In the aftermath of last month’s election, there has been much talk about fostering unity in the Republican Party, both nationally and here in Wyoming. For the GOP to meaningfully heal some of its divisions, we must think about how our party has changed in recent years and ways we can find common ground. What are the ties that bind together our new Republican Party with the old?
Opinion
First, it is important to remember that unity is not the same as conquest. If you only seek a unity in which everyone adopts your proposals, you do not really want unification — you want capitulation. Party unity requires all sides to accept that there are areas of common ground and places where we will have to agree to disagree. American political parties are comprised of many groups with differing ideas and priorities. There are many “Republican” ways to think about an issue. Insisting that everyone adopt identical perspectives is unrealistic and dangerous. Iron sharpens iron. Debates within a party are healthy and will result in better policies than insisting on an echo chamber.
What can all Republican factions agree upon? Perhaps the most pressing issue at this moment is the recognition that significant portions of our nation and state feel as if they are in economic and social decline. The benefits of growth in America have been distributed unevenly, and many formerly prosperous people are seeing opportunity pass them by. Communities are struggling, social order is weakening, and the current system does a poor job of addressing the issue. The Republican Party should strive to speak to these people and implement policies to address these issues.
For all factions of the Republican Party this should involve a pro-growth mentality. While we have often paid lip service to this idea, our actual record is more mixed than we would like to admit. We must be willing to allow our economy to adapt and change, as long as that change moves our economy forward. We cannot prop up industries against the “invisible hand” of the market. We must focus on the future and not the past. We must embrace innovation as the key to our economic growth.
At the same time, we must remember why growth is important. It allows people to live prosperous, meaningful lives. We want growth to raise the standard of living, diminish poverty and sickness, and give our citizens the freedom to choose their path forward. Put simply, we want our citizens to prosper, not just our balance sheets. If our economy grows, but the only ones who see the benefit are those at the top, we are missing the point. The Republican Party should focus on ensuring that economic growth inures to the benefit of society as a whole. We must recommit ourselves to ensuring a favorable environment for businesses large and small. Big business is necessary, but small business is the lifeblood of communities. We should be a pro-prosperity party, and the best way to ensure that our citizens prosper is by supporting policies that position small businesses to thrive.
At its core, this is a pro-opportunity message. Republicans, as a rule, do not want handouts or guarantees. We are skeptical of government interfering in our lives and our economy. We want a fair shake. We can all agree that government should not be picking winners and losers, and that everyone should have an equal opportunity.
In committing to these common ideas, we must resist the urge to tear everything down. The very word “conservative” is based on the idea of conserving what has come before. Policy proposals should be carefully considered and vetted, and should be as limited as possible to accomplish the stated goal. We also must recognize that government is complex, just as people are complex. If the solutions to our problems were simple, we would have already done them. Just because our problems or the proposed solutions are difficult to understand at first glance, does not mean they are bad. Republicans must, above all, commit themselves to seeking the truth, rather than relying on preexisting dogma.
There are new aspects of my party that I still struggle with, just as there were aspects of my old party that I struggled with. However, I have faith that as we grow and meet new challenges, our party will refine its identity and consolidate around the important parts of our agenda: pro-growth, pro-prosperity, and pro-opportunity. That is a Republican Party that we can all agree on.
The Laramie County and Albany County Republicans are markedly different from most of the other county party organizations in that they tolerate differences of opinion and invite civil discussion. (Those in most other parts of the state demand blind, unconditional support of Donald Trump and condemn anyone who disagrees with a word of, or opts to change, the state party platform as a RINO.) In fact, they are in many cases more friendly and welcoming, and less hostile to new ideas, than the Democrats. Hopefully, this attitude will spread, as it is necessary to the well-being of our entire very “red” state.
Another laugh out loud comment by Brett. Members of this so-called tolerant arm of the Republican Party conspired to falsely accuse a candidate of cheating and our county attorney chose not to enforce the breaking of that law. That doesn’t seem to matter to Brett as apparently some Republicans liked ONE of his ideas.
So let’s check the scales of justice according to Brett, liking one idea is FAR more important than enforcing an actual law. History rhymes Brett and I invite you to study the judicial history of the Weimar Republic, which let right wing law breakers avoid accountability, while the left bore the full brunt of the judiciary.
Trump corrupted the DOJ and other parts of the government in his first term but the mainstream media made it horse race coverage instead of stakes based journalism. Dr. Marcy Wheeler was the only journalist to reveal those facts, so the USA is already far, far down the Weimar path, but I am sure those many very fine Republicans will have your back when the time comes.
The prosecution of Hunter Biden reveals the depth of Trump’s corruption of the DOJ, but our so-called 4th estate just let that fact lie.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/12/10/zero-accountability-the-five-plus-times-doj-got-fabricated-evidence-against-hunter-biden/
“Live and let live” vs “redder than thou”.
Next to the Mafia, the Republican party is the most corrupt organization that I have seen in my lifetime.
“Republicans, as a rule, do not want handouts or guarantees. We are skeptical of government interfering in our lives and our economy. We want a fair shake. We can all agree that government should not be picking winners and losers, and that everyone should have an equal opportunity.” Not sure what Republican party Khale is referencing here? Certainly not WY Republicans. Not a single line here holds up to a modern WY Freedom Caucus fact check.
Dark money isn’t paying for unity.
Mr. Lenhart is a bit naïve if he think a unified R party is going to sit down and work on Wyoming’s problems. Like all polities with one party rule, they’ll spend most of their time fighting each other.
I do not believe your hope will come to a place if compromise and understanding. The freedumb caucus are determined to be a mirror of the national freedumb caucus which dictates exactly what is to be and will not budge to accommodate or compromise on anything.
Good luck. The government they bring to Wyoming is a cookie cutter of all the federal plans of the freedumb caucus. Their ignorance is destroying the nation’s state governments and the federal government too.
“Communities are struggling, social order is weakening, and the current system does a poor job of addressing the issue. The Republican Party should strive to speak to these people and implement policies to address these issues.”
On this we can agree, but the cause of this and many of the other issues you bring up is one that neither Party or most mainstream economists want to discuss. First, real wages or prosperity of most workers have not budged since 1978 and instead of trying to understand the underlying cause of this stagnation in America and abroad, the world took on debt.
Pew and others have done similar studies but I will choose Pew for illustration.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/
If you read the link, you will find Pew has no answer to the issue, just more hand waving, so one has to look elsewhere to find out why prosperity has declined even as we take on more and more debt.
Khale the following two links explains why we find ourselves at this inflexion point. The first accurately describes the place we are in now and the next link describes the American Oil story as it has always been about oil.
Dr. Tim Morgon has some thoughts…
https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2024/11/26/293-days-of-thunder/
“In the 1980s and 1990s, declining real incomes were masked by a massive expansion of borrowing (public and private) which allowed the mass of western people to consume beyond their real means on the back of rising asset (mostly houses) prices – for house owners, remortgaging became a means of accessing cheap credit as mortgage rates are far lower than credit card, bank loan or store credit rates. For the economy as a whole, this continuous cycling of debt helped counteract the tendency for consumption to fall.”
Its an excellent history of oil in society and one that someone other than me should appreciate as I studied Geology because of Theology and the Oil Embargo of 1973.
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2024/12/04/it-was-always-about-the-oil/
Lenhart’s perspective is refreshing. As a died-in-the-wool progressive I would likely debate specific policy proposals he would craft. That aside, I hope he is positioning himself for a run at the governorship… He and his perspective is what Wyoming needs.