Cross-posted from Bear Witness Central
Introduction: This is an abridged version of “The Seventy-Percent Solution” – one of the “communiqués” from my book “Communiqués From the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.” Following the preceding “Vichy Republican” series, which discussed the problem of (as Trevor Loudon might put it) the “GOP enemies within. ” This communiqué offers suggested steps on how we can “fundamentally transform” the Republican Party into the Republican Party. What do I mean by that? Well, while this was written before the 2016 election and “Republican” control of all three branches of the federal government, the conduct of Congressional “Republicans” since President Trump assumed office has only served to confirm the need for “The Seventy-Percent Solution.” It is humbly submitted that this “Solution” provides a useful complement to the current efforts of the indefatigable Stephen K. Bannon of Breitbart to effect needed change in the composition of the Republican Party. – Thomas C. Wigand
The Seventy-Percent Solution
The post-2014 election, lame-duck session enactment of what we’ll call the “Boehner-Obama Omnibus Amnesty Bill” (a/k/a the “CRomnibus bill”) by the Republican majority U.S. House of Representatives should finally remove the scales from the eyes of those who believed that Republican majority status alone will alter the Progressive arc of an ever-growing federal government and “fundamental transformation” of the United States of America.
Thus, while someday there may again be a “Republican” in the White House, and “Republican” majorities in Congress, the combination of Progressive Democrats and Progressive Republicans means that there will still be a Progressive majority in control of government. The party labels may swap chairs, but the political philosophy does not. Consequently there is at present no opposition party fighting Progressivism and its tyranny via utopian elitism. The “battles” between the parties are largely kabuki theatre intended to make John Q. Public believe that one party or the other actually represents them. Yet neither political party (through its officeholders) is abiding by oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution. Neither political party is representing the non-elite, i.e., middle-class families and Main Street businesses. The avenue to real America enjoying a truly representative political party lies in either reforming one of the two existing political parties, or the rise of a new “third party.”
History tells us that a third party arising (and eventually displacing one of the two predominant parties) is rare and difficult. It can happen – the Republicans displacing the Whigs in the 1800’s and (perhaps) the rise of UKIP in Great Britain today. But for now, while not taking the option of a U.S. UKIP counterpart off of the table, we should hold it in reserve as a last resort.
At the same time, there is no hope for reforming the Democrats – they are now so thoroughly marinated in Collectivism-Progressivism that reform would require a near 100% purge of its elected officials and base, which just ain’t gonna happen.
There remains, however, some hope for the GOP. The GOP base is 180 degrees away from the Democrat base and elected officials, i.e., it is not Progressive but is Conservative and patriotic – believing in and embracing God, family and country. A small minority of Republican elected officials are Conservative, while some others would at least vote that way if the prevailing winds changed in that direction – so there’s something within the GOP to build upon. But time is of the essence – restoring the Republican Party at present offers the best opportunity for success.
The Progressive Republican establishment currently has the advantage of place (they hold the party structure high ground) and money (they have K-Street / Wall Street and Progressive donor money backing them). This presents extremely difficult, but not impossible, obstacles to a reformation of the GOP. For while the Progressives currently have advantages in place and money, we have votes.
The problem is that for the last several decades Conservatives have been operating under the mistaken belief that voting Republican will make some positive difference, and so since Ronald Reagan left office Conservatives have been playing defense by voting “lesser of two evils” for “moderate Republicans” anointed by the Progressive Republican Establishment. The GOP establishment knows this, and counts on this – it is their business model for remaining in power. Indeed, one could call this dynamic the battered base syndrome – the Conservative base keeps staying with its abuser, which at election time begs for forgiveness and professes future eternal love and support – and even when the opportunity for rescue appears at the door – not in the form of police but in the form of general elections – the base refuses to press charges and have the miscreants hauled away (in the form of electoral defeat).
The Democrat – Progressives in turn benefit from “moderate Republicans” serving as props and so maintaining an illusion that there is a two-party system in which voters actually have a choice. They know that a vote for either actually an open Progressive (Democrat) or closeted Progressive (“moderate Republican”) means that the Progressive agenda will continue to advance; that the only impact that the voters may have is to ever-so-slightly reduce the speed of its advance. This occasional reduction in speed is worth it to them – essentially a tactical retreat – for its disadvantages are far outweighed by the advantage of regular citizens and especially Conservatives not realizing that their votes are for naught – for if they did they might actually demand a real opposition party.
In other words, “moderate Republicans” provide the Progressive movement with a diverter valve – making American citizens who vote against Progressivism believe that voting is expressing their voice, while effectively nullifying their votes with candidates who speak Conservative but enact Progressive.
But as said, while the establishment GOP (Progressive GOP) has the money, we still have the ultimate votes. We must to stop playing their game by refusing to vote for “moderate” / “establishment” GOP candidates in general elections – on ballots by leaving particular races blank if all that is offered up. If they stop getting elected no matter what their money advantage, eventually they will lose their grip on the control of the Republican Party, for elected officials are the “base” of the Republican establishment and its Progressive backers. If we refuse to elect / re-elect them, eventually we can purge the GOP of establishment Progressives, and so restore it into an actual opposition party fighting the Progressive assault on our country.
