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ARE TODAYS REPUBLICAN LEADERS REALLY CONSERVATIVES?

Given the rapidly accelerating evolution of the republican agenda over the last 25 years, one has to wonder if today’s republican leaders are really conservatives at all. As a conservative for nearly 50 years, all evidence indicates that today’s republicans have abandoned all conservative principles and driven headlong into focusing on protecting the wealthy and holding onto office by whatever means necessary. 

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THE DISMANTLING OF AMERICAN LEADERSHIP

As a conservative and a student of foreign policy for nearly 50 years, it grieves me, as it should all, to witness the Trump Administration rapidly dismantling America’s leadership role in the world.  For over 80 years, generations of Americans poured their lives into building an American led global order, which we and allied democracies have been the beneficiaries of. Tragically, President Trump has abandoned that world order in an effort to dominate every relationship and win short-term transactional gains and power. Never before in the history of the world has a global power voluntarily chosen to walk away from its moral, joint security, economic and diplomatic power.   

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MAGNANIMOUS OR MACHIAVELLIAN?

Perhaps some of the most important choices we make in life are who we chose to lead us.  Whether it be a supervisor we agree to work for, or a Mayor, or a President, it’s essential that we secure a well-founded sense of their character and motives. Those are hard things to judge, but they portend conduct that may meaningfully impact our future.  Sadly for America, the character and motives of our current President have been more polarizing than perhaps anyone in recent history. 

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WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?

While advocating for America and protesting against candidates in my own Republican Party over the last five years, it’s been interesting to witness how much people have changed.  Typically, hundreds of people respond with a big thank you and thumbs-up, while a few dozen hurl demeaning names at me and curse me.  I’ve become accustomed to that, but several interactions lately, exemplifying a level of anger and ill-informed opinion I’d rarely seen before, lead me to wonder if it might be fruitful for all of us to take a step back and question the choices we’re making and what we’ve become.

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THIS IS THE PRICE!

As our hearts break for the people of Ukraine, it is imperative that we wrap our heads around the fact that this is the price of supporting a president who stridently promoted “America First”. This is the price of supporting a president that cast doubt on American’s commitment to NATO and weakened its deterrent strength.  This is the price of supporting a president and his enablers who divided us here at home and made us weak in the eyes of adversaries. This is the price of supporting a president that invited Russian interference in our elections and choose to support Putin’s account of that election over the findings of our own CIA.  This is the price of letting a president get away with holding military aid to Ukraine hostage to getting political dirt on an election rival. And this is the price of supporting a president that aligned himself with aggressive authoritarians and actively promoted selfishness and self-interest here at home and before the United Nations.

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WHERE DO CONSERVATIVES GO FROM HERE?

Given the disaster of the last four years and an unfolding fratricide within the Republican Party, many fellow conservatives are probably wondering: Where do we go from here?  The conduct of Trump and his enablers have produced incalculable damage to America and every aspect of American life, and pervasive political loses.  While we have time before the next election cycle, daily we have a choice of what to believe and whom to support.  These choices are not just political questions but reflect deeper questions of our moral identity and who we want to be.

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MACHIAVELLIAN TO THE CORE

In 1513 Niccolo Machiavelli wrote a short book titled The Prince.  In it he counsels a young prince who unexpectedly ascends to the throne on how to handle himself and the affairs of state.  The essence of Machiavelli’s counsel is do whatever you must to accumulate power, stay in power, and no matter how dastardly your plans and deeds, always try to look virtuous. Tragically, a wealth of evidence suggests that President Trump has been Machiavellian to the core.  He has masterfully employed deception, manipulation and deceit to appear virtuous and have the best interest of the American people at heart, while acting in his own self-interest. 

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ADVANCING ADVERSARIES

While most of us have been preoccupied with the chaos unfolding here at home, given my protective instincts, I am compelled to warn of advancing adversaries around the globe.  This may be the last thing people want to hear, but American foreign policy failures over the last thirty years, particularly America’s unilateral withdrawal from around the globe more recently, have provided adversaries with an opportunity to meaningfully strengthen their position.  Under the mantle of “America First” we have weakened our alliances, self-inflicted a decline in our moral standing and economic potential, and allowed our security to ebb away from us at an accelerating rate.  China’s economic strength, military capabilities, and expansionary posture have grown markedly.  Russia, Iran, North Korea and strongmen around the globe have also significantly advanced their military capabilities and negotiating positions. 

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