up – and get to work.
Published in General
Agreed.
It seems strange to abandon the entire GOP over Trump, though I can understand concerns raised when respectable representatives suddenly endorse Trump. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Gradually replacing the GOP with a 3rd party is an option. But so is gradually replacing GOP leadership by hostile takeover. Boehner and McConnell hate Cruz at least in part because he represents voters’ rejection of their philosophies.
Thank you for a solid and reasonable post, reflecting principled common sense.
Many thanks for the wisdom of your experience, CC. I much prefer your calm advice and reasoning in the face of bad choices to the harangues of Trumpists. I hope you are right that there is a conservative future for the GOP, because Trumpism is not going to cut it and I will never vote for that, whatever it is.
My plan is to vote for Republican candidates for the Senate and House, state level offices, and local offices.
I remember the election of Joe Clark in 1979. I remember, too, my Mom’s quip to one of our Canadian friends: “I hope your JC is a helluva lot better than ours!” (She was referring to then-president Jimmy Carter.)
Good piece, CC.
Timber? He doesn’t even have matchsticks.
This might make sense if we had a parliamentary system.
There is a real possibility that a presidential term for Hillary could do so much damage to America that we would not be able to recover without a full depression, bankruptcy, social chaos and widespread violence. Recovery could take a very long time, and the global result would be major violence and millions more refugees. Western Civilization might be hanging in the balance. It is hard to tell, but the situation is grim. Not nearly so resilient as Canada in the 1980s.
As one who has considered my options and decided to support Trump, with all of his deficiencies, I agree with you CC, that for those of us who cannot do the same, at least vote the down card and DO NOT VOTE FOR HILLARY!
I’m voting for the candidate who intends to secure our border and govern on behalf of American citizens rather than foreign interests. Hence, Trump.
Quite right. Those who think they are sending some kind of profound message to the colossus of politics by not voting are in fact partially nullifying the votes of people making your choice. Don’t we also have an obligation to help direct our society?
I’m a bit confused. You’re never going to vote for something you can’t define?
Mike and Tom,
As Fred Cole has been hinting at with his Daily Shot introductory quotes of late – character matters. Trump’s lack of character so disqualifies him that many of us cannot support him.
Might? How many years does it take to “fundamentally transform” America? Is it really possible that “4 more years” is not enough? Aren’t we well past the tipping point? Unlike our friend to the North, my calculus is this: I think 12 years of Obama/Clinton takes the U.S. well down the road of no return; and 4 years of Trump doesn’t. Either way, if everything doesn’t hang in the balance, a hell of a lot sure does.
Merina, if you have been harangued I am sorry and somewhat stunned. I have decided to support the only candidate that can defeat Clinton, but that doesn’t mean I do not understand the frustration of those who are supporting other Republican candidates. I remember having to support McCain when I actually only supported Palin. She was mocked by both Dems and Repubs just like Trump is. This website has, from my point of view, been vicious at times, and strident at best, in its denunciation of those who support Trump as stupid, uneducated, Nazis with no moral fiber or intellectual compass. So to hear you claim you’ve been attacked by “Trumpists” is honestly jaw dropping.
In any event, God Bless the USA. We need all the help we can get.
Well of course I will never vote for Hillary. Sure would like to see a third party conservative enter the race though. And Bernie too.
Can you tell me what Trumpism is or what it stands for? Yet you are all on board. I’m on board with conservatism, and while I can’t tell you what the heck Trumpism is, I can tell you it is not conservative, which is why I won’t vote for it, nor for a candidate of horrible (which of course includes Hillary too) character.
Well, Ben Carson said Trump might consider a Democrat running mate…
I could not agree with you more.
The juxtaposition of President Donald Trump and a Democrat Senate is not a pretty, or a particularly reassuring, picture.
< devil’s advocate mode = on >
I think the Tories’ reasoning on that “Social Charter” section was that this stuff was already hard-coded into the Constitution via Section 15 of the Canada Act 1982. Adding some extra wording into the Charlottetown Accord was, they reasoned, a meaningless gesture to get the lefties on board. The damage had already been done by the Trudeaupians in ’82, and there was no going back, so they might as well profit from the lefties’ sentimentality by throwing them a completely meaningless bone.
< devil’s advocate mode = off >
Man, you read my mind! McCain is exactly who came to mind as I read that phrase. And, YES, I will be supporting Kelly Ward against McCain even though I don’t live in AZ.
I hope Ward has ‘gater skin because McCain will throw everything he has at her. It’s amazing how McCain, and McConnell fight harder and meaner against members of their own party than against the opposition when they go back to D.C.
Great post, CC. Part of what I observed of the general election up north was how little ideological conflict there was. The Tories seemed to be saying “at least we aren’t that empty suit on the other side” and the Liberals were saying “His name’s Trudeau; you know you want him!”. On both sides of the border, we could use a clash of ideas, instead of whatever we’ve been doing the last 10 months.
Right now, that clash happens more in the lower-tier elections, like you mentioned. We need to keep winning those, and fix our crazy nominating process (several Ricochetti have proposed massive improvements).
We are one Supreme Court Justice away from losing our first and second amendment rights and the rubber stamping of every power grab by executive fiat made by a Clinton administration and Liberal Presidents into the future.
Federalism will become irrelevant so we might as well forget State governance. You will see an imperial presidency that will make Obama’s presidency look democratic by comparison. This is our fate if Hillary gets elected.
What could happen in four years? This would happen in four months, with worse to come in 4 years. I know that just one Hilpointment would turn the court into the above. I don’t know what a Trumpointment would look like but it couldn’t be as bad.
As you read this 9 Attorney Generals are plotting to convict folks of the horrendous crime of not agreeing with global warming extremism. With a Hillcourt there would be no protection. The only rational course of action at this point is to vote for Trump.
Trump is all about Trump. As near as I can tell, Trump is only about Trump. I also find Trump to be distasteful and offensive.
But the fact that Trump is not a conservative is no reason not to vote for him. Lots of conservatives in lots of circumstances do not have a conservative choice, but only the choice of the lesser of two evils. That is what we face.
I do not mean to harangue. I understand your reluctance. But I wish to persuade you that Trump is not likely to do as much damage to America as what we can expect from Hillary.
Vote for awful Trump;
…Stop Corrupt Hillary.