Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies Conservative MP Bob Zimmer tweeted congratulations on Tuesday afternoon, not to recognize a constituent or a fellow MP for their fine work, but to Donald Trump for securing the Republican Party's nomination for president.
Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump on your victory receiving the Republican Party nomination today!
— Bob Zimmer MP (@bobzimmermp) July 19, 2016
Perhaps Zimmer was wishing he was with some of his Conservative colleagues who are at the Republican convention this week in Cleveland as observers. Hopefully Zimmer doesn't think that the Conservative Party's next leader, the one that will lead them in the next federal election against Justin Trudeau's Liberals, needs to Make Canada Great Again.
The federal Conservatives, as well as the B.C. Liberals, should be watching what the Republican Party is going through with fear and concern. The carnage in Cleveland is what happens when broad right-of-centre movements unravel and factional warfare breaks out.
Too many pundits, however, on both sides of the border, are too quick to write off the Grand Ol' Party. It will survive.
Someone on Twitter called the convention a dumpster fire this week but a forest fire would be a better description. A forest fire is unpredictable, burning hot and loud, causing significant devastation. What happens afterwards, however, is entirely predictable. With the dead wood destroyed and the established trees killed or significantly damaged, there is plenty of room for rebirth and new growth.
Regardless of whether Trump wins the presidency in November, he has blown through the Republican Party like a raging blaze, exposing how millions of Americans and a significant number of Main Street card-carrying Republicans do not approve of the party's small-c conservative principles drafted by the Wall Street and K Street establishment in New York and Washington. Trump's bombastic, take-no-prisoners style has certainly attracted support but so has his refusal to toe the line, to be a "real" Republican.
Trump is not the future of the Republican Party. He is merely a reflection of its current frustrated, schizophrenic self, much like Barry Goldwater was in 1964. Goldwater was labelled an extremist, even within his own ranks, but his candidacy rejuvenated the party.
In the short term, it allowed Richard Nixon to come back from the political grave and lead the Republicans back to the White House with a moderate, modern conservative agenda. Before Watergate, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and fostered a relationship with Communist China. In the long term, Goldwater's legacy was Ronald Reagan. Goldwater thought America was going to hell in a handbasket, Reagan turned that frown into a smile because it was Morning In America.
Four years after Goldwater divided the party of Lincoln, perhaps ruining it forever, the Republicans came back to take the White House in 1968. Except for Jimmy Carter's one-term presidency, they held onto it until 1992.
Somewhere in Cleveland, far away from the cameras and microphones, ambitious young Republicans, along with a few experienced veterans, are gathering to talk about the future, about what happens after Trump. The old hands will tell them about Reagan's "shining city on a hill" metaphor and the young Republicans will latch onto that spirit of optimism through uncertain times. They will forge a new conservative agenda built around hope, enthusiasm and inclusiveness, instead of the hate, fear and anger epitomized by Trump.
This is the territory where right-of-centre parties have enjoyed the most success, both in the United States and in Canada. Mad-as-hell conservatives, whether they are Goldwater, Trump, Preston Manning or Stephen Harper, just scare most voters. Harper would never have been prime minister if the federal Liberals hadn't become so arrogant and corrupt. Canadians never stopped being uneasy about Harper and cheerfully showed him the door as soon as a credible candidate with a hopeful message stepped forward.
Reagan and Brian Mulroney.
Closer to home and to present day, Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark.
Their "sunny ways" conservatism unites right-of-centre supporters and is the proven path to political power. That's the leader Zimmer and his fellow Conservatives should be looking for.
Trump is a political dead end but the mess he's causing is paving the way for a revitalized Republican Party.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
