Remember the "Big Tent?"

Now that we’ve established that, back in 2011, Melissa Clouthier made an argument here at PJ Media that I think is quite pertinent today. Some of the names have changed, and the post has long since scrolled off. The point she makes here is worth sharing for the sake of this argument.

I’m tired of Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Tom Ridge, and the rest of them. I’m tired of the pontificating. I’m tired of the holier-than-thou bearing. I’m tired of the self-important smugness. Most of all, I’m tired of losing big elections and being lectured by the losers about how to win.

I might disagree with Glenn Reynolds on social issues, but as long as he’s fighting tooth and nail against big government intrusion, taxation, and pork barrel spending, I consider him a friend and ally.

I might disagree with Ann Althouse on nearly everything (actually we agree more often then not), but as long as she values the security of America and values America for it’s own sake, I consider her a fellow patriot. (After the pain of having voted for Barack Obama, I hope she’ll come back into the Republican fold.)

Allahpundit and James Joyner might be agnostic/atheist, actually, but as long as they promote freedom, small government, and security, they are full members under the big tent.

This “big tent” approach was the reason behind my support, such as it was, for example, for George Bush (both of them). Their politics, by definition, were at best centrist (and often worse), but to the degree that they were traveling along with me on my political road, they were welcome. To the degree they are not, they heard from me, quite loudly. Overall, they were also better than the alternative in each case. 

As for Huckabee, he started to figure these things out just about the time Melissa’s post hit the net. He started making the right noises. A CNN article from the time noted:

Days after national Republicans launched a new campaign to broaden the party’s outreach, former upstart presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says the GOP is at risk of becoming “irrelevant as the Whigs.”

In an interview with the California newspaper The Visalia Times-Delta, Huckabee said the GOP would only further decline in influence should it alienate social conservatives largely considered the most energetic and loyal faction of the party.

“Throw the social conservatives the pro-life, pro-family people overboard and the Republican party will be as irrelevant as the Whigs,” he said in reference to the American political party that largely disbanded in the mid 1800s.

“They’ll basically be a party of gray-haired old men sitting around the country club puffing cigars, sipping brandy and wondering whatever happened to the country. That will be the end of the party,” he said in the interview published Thursday.

For all that this was a complete turnaround from what he’d been screaming for some years, trying to silence better than half the party, Huck’s comments eventually proved true, as the GOP establishment caused its own troubles, less than fully supporting Donald Trump, and giving us four years of President Otto Penn. We allowed old-line GOP establishment types to walk away from and indeed actively work against MAGA, when in fact MAGA encompasses the majority of the Republican voters today and has for over a decade now.

That’s my concern now, and this, in fact, is the reason behind my support, such as it was back in the day, for example, for George Bush 41 and 43. I spoke of Romney at some length earlier this week. I’ve expressed disdain for John McCain, Tom Ridge, and so on, as well. Their politics, by definition, were at best centrist, and usually worse, but to the degree that they were traveling along with me on my political road, they were welcome. To the degree they were not, they certainly heard from me.

Before you start tuning up, I’ll tell you point-blank and proudly: I’m fully aware that if we are even seen with some of the more radical groups under discussion, the Democrats are going to use our fringes against us, just as we’ve been using theirs, against THEM. You’d better get used to it; that’s how the game gets played.

Don’t get so blessedly busy ducking the consequences of that that you forget the points the fringe gets correct. With the common points of our thinking as a basis, the rest can be reasoned with to a large degree. It’ll take time, but patience is a virtue, I’m told.

Look, gang, I do not propose capitulation. There is one reason and one reason only for the capitulation option to exist; we have people in elective office supposedly as part of the Republican party, who are more interested in simply getting elected and staying elected, than they are in the application of traditional GOP principles, as Melissa laid out here:

• Freedom and personal liberty: As in, “I know what’s best for me more than the government knows what’s best for me.”
• Small government: Small government means small taxes, which also means economic freedom. If a Republican does not believe this tenet, why is he a Republican?
• God, Family, Country: That is, traditional values. The building blocks of society. Patriotism. No apologies for the greatness of America, etc.
• Life. Protecting and promoting it from the weakest unborn child and the equality of minorities to the protection of democracies everywhere.

Outside of that, it’s time we finally learned what Ronald Reagan taught us about the Big Tent philosophy: He stuck to his guns, stuck to his principles, and convinced others to come around to his way of thinking by the sheer weight of his arguments. He was willing to support people when they spoke the truth, and spanked them publicly when they did not. To my way of thinking, that is the ‘big tent’ we should be aiming at. 

And yes, I hear you. Are people like Huckabee simply making the proper noises with his turnabout, because it’s politically expedient, or are they making such noises because they’ve seen the weight of the arguments?

It’s a reasonable question, but look at it this way: Either the arguments have swayed him and will act accordingly, or he sees the way the wind is blowing politically speaking and will again act accordingly. If the Reagan years showed us anything, it’s that such disconnects don’t really matter to the final outcome. Either way, conservative principles as laid out above are furthered. Which is, after all, what we as MAGA desire, no?

Here it is, gang: Stop seeking MAGA perfection. The chances of everyone being totally on board with us are almost nil, even those who agree with us on a majority of issues.

Forget the left agreeing with anything we say. Let’s ignore their attempts to create the issues. We’ve seen them do that for years. Everything is racist, everything is sexist, Trump is a Russian stooge, Trump is a pedophile, Trump is a dictator, Trump is Hitler, ad infinitum. I've shown in the past that every Republican president since Ike has had impeachment attempts mounted against them. The Hitler comparisons have been going on since those days, too. 

Bogus prosecutions, all of it. Trying to convert these foaming-at-the-mouth leftists is futile. Stop trying to win them over. They'll either come around in their own time, or as we've seen, they'll misadjust. We shouldn't care.  It’s a lost cause. 

But for the love of the country, let’s seek to agree on the points where we agree, thereby getting enough people in the voting booths where their efforts against us won’t matter.  That's our focus. Because frankly, if we don't do that, NONE of this will matter.