Last night my father told me that he thinks he might not be a Republican anymore. This is the man who voted for people with an R next to their name his entire life, who played Rush Limbaugh next to my crib, who shook my hand for the first time after I shot my first deer. To many people in my rural home town, he appears the archetypal conservative father.
However, I wasn’t surprised by his confliction because he isn’t a modern conservative.
Until the age of 12, Mr. Cleland grew up in the tiny logging town of Cohasset, CA and lived in a two room cabin complete with an outhouse. Politicians like Goldwater and Reagan were champions of independent freedom and limited government that my dad believes allowed him to open a small business and enjoy a life filled with prosperity, happiness and perhaps most importantly, indoor plumbing.
However, these men belonged to a party that is far-gone from today’s political landscape. The far right is guiding the social dialogue of the entire party. If the GOP wants to remain relevant in the 21st century then it must remember the ideals that once united us. It must shift its social ideology back to the center and focus on fiscal and economic issues or risk losing right-leaning Millennials like me, independents, women, LGBT supporters and potentially its national significance entirely.
People who are conflicted over Republican ideology will and are choosing to leave the party. Gallup polls show from 25 years of telephone interview data that Republican self-identification is at an all-time low of 25%. Independent self-identification is at 42%, an all-time high. They attribute this increase to Republicans who have left the party. This instance is not surprising. Republican fiscal policy has stayed relatively constant since the days of Reagan’s “shining city on a hill,” but the social rhetoric today is hateful and alienates. The Texas GOP had to vote this year to remove “homosexuality tears at the fabric of society” from their platform.
Moderate Republicans and independents are waiting for change that is not coming quickly. FreedomWorks polling showed in 2013 that 78% of Republicans and right-leaning independents identify as fiscally conservative and socially moderate. Why is this? The surging ideology of “libertarianism” has drawn many on the right socially center (42% of the GOP said they view the word favorably). 21st century Christians are infusing tolerance into their faith and political views. Matthew Vines, the Evangelical author of God and the Gay Christian, and United Methodist Pastor Frank Shaefer—who was defrocked for officiating his gay son’s wedding—are just two examples. Even the extoled Pope Francis said, “Who am I to judge them if they’re seeking the Lord in good faith?” in reference to the Vatican’s “gay lobby”. There are advocates and allies in every direction.
Yet the GOP resists. Gallup reports that 43% of Americans say that jobs and the economy are the number one issue facing the country; only 5% said that the issue is morals and religion. It is a waste of party funding, time and energy to focus on issues that are not on the forefront of people’s attention. It’s as if you needed to repair the bathroom sink but you spent your money on a new rug instead. It makes no logical sense, and neither do the hateful arguments from social conservatives.
The exclusionary speech of radical conservatives driving Republican dialogue only divides and confuses members of the mainstream Republican Party like my dad. He may continue to vote for an R here and there, he will always be loyal to the GOP—just not all of their modern policies. And how could he? Three of his four children are gay. His love for us is soft-spoken but ever present—the first thing my dad said after I came out to him as a freshman in college was “Ya know, if you would have told us earlier, we probably could have gotten you into an Ivy League!” The statement, besides showing his sense of humor, said I love you, care about you, and want the best for you all at once. He is one of many people who have been affected by personal relationships with gay Americans as same-sex relationships become more accepted. He wants his children to have every right that he does. Public opinion is changing, but the GOP is behind the curve.
If Republicans continues to let a radical fringe in the party control social policy it will meet its end in my lifetime—and many will be happy to see it go. However, if the party can shift toward the center on social issues, it may finally be the champion for free markets and free people that so many in the United States want to see.
Ryan Cleland is a resident of Chico, California and a rising senior at Wake Forest University. He is currently the Executive Assistant at the Log Cabin Republicans in Washington D.C.