A Former But Not An Ex: Leaving the GOP
By: Dennis Sanders
Tags: Republican Party, Politics, Democracy, Donald Trump, Essay

A Former But Not An Ex: Leaving the GOP

My time as a Republican has come to an end. But it wasn’t all bad.

It’s interesting how you can go through periods of life and feel like you’ve done this before. I believe there are parts of our lives where history doesn’t repeat itself as much as starts to rhyme; they are similar in many ways, but they are not the same.

It was about 30 years ago, that I made the move from my evangelical upbringing to move towards more liberal/mainline Protestantism. In some ways, it wasn’t a huge move, since I went from a liberal evangelical to a moderate mainliner. But in other ways it was. This was around the same time that I start to come out sexually and I knew that at least in 1992, there was no place for me in the evangelical world.

When I’ve heard other gay men and lesbians talk about their own leave-taking from the evangelical world, they always seemed to be bitter and look at everything they went through as horrible. Maybe for them, it was. But I didn’t want to look back at my childhood and early adulthood as a waste. I felt that I learned a lot of good things, things that helped me as I was coming out and help me to this day. I wanted to see evangelicalism as imperfect and flawed, but not worthless or even evil. I didn’t want to be like some of the people I’ve seen on Twitter, who call themselves “Exvangelical”. They are mad and it seems at times like they want to hold on to that anger. This is why I tend to call myself a former evangelical and not an ex-evangelical. I felt that I had moved on, but I would take what I’ve learned as I move on to new paths.

I telling you all this because it feels like it is time to move on from calling myself a Republican. The GOP has been my home for 20 odd years albeit an uneasy one. Being African American and gay, you are already at the periphery, but I agreed with a lot of the philosophy and I believed I could help the party move in a better direction. That’s why I was involved with Log Cabin Republicans, working with other groups for greater inclusion for LGBTQ folk. I think the situation has improved, but just as orientation was becoming less of an issue, race became more and more of a problem in the GOP. As Seth Masket notes, the GOP has always had an underlying problem with race but until 2008 or so people in the party tried to keep it in “check.”

I’m starting to agree with a lot of others that the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency changed the party. Masket sees this as the inflection point when the party went from supporting and working within the democratic system to becoming more illiberal.

Was it seeing an African American in the most powerful position in the land that bothered people? I think so, along with the economic strain of the working class which made up more and more of the party base. I think there are a lot of people who feel their lives are out of control for many reasons and who kind of snapped when Obama won. Not everyone who opposed Obama was a racist, but something happened when he became Commander In Chief. Before 2008 the party had some support for solutions to climate change even go so far as having commercials with Newt Gingrich and Speaker Nancy Pelosi sitting on a couch professing they would join together to stop climate change. Then all of the sudden, that stopped. It was normal to expect the minority party to stop politicking and start governing once an election was over. But after 2008, it became more and more difficult for GOP representatives and senators to work across the aisle. The party became more and more obstructionist instead of the loyal opposition. The party has become more and more authoritarian and less liberal than it used to be. A party in line with democratic norms would have put out a party platform saying what they support. A party that has become illiberal and interested in subverting democracy will do what happened this summer: bring forward no platform other than supporting President Trump.

What made me start to think it is time to move on are the recent machinations taking place for President Trump to steal the election. I am glad more and more present lawmakers are speaking out and supporting the peaceful transfer of power, but it is not enough. Under the president, this party has shed every prior belief. Now, parties change their minds on issues all of the time, but what has been disturbing is the willingness to get rid of long-held beliefs not because it makes electoral sense, but because it pleases the strongman: Donald Trump. Right now, Trump is doing what he can to steal the election even forcing a constitutional crisis. Even though he keeps losing in the courts, he keeps trying anything: tempting legislators at the state level, forcing recounts or getting state party chairs to deny the reality. I truly believe that he keeps doing this in order to tire the other side so that he can force a win.

Of course, Trump alone is not the problem. The fact that 17 GOP attorney’s general supported the lawsuit brought by Texas AG Ken Paxton to invalidate the votes in 4 states, along with over 100 representatives in the House, is proof that this party no longer believes in democracy.

Trump broke the GOP, but it was getting fragile before he came along. The party was so weak and so driven by its base that it couldn’t stop Trump from running in 2016. That elements of the party are trying to actively subvert an election means the party is beyond salvaging. What was a collection of interests now has only one interest: Donald Trump and when a political party is focused on one person, it’s time to get the hell out and sound the warning.

I know that not calling myself a Republican leaves me with few options. Americans love to call themselves politically independent, which is in keeping with our individualist nature. But being without a party means you don’t have as much power in making lasting change.

Then I wonder about the future of political parties in the US. We are a two-party system, so what is a former Republican to do? Do we accept the become a de facto one-party state? Do former Republicans try and start a party of their own to take on the GOP?

Leaving the party doesn’t mean I don’t believe in some of the values. I know some NeverTrumpers did a wholesale renovation of their political beliefs. I came into this party as a moderate Republican or what Canadians call a “Red Tory” and I leave the same way. My values haven’t changed, but my party has.

You’ve probably noticed that this essay lacks the fire you’d expect of someone leaving the Republican Party. It’s because I’m not leaving in anger. Like my leaving of evangelicalism 30 years ago, I’m carrying the good that I’ve learned with me; good experiences and good people. My Christian faith tells me to forgive, to learn that we are all imperfect and all vulnerable to temptation. I don’t want to become that kind of person that is bitter about their past and I refuse to let Donald Trump or anyone else take my compassion from me.

Arthur Larson served in the Eisenhower Adminstration invarious roles. In the 1956 he wrote the book, A Republican Looks At His Party, a defense of the kind of Republicanism he and the Eisenhower Administration practiced. He believed in what he called “Modern Republicanism” a kind of a Republicanism that holds on to the values of America while embracing the changing nature of the nation. In his time, it was about accepting the welfare state that was a result of the New Deal. He used an allegory to explain what it meant to be grounded in values while accepting the modern times we live in. He describes two elderly women. The first is driving an expensive car and dressed to the nines. We might think she is going for a night on the town, but instead she is on her way to church. The second woman is dressed in simple clothing riding a horse-drawn wagon. Maybe she’s off to church as well? No, she’s off to the casino to gamble.

I had hoped the GOP would have become the old lady in the sports car on her way to church, a party that was solidly conservative, but also inclusive and forward-thinking. Instead, we got a political party that is like the old woman in the wagon, out of step with the times and a danger to liberal democracy.

I will still remain on the center-right, but when it comes to political parties, I am now a free agent.

So I am now a former Republican, not an ex-Republican. Maybe things will change for the party (I don’t think it will). Maybe a new center-right party will be established. I have no idea what the future hold, but for now it is time for me to move on.