Whither Goeth the GOP?

And what happens to the Democrat Party in the next decade?

I am quite pleased to see the headlines indicating there are many Democrat constituencies converting, if not to the Republican Party, to the Republican candidate for president. Let us hope that bodes well for the inauguration of a Republican administration in 2025.

But what do such changes mean for the GOP - and the Democrat Party - in the future?

Are Democrats beginning to understand Republican (and conservative) positions better – or do they just think the Harris/Walz ticket is too far left to lead this nation (because the stances of the current Democrat Party are untenable in the long run)?

I don’t know.

I hope it is something I have prayed over for a very long time, and that is a general recognition of where this country needs to go for the betterment of all, and not just a sort of ideological code-switching exercise that turns the GOP into a center-left party and isolates the Democrats into a new iteration of the Communist Party USA.

I spent a lot of time in NYC this past week working with some of the smartest and most resolute people with whom I have ever worked on a matter. Due to that direct and in-person contact, I realized that in the process of those efforts I have come to quite like these people. I enjoy their company on and off the clock, and they have shown genuine interest in me, my family – and especially Poppy, my month-old granddaughter.

We have never discussed politics, nor is that important to the issue before us, but based on offhand and overheard comments, I am confident that at least most of them are opposite to me in political leanings – but do you know what? These are people I respect, and I know we share many of the same concerns, even if we don’t agree on the causes or how to fix them.

I don’t get the impression they are radical progressives; they are more in line with traditional liberal Democrats – who were a lot like the liberal Republicans from the years of Nixon to Reagan, people who agreed on a common destination, simply different routes of getting there.

This past week reminded me that people from different political spectrums can get along when they share a common goal.

THAT is what is missing in politics today. Today it seems we don’t even have a common agreement on our destination – and if you can’t agree on where you are going, the route doesn’t matter and we are condemned to live through four or eight years going one route only to live the following four or eight years retracing our steps for a bit, and then going in another direction.

I am a libertarian leaning conservative. I don’t see that changing. My economics learning was from Austrian School college professors, and as such I do not believe the math of coercive collectivism works – largely because it never has (community and church projects all over this country prove voluntary collectivism does – but the choice to opt in or opt out must be a part of it).

All I want is for me and my family to be left alone to pursue legally and morally what we will, and in return, I will grant the same to everybody else.

I do believe in setting societal and legal boundaries and I get that there are some issues that are not going away – abortion being one of them. When I look at my blessed little grandchild, I become even more hardened in opposition. I know her biological development was a gift from God and no termination, unless for the health of the mother (which also could agree define in terms of incest and rape), can be seen as anything less than murder. Even then, in the latter cases, the abortion process should be done as soon as possible.

But there are always points in every relationship, personal and professional, where people must agree to disagree, but continue to strive to move forward. I hope people are understanding that what has been sold to them for half a century is simply wrong – the GOP is made up of people, not some sect of racist, bigoted, homophobes who want to push granny off a cliff and starve poor people.

I hope that is what we are seeing today with people who strongly dislike Trump realizing that voting the other way is simply inviting disaster.