The Wrong Lessons From ReaganGOP candidates who call for ideological purity and no compromise learned nothing from the Gipper.
By Sarah Chamberlain, Contributor | May 8, 2015, at 5:00 a.m.
s the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination begins, some in the large field of candidates are working hard to invoke memories and comparisons to President Ronald Reagan. Like Reagan, they declare, they are pure and uncompromising conservatives, and just like the Great Communicator they can win both the nomination and the presidency even if the media considers them too ideological and extreme.
It’s true that the media underrated Reagan both before and during his presidency. But it’s also the case that candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who cited Reagan in his announcement speech, are not drawing the right lessons from Reagan’s example and legacy.
For starters, Reagan never forgot that to win the nomination, he needed the support of the Republican Party as a whole, and not just the hard-right. Then as now, ideological conservatives provided much of the party’s energy and activism at the grassroots but were only a minority of the GOP. Reagan knew that he needed them on his side, but not at the expense of party unity or of alienating independents and moderate Democrats in the general election.
It was Reagan who popularized the Eleventh Commandment (“Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican”) because he understood that a Republican Party that was bitterly divided couldn’t win a general election. For example, can anyone seriously imagine Reagan angrily accusing a fellow Republican of supporting government-run health care simply because he or she wasn’t willing to shut down the federal government?
Reagan understood that the energy of conservatives had to be directed against Democrats, not moderate and business-minded Republicans. He warned that “a narrow sectarian party” would soon disappear “in a blaze of glorious defeat.”
Second, Reagan never believed that elections are won merely by mobilizing the “base” of a party’s dedicated supporters. He recognized the critical electoral importance of reaching-out to the persuadable middle as well. He felt that his focus on shrinking government and defeating communism was an optimistic, reasonable and responsible political faith that could appeal to groups that didn’t traditionally vote Republican. He convinced them that conservatism could improve their lives, and he won the presidency with the support of the “Reagan Democrats.”
Finally, Reagan understood that the purpose of politics is governing, and that under the framework established by our Founding Fathers, governing inevitably requires compromise. As both California governor and U.S. president, he had to negotiate with legislatures that were partially or wholly controlled by Democrats.
He gladly accepted deals that entailed pragmatic trade-offs so long as they moved in what he considered the right direction. As he told aides on many occasions, “I’d rather get 80 percent of what I want than go over the cliff with my flag flying.”
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https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2015/05/08/reagans-lesson-for-the-gop-compromise-and-have-broad-appeal
