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Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) thinks words matter. He’s written a book about how bad Donald Trump is for the Republican Party. He’s given a speech about how bad Trump is.
Now comes word of another planned anti-Trump speech. He’s reportedly going to compare President Donald Trump to Joseph Stalin. The two have something in common, Flake will point out: They both are fond of the phrase “enemies of the people.”
Words, words, words. But what about actions?
The 55-year-old has declined to run for a second term as Arizona senator. Rather than fight for his principles, he’s made the (probably correct) calculation that he’d lose a Republican primary in Arizona. In effect, he is ceding his party to the Stalinesque politics he plans to speak out against.
But there is something he could do, if he’s serious about restoring respect and honor to conservatism in America. He could start a third party.
Sen. Flake, time to start the Conscientious Conservative Party
Sen. Flake, if you’re out there reading, I’ve got a proposal for you: Start a third party. Call it the Conscientious Conservative Party (since you named your book Conscience of a Conservative, just like Barry Goldwater did 57 years ago).
Run as a Conscientious Conservative in Arizona. Recruit Conscientious Conservatives to run in other states and districts.
America needs a responsible conservative party that respects process, that doesn’t view the media as the enemy of the state, that won’t tolerate racist demagoguery.
The Republican Party of 2018 is not that party. It is hostile to expertise and reasoned argument, hostile to procedural norms of liberal democracy, anti-free press, and increasingly ethnonationalist.
And for most citizens, who identify first as Republican but don’t think much about ideology, Trump is transforming what it means to be a Republican. We need an alternative. And we need it now.
Yes, third parties in American politics are kamikaze missions. Because of our single-winner plurality system of elections, third parties almost never gain representation.
And yes, a serious third-party conservative challenge to Republicans would help Democrats in the short term, by siphoning off votes from Republicans.
But each month that the Republican Party has a leader who can’t conceal his overt racism, who calls the media the enemy of the people, is a month in which voters who identify as Republican have to update their worldview to fit with their partisan identity. Only losing, and losing bigly, will break this Republican partisan trajectory.
Or change the electoral laws
Perhaps you like the idea of starting a Conscientious Conservative Party, but don’t like the idea of losing and tipping the balance of power decisively to Democrats. In that case, maybe you could get on board with changing electoral laws to make it easier for third parties.
Perhaps you could get behind the Fair Representation Act, introduced last year in the House, which would move us toward a proportional voting system by creating multi-member districts with ranked-choice voting. That means that even if the Conscientious Conservative Party could only get about 15 percent nationally, it would get some seats in the House — possibly enough to be a pivotal voting bloc for control of the chamber.
Or if that feels too bold, how about just straight-up ranked-choice voting, which would give people the chance to vote for the Conscientious Conservative Party and then list either the Democrat or the Republican as their second choice, ensuring that they could express their true preference without wasting their vote, and putting some pressure on both Democrats and Republicans to court Conscientious Conservatives to earn their second-choice votes.
The point is, third-party votes don’t have to be wasted votes. They’re only wasted votes because our electoral system makes them so.
Senator, the fact that somebody with your outlook on the world is now effectively un-represented in our two-party system should tell you that something is wrong with our system. In most advanced democracies, third parties are represented in the legislature, because voting is proportional.
Now is a pivotal moment
It’s not just you, Senator, who’s heading for the exit this year. Incumbent Republican retirements are unusually high this Congress. Certainly, each race is different. But something is in the air. For established incumbent Republicans, the reality of the Republican Party under Trump is hard to defend.
But as they leave and retire, a new crop of Republicans enters. Parties change by replacement, and the new wave of ambitious Republican candidates (with a few Romney-size exceptions) are much more in the Trumpist mold. They will further transform the Republican Party, turning it into even more of a far-right, authoritarian, populist party, hostile to basic norms of democracy.
To break up the Republican Party as it stands is a kamikaze mission. But somebody has to take it on. A place in history awaits. Sen. Flake, are you up to the task?
