A Chance for Conservatives To Build a Coalition

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One of the most defining quotes of President Reagan’s career is the line “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.”

Perfectly summarizing his departure from the left, in his career as a Hollywood actor and union leader, Reagan’s words ring true today – for now-members of the Trump administration Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, for an assortment of black and Latino working class voters, for academics and journalists chased out of Yale or the New York Times, for tech entrepreneurs and for myself.

Whether done out of political expediency, economic concerns, or deep struggle with modern progressivism’s hostility toward free thought, a modern departure from the Democratic Party – as it was for Reagan – is just the first step.

Next, the former president would remind us, is a time for choosing. This motley crew of MAHA moms, young Latino men, Silicon Valley billionaires, and excommunicated intellectuals now finds itself under the Republican umbrella already occupied by Christian conservatives, libertarians, country club goers, and more.

Various factions on the right (or claiming to be) will insist these new members of the team adhere strictly to their ideology. Purity tests dominate modern conservatism, from those who parrot Trump’s every word – and even attempt to intellectualize it – to those disturbingly religious in their opposition to the president. They borrow tactics from progressivism, as seen at the “Principles First” summit when former governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson invoked “oppressor vs. oppressed” terminology or in the Bernie Sanders-style economics of Sen. Josh Hawley.

Yet, despite what saying this in a crowd of Republican voters might spark: Diversity is our strength.

Whether it’s in race or religion, economic theory, or age, an intellectual movement cannot endure without a myriad of people from different walks of life finding unity in its core message. Pluralism is not only a fundamental American tradition, but a necessity to those on the right who want their current momentum to continue past the next four years.

Unfortunately, the outspoken Never-Trump and MAGA crowds opt instead for black-and-white judgment around a singular man with limited ideological basis himself. Whether endlessly bashing the president or doing triple backflips to defend him, neither group can create a cohesive movement for lifetime conservatives and new members of the coalition (some who have yet to adopt the term “conservative” at all, due to its cultural stigmas and uncertain definition).

Amidst the confusion, the inaugural Freedom Conservatism conference recently offered an early glimpse of what could be a Republican embrace of diversity. Marked by a number of speakers who were able to highlight their shared commitment to free markets, individual liberties, and America’s strength on the global stage, the event captured the very essence of political coalition-building and independent thinking on the right – undergirded by a shared interest in economic freedom.

Voices like Kay Coles James, former president of the Heritage Foundation, and Daniel Garza of the LIBRE Initiative, spoke directly to the inclusion of blacks and Latinos in the conservative movement. Rather than be driven by unrealistic equity ideology, government mandates, or self-guilt, all markers of progressive ideas of “diversity,” James and Garza elevated the importance of equal opportunity and mutual respect. Understanding the need to foment cultural cohesion and open dialogue, the speakers highlighted the foundations of what brings together so many against the modern left: a rejection of conformity.

Similarly, John Hood of the William Pope Foundation opened the conference with a speech highlighting the key principles of “Freedom Conservatism.” In doing so, Hood outright acknowledged tensions within the conservative coalition today and pointed to the various viewpoints one could draw from the principles around foreign policy and other issue areas. Rather than seeking to coalesce the room into one doctrine of international relations theory or religious values, Hood and other speakers – such as Congressman Dan Crenshaw, George Will of the Washington Post, and author Carrie Sheffield – evidenced how embracing disagreement and even some conflict makes conservatism stronger.

All that is not to say the Freedom Conservatism conference addressed every point of fracture between the Reagan Republican era and today. Many in attendance remain unable to understand why people want to keep pesticides out of our food or what difference there is between private sector unions protecting vulnerable workers and Randi Weingarten holding kids’ educational future hostage.

But the times they are a-changin’.

By and large, Trump and Republicans down-ballot won the 2024 election on the impact of inflation. Most people vote with their pocketbooks – much to the dismay of virtue-signaling Democrats, who urge young people struggling with the insane price of rent to cough up Medicaid costs for unemployed able-bodied adults.

But the cultural winds also shift politics, if not to the ballot box then at least to certain podcasts or influencers’ pages. And for many, it was progressive’s puritanism that blew otherwise regular Democrats, independents and moderates to tune in to the Joe Rogan Show and ultimately pull the red lever.

Whether it was the Black Lives Matter riots, the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the girls’ sports issue, the education system, or numerous other instances of ideological overreach by the left, cultural attitudes against censorship and intellectual orthodoxy ultimately drew countless Americans into the conservative fold who otherwise might never have considered it their political home.

Now the right holds the opportunity to build the majority it needs to win. But securing this diverse coalition requires rejecting the very purity tests that drove so many from the Democratic fold. A conservative movement must embrace ideological diversity to stand the best chance of creating lasting political change. The essence of “Freedom Conservatism” isn’t lockstep agreement, but rather a shared commitment to individual liberty, economic opportunity, and the freedom to speak without fear of cancelation.

Reagan’s success was one of a big tent – not an echo chamber. Working-class and anti-communist Democrats backed the Republican nominee for the first time ever in 1980 because of his embrace of the messy process of coalition-building. If conservatives work through their differences, they might just stand athwart history yelling, “Welcome aboard!”