They say that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I say that those who don’t learn from past success are doomed to fall short of former glories.
This primary season, the conservative base has been searching for the next Reagan, jumping frantically from one candidate to the next searching for the right man for the job. Before we set off to find the next “great uniter,” however, we have to understand what made the first one so successful.
So much of this year’s contest has been about the men and women themselves. Who has the right temperament? Who has the right experience? But these questions are largely irrelevant. What job can possibly compare to being president? If you want presidential experience, your choice is Obama.
As for personality and temperament, well, great presidents have run the gamut. There was the serene George Washington, the fiery Jackson, the ponderous and stalwart Lincoln. All are remembered for their moments in time not because they were great guys, or hotheads, or rough-around-the-edges. No, they’re remembered for what they left behind. Personality, charisma, looks — these things all fade. Think of how many electable presidents handily won an election only to be forgotten by time and policy. Men die, but ideas endure.
When you look at groundbreaking political elections, elections that remade our world, you see ideas leading the charge. The founding fathers inspired a nation not because of who they were, but because they carried the inspiring banner of freedom and good government. The ideas they represented were so powerful, they inspired a nation to endure years of defeat and overthrow the world’s largest empire. Abraham Lincoln led the fledgling Republican Party to a once-unthinkable White House win on the idea that slavery was a great evil.
Likewise, it was the ideas Reagan stood for that enabled his success. Many forget that Reagan was the long-shot candidate of his day. He lost the Iowa caucuses. His future vice president, establishment favorite George H.W. Bush, saw his supporters as “blockheads and dummies” and labeled his policies “voodoo economics.” He wasn’t smart enough. He was too old. He was a movie star, not an intellectual. He was losing to Jimmy Carter weeks before the election. But none of that mattered, because his ideas were the draw. His ideas inspired people. They brought down walls, and they built up a nation in a moment of need.
Don’t take my word for it. Let’s hear from Reagan himself. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, he harnessed the power of ideas when he emphasized that his “view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties …” The purpose of his ideas, his candidacy, was “to unify our country; to renew the American spirit and sense of purpose. I want to carry our message to every American, regardless of party affiliation …” Reagan changed the paradigm. His election wasn’t a popularity contest. It wasn’t one team versus another. It was a challenge to inspire and to motivate. And a man alone cannot do that.
So who should get the Republican nomination? Should it go to the most “electable”? Should we follow Gallup’s poll on candidates’ “acceptability”? Mitt Romney wins these metrics hands down.
But don’t take the easy way out. Romney is eminently acceptable because there’s nothing there to hate. But there’s also little there to love — nothing to inspire other than his personal qualities. But, as we’ve seen, those don’t endure.
George Washington’s “acceptability” didn’t keep his troops at camp through the cold, miserable winter at Valley Forge. Lincoln’s popularity didn’t restore the Union. No, it was countless ordinary Americans’ unwavering dedication to the ideas they stood for.
Can Mitt weather Obama’s attacks if all he has to sell is … well … Mitt? Romney the man can’t inspire unwavering dedication, and Mitt Romney’s ideas are Mitt Romney, the man, for president.
We need something stronger. Republicans need to run on an idea.
As long as you are looking at the candidates themselves, rather than the ideas they champion, you cannot find another Reagan. As long as you can jump from one candidate to the next literally overnight, you are looking for a man, not the ideas he represents. If you do vote for an idea, but it is only the goal of tearing someone else’s candidate down, you cannot inspire and you cannot win. You need a banner that men will carry through thick and thin.
I suggest we learn from Reagan. Search for values, not people, that “transcend persons and parties.” Stand for character, integrity, and principle. Stand for freedom. Stand for liberty.
A man under that banner would generate incredible passion. Someone like that would ignite our national fire even if we didn’t agree with everything he did. His supporters would always remain loyal to him, because he served an idea, not himself.
That’s not how “we” win. It’s how America wins.
John Scrudato is a 2011 graduate of Yale University with a dual degree in history and mechanical engineering. A long-time student columnist, he was also a member of the Yale Political Union. John currently resides in New Haven, CT, where he is working to launch a new manufacturing company.