On the elections and being right

Though I didn’t vote for them,  I feel a sense of affinity with the ideologically-based Republicans.  They were right—in their lights—and they couldn’t prevail.  The only course open to them now is to broaden their appeal, which would involve compromise on, or dilution of, what they stand for, both unacceptable.

As a Quaker, I know what it means to believe that I have an important piece of the truth, and that others—the majority often—are on a wrong and dangerous course.  It’s no use telling me that I just need to compromise in order to attract others to my side.  Principles are not for compromising—and after all, there’s more to life than being popular…

I guess that’s where these leaders in the Republican Party and I diverge, and where I look on them with even more compassion.  Unlike them, I never expected to be popular, but then I never expected to win elections either.  It’s also harder for them because they’ve had the experience of being popular.  They’re used to having others fall in line around them (though I would argue that some bullying by the big guys has played a role here).  But now they’re left with those passionately-held principles, not enough votes to enact them,  and no palatable pathway forward.

I think of the Quaker legislators of early Pennsylvania, so clear about what was right—in their lights—yet facing a steady diminution of their ability to govern on that basis.  Their bittersweet solution was to leave government altogether and pursue their principles in the private sphere. 

Perhaps the moral is that holding to principle and governing are two separate, though not exclusive, activities.  I think of a friend who was running for the state legislature.  He made no campaign promises.  He simple told people what he held to be most important, and said that if elected, he would do his best.  For those whose appetite includes governance—and perhaps there should be more of us—this may be the way forward:  be clear about your principles, and know that compromise is inevitable.  Then the rest of us who are less willing to bend, me and many Republicans included, should uphold our principles and pursue our passions in other realms, knowing that we’re in a minority but that, perhaps, our values can still have an impact on the world we love.