This Liberal Thinks our Country Needs a Vibrant Conservative Party

Genuine conservative people of integrity are now leaving the Republican party. I actually think this is a bad thing. 

Bear with me here...

I don't think it's a bad thing that people with integrity would choose to leave a party that has come to stand for racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and tax cuts to the ultra rich. I think it is a bad thing that the conservative party in American has made this a necessity. 

I believe that it is healthy for a nation to have both a viable party of reform (liberal) and a party of viable conservativism (opposition to reform). History tells us that liberals are quite likely to tear down a fence before they know what it was there for. Their reforms sometimes have unintended consequences that cause more damage than benefit. In contrast, conservatives often cling to policies and positions in the past that harm people, unwilling to change them.

I believe that it is in the tension between these too contrary positions that gradual progress in the RIGHT direction is most often made... taking a few steps forward, some in the wrong direction, then backtracking, reorienting, then trying again. Tension... pressure... and a long arc of history that bends towards justice.

Normally, I would believe that lasting progress of the type I desire won't happen by "defeating" the conservative party. It will come when conservatives change their minds about what is right and the new "conservative" position to be defended shifts, while liberals realize that some of the things they wanted to implement were actually a bad idea, and shift towards seeking other (different) reforms.

I think it is incredibly toxic for conservative people of integrity to not have a conservative party of integrity that they can belong to which can provide that valuable tension.

With any luck, these events will cause enough introspection that the Republican party will either disintegrate and reform into a new conservative party of integrity, or else (more likely) will re-evaluate its course and slowly restore its integrity until conservatives can feel comfortable re-joining their ranks.

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