It's Game Day

For Republicans, that means a Saturday in the fall. For Democrats, that means every day ending in "y".

I’ve been thinking about the real differences between Republicans and Democrats for most of my adult life. I’ve wondered why Republicans often need an existential issue or a once-in-a-generation leader to motivate them to show up and vote, or why they rarely take to the streets even when their way of life is under direct attack. I’m not sure I’ve arrived at the full answer, but I think I’m closer than I’ve ever been.

At the root, Republicans and Democrats operate from entirely different worldviews. Republicans still cling to the idea of the citizen legislator – a Cincinnatus who serves in public office for a time, does the job, and then goes home to live under the laws they’ve made. The ideal is still the small-town businessman, farmer, or veteran who runs for office out of a sense of duty, not ambition. Democrats, on the other hand, believe in a permanent political class - a technocratic, professional cadre that sees politics not as service, but as a career. Their power lies in continuity and expertise, not in citizen participation.

That same contrast extends into questions of faith. Republicans, broadly speaking, believe that religion is a personal choice - a direct relationship between the individual and the Holy Trinity, a conversion of the heart. It is voluntary and deeply individual. Democrats, however, have built coalitions that increasingly ally with worldviews incompatible with this individualistic understanding of faith - such as political Islam, which historically favors conversion by force and punishes unbelief. While this alliance may seem pragmatic and multicultural on the surface, it reveals a deeper willingness on the left to subordinate individual conscience to the demands of the collective cause.

And that brings us to the essence of the divide: Republicans believe in the individual, Democrats believe in the collective. Republicans see society as a loose collection of self-governing individuals, each making their own choices and bearing their own consequences. Democrats see it as a collective organism directed by leaders who claim to know what’s best for everyone. The former values freedom and diversity of thought; the latter values conformity and coordination toward a single goal.

If that sounds abstract, think about it in terms of college football.

Imagine one college that fields a team each week from the general student body. The players may be naturally talented - some even exceptional - but they practice only a couple of days before the game. There’s no playbook, no discipline, and no consistent roster. Some players show up every week, others sporadically, and some only once. The uniforms are mismatched, the equipment is old, and the coaches are doing their best with what little they have.

Now imagine another college - the kind you find in the top dozen programs in the nation. They recruit the best athletes year-round, backed by big donors funneling money like Halloween candy through NIL deals. They will recruit players who might not be the best people off the field, but they are the best performers on the field. They have professional coaches, analysts, nutritionists, and facilities that rival NFL franchises. Every play is rehearsed, every block choreographed, every tendency of the opponent dissected in the film room. By game time, the players move like one organism. The quarterback throws to a spot, confident the receiver will be there. The system works because everyone knows their role and executes it without hesitation.

How often do you think the first team beats the second? Sure, sometimes an underdog pulls off a miracle – little Louisiana Monroe beating Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide 21-14 back in 2007 - but those moments are rare. The disciplined, organized, well-funded team wins most of the time.

And that, I think, is the story of modern American politics and something we just watched play out in Virginia and New Jersey statewide elections.

Republicans are the ragtag team of individuals - talented, free-spirited, but uncoordinated and inconsistent. Democrats are the machine - a disciplined, well-financed, ideologically aligned organization with a playbook and a plan. For Republicans, gameday is every Saturday in from September to December – for Democrats, game day is every day, all year long.

Until Republicans learn to play as a team without sacrificing their belief in individual liberty, they’ll keep showing up on Saturdays wondering why they keep losing on the scoreboard.