R: Conservatives Have No Party

The American two-party system has undergone some turmoil in recent years. If both major parties existed in relative harmony for portions of the last century, the Democrats and Republicans of today seem to be defined more by opposition to each other than by a pursuit of some positive vision for America’s flourishing. The Republican Party has long been a home for American conservatives, but if we feel as though our values no longer align with those of the party, what’s a conservative to do?

Edmund Burke described a political party as “a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed.” The Republican Party, for example, was founded upon one principle: the abolition of slavery and the prevention of its spread. The party succeeded because people cherished this principle so dearly as to promote the national interest by shedding their blood in its defense. In contrast, the Republican Party’s 2016 platform is 66 pages long, and expresses an opinion on every conceivable matter of American policy, foreign and domestic. Neither major party today shares a singular pursuit like the Republicans of the 1850s. To attach oneself to a group like this is inherently an act of compromise. In pursuing one principle through party politics, we bring ourselves into association with those whose secondary beliefs are quite different from our own. Perhaps we would be better off swearing fealty to our own values, only uniting occasionally in support of some policy or another, than clinging to an institution which actively pursues goals damaging to our nation and distasteful to our conscience. The ends do not justify the means.

On the other hand, if there are one or two principles which we hold above all others, shouldn’t we align ourselves with the political institution that defends these principles, and which exists to encourage the election of leaders who defend the same? We might overlook a multitude of important disagreements for the sake of one vital point of unity. Yes, the Republican Party has flaws. But that hardly seems a reason to abandon it. Better to love a flawed institution, and seek to improve it, than to leave it behind. After all, a political party is not meant to reflect each one of our deeply held values and should rather be viewed as a practical means to some desirable end, which is simply not achievable by individual effort. We conservatives need a community.

As we begin another semester of political debate and colloquy, it’s a good time to ask: what does it mean to live as a conservative in a representative democracy? Must we choose between party and principle? Is compromise always bad? How do we promote unity while remaining committed to our beliefs?