For those that doubt this is necessary, consider this mental exercise: for the thirty-ish years since Reagan, the Conservative base of the GOP has been voting “lesser of two evils” (e.g., as this is written in 2015, there hasn’t been a single Conservative GOP Presidential nominee since Reagan). Since Reagan we’ve had periods of GOP establishment control of all three branches of government – yet since Reagan left office the size and scope of the federal government has mushroomed. Some of the greatest growth occurred in periods when “Republicans” held both Congress and the White House. So how can one argue but that voting “lesser of two evils” is actually a vote to advance the Progressive agenda?
In this context one often hears the retort: one “shouldn’t let the imperfect be the enemy of the good.” A valid point, albeit that doesn’t help quantify where the dividing line should reside. Hence “The Seventy-Percent Solution.”
We all know from elementary and high school that a grade of 70 or higher is passing. It is submitted that we adopt this for our general election voting. And how do we “grade” the GOP candidates? As one example, Heritage Action for America and Conservative Review are credible entities that score politicians.
It is submitted that if a plurality of Conservatives, patriots and just plain middle-class voters decided that they’d cast votes only for candidates with Heritage Action / Conservative Review “passing scores” of 70 or better we could, before long, purge the GOP of its current Progressive power structure and replace the Progressives with Constitutional Conservatives. After a few election cycles we can raise the “passing grade” to 75, or 80, thus accelerating the pro-American counter-revolution against Progressivism.
We might refer to this idea as a form of “virtual third party.” What is that? We act as a Conservative third party, but remain registered Republicans on the voting rolls – this so we can still support Conservative candidates in Republican primaries (this retention on Republican voting rolls being particularly important in “closed primary” states in which one must be registered in the party in order to vote in its primaries).
Still, it will not be easy to rescue the GOP from its Progressive captors. There are the advantages of incumbency, so it is difficult to unseat a sitting establishment Republican (a/k/a RINO). Also, the Progressive / GOP establishment has more money than the grassroots and will often throw huge amounts of money to the campaigns of establishment candidates, whether incumbents or new candidates. And perhaps most perniciously of all, in open primary states we’ve seen the Party and establishment candidates solicit Democrats voters to come over and hijack the Republican primary by voting in it, thus intentionally nullifying the votes of the Republican base.
So as members of the Conservative “virtual third party” we should not feel duty or honor bound to reflexively vote for whoever becomes the Republican candidate after the primary. If the primary process was truly fair, and Conservative candidates lost fair and square, then perhaps we should be so bound. But with the GOP establishment putting its monetary fingers on the scale (e.g., the advantages of the party machinery and lobbyist donations for incumbents), and enlisting Democrat voters to vote in “Republican” primaries to nullify Conservative votes (one notorious example being the 2014 Mississippi “Republican” primary), we are essentially dupes of the Progressive movement when we (continue to) “vote Conservative in the primary, vote (whoever is the endorsed) ‘Republican’ in the general.”
So instead of feeling bound to vote for the endorsed Republican candidate in the general election, we should be open to voting Conservative in the primary, and then “writing in” Conservative in the general. This would be our virtual third party we maintain our Republican voter registrations, have use the already established (no pun intended) Party infrastructure, but get to vote Conservative in the primary and the general election, and so begin to restore the GOP.
Moreover, as against the GOP establishment leadership, and its active undermining of Constitutional Conservatism, stronger measures are warranted. Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and (now) Paul Ryan, and their ilk have been so egregious that previously unthinkable counter-measures should now be considered: voting for their Democrat opponents in general elections.
Were we in normal times, this would be (rightly) condemned as blasphemy. But we are forced by dire situation to consider in extremis measures – they have so much crony capitalist money behind them that a Conservative (genuine Republican) running against them has effectively zero chance (what happened Eric Cantor to being a happy exception to the rule). And the power they exercise over the caucus – picking committee chairs and other powers – are employed to suppress our cause.
So as regards the RINO leadership and their key soldiers, Conservatives voting for their Democrat opponent is more effective at advancing our cause. Even if the RINO’s still survive the general election, a near-death electoral experience can only help to cool their Progressive jets. And if they lose, the message sent to the remaining fifth-column of RINO’s will be beneficial and, most importantly, in the next election cycle the primary playing field will be leveled and a genuine Republican will have a fair chance at getting the nomination – and from there winning the general election.
Yes, it is painful to elect a Democrat, but then again a freshman Democrat will be far less effective in advancing the Progressive agenda than will an establishment “Republican” leader.
We must “fundamentally transform” the Republican Party (back into) the Republican Party. We can do this through “The Seventy-Percent Solution.” Are you in?
Communiqués From the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy is available on Amazon in both print and Kindle versions: https://www.amazon.com/Communiqués-Right-Wing-Conspiracy-Thomas-Wigand/dp/0692635815/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494466204&sr=8-1&keywords=communiques+from+the+vast+right-wing+conspiracy Comments or questions for Mr. Wigand may be sent to: communiques@use.startmail.com — he will make every effort to personally respond to every email.