Principled Republicans?

Recently I attended the 2022 Utah State Democratic Convention. At the convention (which was partially online) 57% of the delegates (782 to 594) voted to support independent candidate Evan McMullin in the election for US Senator from Utah. This means that the Democratic candidate, Kael Weston, was not nominated by the party and will not be on the November ballot.

The McMullen campaign spent significant time and money trying to persuade me, a Democratic delegate, to “join their coalition.” They claim their coalition is made up of Democrats, Independents, and “principled Republicans.” This has caused me to reflect on two questions: Is there such a thing as a “principled Republican” anymore? and, if so, what would one look like?

What principles used to look like

I came of age during the Presidency of Richard Nixon. His corruption and criminal behavior were certainly not “principled,” but the system worked back then because other Republicans did have principles.

The Supreme Court, in United States v. Nixon, voted unanimously (including the Republican appointees) that the White House must release ALL of the White House tape recordings, not just edited transcripts, to the Congressional committee investigating the Watergate break-in. Contrast this with current Republican responses to requests for information from the January 6th Committee.

Nixon eventually resigned when Republican Senators met with Nixon and told him that not only was the House about to impeach him, but that there were more than enough votes in the Senate (from both parties) to convict him and remove him from office. Imagine, elected Republicans were once willing to impeach and convict a President of their own party when he abused his power.

Things have changed

How then are we to view the Republicans in the Senate during Trump’s TWO impeachment trials? During the first, only one Republican Senator, Mitt Romney voted to convict him (on one of the two articles of impeachment). During the second, which came after the attempted coup of January 6th, 2021, seven Republican Senators voted to convict. Perhaps the memory of having to evacuate the Senate floor and hide, while the Capitol was being breached by armed insurrectionists, helped to open their eyes.

Of those seven Senators, two are retiring and only one is up for re-election in 2022. The fact that they were insulated from the immediate wrath of their partisans probably helped them vote in a “principled” way. Nevertheless, several of them were quickly censured by their own state Republican parties for daring to put their oath to the Constitution ahead of their party loyalty.

Are Utah Republicans “principled?”

The same day that the Utah Democratic Party voted to abandon their own Senate candidate, the Utah Republican Party Convention voted at nearly 71% to re-nominate incumbent Mike Lee. This, of course, is the same Mike Lee who actively encouraged the Trump White House to overturn the 2020 election.

My concern here isn’t the character of Mike Lee. He revealed his true nature when he switched from calling on 2016 candidate Trump to drop out of the race after the Access Hollywood (“Grab ’em by the **”) tape became public, to quickly becoming one of Trump’s greatest supporters. Lee bluntly demonstrated his misguided principles on October 27, 2020 when he shamelessly compared the toxic narcissist Donald Trump to the Book of Mormon hero Captain Moroni.

My concern is those Utah Republicans, most of them LDS, who continue to support, and vote for, people like Mike Lee and Donald Trump despite their OBVIOUS self-serving corruption and betrayal of the Constitution.

Over the past five years, they have seen the absolutely unfathomable criminality of Donald Trump and the Republicans—and despite knowing the depths of their misdeeds and the human collateral damage and the economic toll and the national disfigurement—they will vote Republican again without a moment’s deliberation. I can’t get over that.

John Pavlovitz

Ignorance will lead to disaster

Those who still consider themselves Republicans seem unaware of the vast extent of the lies and distortions that have been perpetrated on them. Perhaps many are actually unaware or naïve about the serious consequences for our democracy if the current batch of fascist Republicans take back Congress or the White house.

But their ignorance will not save the country from the consequences of their votes.

Erdogan (Turkey), Orban (Hungary), and even Vladimir Putin (Russia) were originally elected to office. They are all authoritarian dictators today. If Donald Trump (or Ron DeSantis, or Greg Abbott, or Tim Scott, or Ted Cruz) enters the White House, the script will be the same.

The German Nazi party originally attracted bullies, racists, conspiracy believers, the less educated, and the disgruntled. These same people comprise the base of the current Republican Party. By once electing Donald Trump (in defiance of the then party leadership) and now clinging to him (by continuing to promote the Big Lie about the 2020 election), these dangerous people have completely taken over the Republican Party.

Yet many rank and file Republicans continue to act as if things are still normal.

It is manifestly NOT normal to have a President of the United States attempt to overthrow an election after the fact because he did not like the outcome. It is NOT normal for a President of the United States to incite a violent riot at the Capitol in order to block an official proceeding. It is NOT normal for the US Senate to delay one Supreme Court appointment for nearly a year, and later complete one in barely a week.

Principle requires us to oppose Fascism

The Republican Party has abandoned any principles it may once have had. It has enacted a multi-state partisan corruption of our election process. It has promoted and defended a violent armed takeover of the US Capitol. It has called submitting false Presidential electors “legitimate political discourse.” It has deliberately undermined public confidence in our government and in its processes. It has demonized members of the opposition party using baseless, vile assertions. It has politicized what was once simple, fact-based, science. It has packed the courts with unqualified idealogues.

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men look on and do nothing.

John Stuart Mill

In Germany, as Nazi power grew, the principled people were the ones who stood up and spoke out against the bullying and the violence and the racism. Their outspokenness often came at a price. When the pressure grew too great, those objectors who were able to left the country. Soon, accused “intellectuals” were purged from their jobs (and often killed).

By then, the majority of the people either approved of the Nazi program, or they kept quiet out of fear.

We are not yet at the point where people cannot even speak out against the growing tide of authoritarianism, but it is coming. Will the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stand for truth, democracy, equity, and justice? Or will we gleefully join in when the barbarians burn the libraries?

We have been warned

Closing your eyes, ignoring what is happening, and doing nothing are NOT the actions of principled people. Those who remain silent (or willfully ignorant) are complicit in the evil being done in their name.

If we remain timid and do not act, we will deserve the chaos and destruction we will have allowed to happen.

The Book of Mormon was sent to warn us. Yet we continue to ignore its lessons.

Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

Ether 8:23

Sources

Barbara Sprunt, “7 GOP Senators Voted To Convict Trump. Only 1 Faces Voters Next Year,” NPR, February 15, 2021.
John Pavlovitz, “Why I’ve Lost Respect For My Republican Former Friends“, Stuff That Needs To Be Said, December 11, 2021.
CNN, “READ: Mark Meadows’ texts with Mike Lee and Chip Roy,” CNN, April 15, 2022.
Tim Alberta, “‘Mother Is Not Going to Like This’: The 48 Hours That Almost Brought Down Trump,” Politico, July 10, 2019.
Jose Ignacio Castaneda Perez, “In Arizona, Sen. Mike Lee compares Trump to Captain Moroni, is criticized by LDS members,” Arizona Republic, October 31, 2020.
Kyle Cheney, “What the GOP meant when it called Jan. 6 ‘legitimate political discourse’,” Politico, February 15, 2022.
Dessi Gomez, “‘Morning Joe’ Decries ‘Fascist Strain’ of GOP Who’d Still Vote for Problematic Candidates,” The Wrap, April 27, 2022.