OPINION:
In 1844, rising young British politician Benjamin Disraeli complained, “I cannot unite myself with the party of destruction.”
Disraeli was referring to Britain’s Tory Party. In the 1840s, the Tories were the party of landed gentry, the established church and hereditary privilege — a dwindling power base in a Britain that was already well on its way toward universal suffrage and modern democracy.
Yet it was Disraeli who saved the Tories from themselves. It was he who transformed them from a crumbling citadel of class snobbery to a broad-based, modern political party that could speak for the whole nation.
In essence, Disraeli’s political philosophy was this: “In a progressive country, change is constant; and the great question is not whether you should resist change, which is inevitable, but whether change should be carried out in deference to the manners, customs, laws and traditions of the people, or in deference to abstract principles, and arbitrary and general doctrines.”
Disraeli proved that even in an increasingly egalitarian age, the Tory Party could win votes with a platform that stood for patriotism, traditional British values and practical reforms. In short, a platform for progress and prosperity at home combined with a muscular and unapologetic defense of Britain’s interests abroad.
Paradoxically, another factor in Disraeli’s success was that he was an outsider. To this day, he is the only British prime minister of Jewish birth. The fact that hidebound Tories were willing to accept someone so unlike themselves as their leader was dramatic evidence in itself that the party was ready to adapt.
I think there’s a lesson here for today’s Republicans. Like the Tories of old, Republicans are perceived by many as a party of privilege, exclusion and reaction. Like the Tories, their voting strength is dwindling as the demographics of the American electorate grow ever more diverse. Like the Tories, some Republicans want to follow Donald Trump down the path of paranoia and negativity to extinction. Others want the GOP to become this country’s governing party once again. One way to reach that goal would be to evolve an American version of Disraeli’s “Tory Democracy.”
What are America’s traditional values? Most Americans believe in the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” From this, it follows that most Americans believe in equality of opportunity rather than equality of result. Likewise, it follows that they would rather have robust economic growth and a fair chance to better themselves than class warfare and redistribution of wealth. And consequently, it follows that they would rather have solutions to national problems that are based on common sense and respect for individual freedom than solutions based on utopian abstractions, regulatory excesses and one-size-fits-all collectivism. The unpopularity of Obamacare is case in point.
Republicans can appeal strongly to these core American values. They can build a majority around a platform based on strong national defense, economic growth, individual rights and common-sense solutions to national problems. But they can do this only if they can attract the votes of a broad cross section of the American electorate.
Fortunately, the GOP is becoming more inclusive. In the 2014 congressional elections, for example, the GOP made history by electing the first African-American senator in the South since Reconstruction — Tim Scott of South Carolina. The party also elected Mia Love, the first Haitian-American and the first black female Republican in Congress. Further, Republicans elected Elise Stefanik of New York, the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress. In that same election, the Democrats accrued a net loss of one Hispanic representative, while the GOP gained two.
The GOP’s current roster of presidential candidates includes an Asian-American, Bobby Jindal; an African-American, Ben Carson; two Hispanics, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz; and one woman, Carly Fiorina.
The Republicans need to showcase their women and minority standard-bearers, and to recruit more.
The GOP also needs a consensus on immigration reform that will allow undocumented aliens a chance to earn citizenship. Demands for the mass deportation of some 11 million aliens who lack legal status are not only unrealistic, they will cost the GOP millions of votes — among Hispanics, and also among Asian-Americans and other minority groups.
The choice for the GOP is clear: It must be the party of inclusion, or it will be the party of destruction.
• Thomas C. Stewart is an Oregon businessman and former naval aviation attack commander.
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