Virginia Tomorrow

It’s quiet now among Republicans in Virginia.  The fratricide plaguing the state GOP no longer commands headlines.  The participants plan their next moves by text, emails and phones. 

 But make no mistake the battle rages and will erupt again.  The fissures are too deep and the visions for the Party’s future too diverse to remain submerged very long.

 Nationally, the continuing fissures are displayed with PA Senator Arlen Spector’s lurch from Republican to Democrat, due no doubt in part to a primary challenge from within the GOP he knew he could not win.  And he wants to remain in the Senate.

Perhaps his motives are mixed, but to some extent he surely recoils from intraparty hostility towards those who do not always follow party orthodoxy like ME’s two GOP Senators and Lindsay Graham from South Carolina.  And, of course, John McCain.           

How ironic against this backdrop that in an unprecedented pre-convention move in 1976, Ronald Reagan picked moderate (maybe more to the left than Spector) PA Senator Richard Schweiker as his Vice Presidential choice should he win.  He needed to hold the PA delegation in place to have any hope of being nominated.

The contrast could not be more striking.  It suggests differing approaches to party building and whether there are lessons for Virginia’s GOP in its current beleaguered state.

With that in mind, It might be useful to offer some thoughts on the possibility of reconciliation, of restoring party harmony in Virginia (or some semblance of it), while passions have at least subsided and no public controversy within Virginia consumes attention.

Let’s start with the basics.  America and Virginia operate with two dominant political parties.  Other than the occasional minor third party candidate flitting across the stage, even getting elected (Jesse Ventura in Minnesota), and some so-called “nonpartisan” elections, the battles are fought between Republicans and Democrats.

Therefore, each Party’s composition must be coalitions among those who share a broad spectrum of views but not all views.  The numbers necessary to maintain influence and win elections in an incredibly diverse population mandate coalitions, not crusades.

To achieve electoral successes of any significance it simply is not possible to organize sufficient numbers of people over extended time spans and diverse demographics who agree on 100% of the issues. 

It won’t happen.

Then add the independents.  Some leaning right, some left and some straight up.  The candidates of both parties generally need a majority of these voters to win. 

Surely, this is the picture in Virginia.

The GOP in Virginia (and nationally), is comprised of identifiable groups who feel most strongly about certain issues and believe the Republican Party best advances their cause.  Each group has reservations about the beliefs of other groups, disagrees about some of them and doesn’t care about others.  It is a classic coalition.

One group’s passion is another’s indifference.  On some issues there is even hostility to the other’s position. 

But only if they coexist, tolerate their differences, concentrate on the “ties that bind” and recognize in the sports vernacular that “there is no I in team” can electoral success be achieved. 

Increasingly large swaths of Republicans ignore this and seek to eliminate from the coalition those who do not sufficiently adhere to their view of an acceptable Republican.  They ignore the GOP’s historical composition and drive from the Party many who prefer to stay.

Roughly, the Republican Party in Virginia (meaning reliable GOP voters) has identifiable constituencies of economic (free market) conservatives; fiscal conservatives; small government conservatives; foreign policy conservatives; social conservatives; religious conservatives; quasi-libertarians; and sub-groups of these. 

Nuances and emphases differ.  Some people fit several descriptions. 

But beliefs clash as economic conservatives champion spending on infrastructure, which they believe essential to create a better business climate and more jobs, while small government conservatives say “no new taxes” ever.  Compromise seems elusive.

But what really damages the GOP is intolerance for this diversity and the insistence by some that all worship at their particular alter. 

This “my way or the highway” approach to maintaining a political party is the ruinous poison of electoral disaster.  Significant electoral success over time and across diverse demographics can only be achieved through coalitions.

If the Virginia GOP is to stem its ballot box debacles of recent years it must recapture the spirit of Ronald Reagan (usually claimed by the purists), who coined the Eleventh Commandment (”Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”) and who manifested his “big tent” approach to party building by his Schweiker choice in1976 and Bush in 1980.

If your tent is not big enough to attract one more than 50% in a two way race, you lose. 

One part of the coalition cannot insist that anyone from another part agree with them 100% of the time. 

The fiscal conservative cannot insist that all Republicans oppose all taxes all the time. 

Social conservatives must recognize that not all economic or fiscal or foreign policy conservatives will agree that all abortions be made illegal or that all restrictions on firearms violate the Second Amendment.

Economic conservatives must realize that not all fiscal conservatives or social conservatives will agree that there is no need for additional government regulations in certain areas.

If Republicans do not learn to live comfortably again with the inevitable effect of a two party system and accept its coalitions and inherent diversity (indeed be grateful for them!), electoral success will continue to be elusive.

If a sustainable majority existed for the agenda of any segment of the GOP coalition, that segment would not need the others.  But it doesn’t.

Political parties cannot operate by playground rules, where any part of the coalition “takes their ball and goes home.”  Adult supervision is critical and the fragile coalition must be maintained through the ebb and flow of party battles, winning some and losing some. 

Opening the door, not closing it must guide decisions.  Primaries invite broad participation.  Conventions do not.  Conventions allow a well organized, highly motivated faction to inordinately influence the outcome and discourage those outside that faction from participation.  Consideration should be given to changing how nominations are determined.

Wyatt Durrette is a Director at DurretteBradshaw, PLC (www.durrettebradshaw.com) and co-founder of the XDL Group. He served three terms in the House of Delegates and was the Republican candidate for Governor in 1985.