Many have asked me what I think about being Republican and my feelings about a Trump Presidency.
Firstly, let me explain why I’m Republican and then I will explain why I’m not going to vote for Trump this year.
The Republican Party, like the Democratic Party, is a coalition party – which means the party has smaller factions within it and not every party member may have the same political ideology or ideals.
Similar but different might be best way of describing it.
For the Republican Party, we’re a coalition of the center-right. You have a wide spectrum of members in this alliance – conservatives, fiscal conservatives, national security, and libertarian Republicans. It’s a huge range of ideas, personalities, and objectives.
From my own perspective, I am a centrist Republican who is firmly on the national security wing of the party. I am firmly a mainstream, establishment Republican.
From the age of eighteen, I was registered with the Republican Party.
From an ideological point of view, the greatest difference between Democrats and Republican has an easy distinguishing point. For the most part, Republicans believe the best kind of government – government is best when it’s small and especially when it is local. Throughout the country, there’s a huge diversity in Republican parties because of this – democracy is best when it’s decentralized and placed in the hands of limited government.
In my college days, my degree was in International Relations and I was heavily influenced by the writings of realist international relations thinkers who also happen to be Republicans – from Morgenthau to Mearsheimer. Republicans believe in classical realism, that might makes right. We believe in the Melian Dialogue – the strong do as they will and the weak do as they must. This is a feature of our national security position; our leadership shouldn’t lead from behind, but be in step with the best interests of our country. We don’t believe in Moral Relativism – our moral values – though they may change gradually – are in the right and America is a force of good in the world.
The United States is the goddamned Federation whereas apologists would like you to believe we are the Empire.
Like most establishment Republicans – I’m a political centrist. The center is where the conservative movement once was positioned over a generation ago and I proudly support the political tradition of Eisenhower, Reagan, and H.W. Bush.
What is essential to our Republic is a working government such as the rule of law, democratic institutions, and a republican form of government. Government functions/goods such as military, public education, postal and infrastructure should also be funded because the private sector can’t efficiently run these public goods. Minority rights should be protected because they are constitutionally protected in the US Constitution.
Let me tell you why I won’t vote for Trump. The greatest weakness of a democracy is democracies are prone to becoming authoritarian because of the ballot box. See Hilter, Mussolini, etc. I’m not saying Trump is Hilter, though I think he could be Hitler’s long lost, distant cousin.
Trump is everything against what it means to be a Republican.
The Republican Party, firstly, is the political party of Lincoln. The GOP has done a lot of great things – like saving the Union and peacefully ending the Cold War. What we are not is a party of far right bigotry, extreme xenophobia, and yellow media.
Trump’s a smart guy but he’s a demagogue. He doesn’t care about America’s greater role in international peace and security. The greatest thing about America is we stand for something – Trump does not stand for anything besides his narcissism. He wants to become President because the power and prestige of being the POTUS is something irresistible to his ego and he will say anything and do anything to be elected.
On the national security side, his policies seem scary. If you want a president who openly thinks “Putin’s a great guy”, that building a great wall with Mexico is a good idea, or if you believe that American policy abroad should be human genocide, go vote for Trump.
But that’s not what America is.
On international trade, Trump is wrong. He wants a mercantile, protectionist trade policy. American policy traditionally has been on the side of international trade because America believes the world is safer when everyone is trading rather than warring with each other. Why? Because trading is a win – win scenario.
Trump thinks he can make America Great Again. But at what cost? The America of the 50’s doesn’t exist anymore and we won’t be able to bring it back – we’ve been gradually moving toward a more permissive, culturally diverse civilization.
I just want to conclude this article by stating that I, like many other Republicans, won’t be voting for Trump this election year. I can stomach voting for Hillary for a single term, but I can’t see a scenario in which I would vote for one or two terms of Trump.
I get it, we’re all angry at government for its ineptitude and lack of efficiency. If you want to see payback against the establishment, don’t vote for Trump. Vote for Gary Johnson, instead because a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for America’s death spiral.
The Nationsmith 