Jeffrey Davis Perry
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Parties change, why don't people?
The transformation of political parties has been well documented and discussed in countless books on the subject. We know from a study of political history that political parties come and go. Have you seen any members of the Whig or Bull Moose Party around lately? What is worth discussing is the apparently unanswered question: Why don’t the members of a political party change their political affiliation when their own values and beliefs are no longer consistent with their own political party?
Take for example the common Massachusetts conflict of why would a Catholic, pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, anti-tax candidate for office in Massachusetts make the confirmatory choice to call themselves a Democrat today? After all, the Democrat establishment here in the Commonwealth holds the opposite point of view on all of these issues.
Could it be as simple as since a person’s parents were Democrats, thus they feel that tradition and loyalty demand that they remain a member of the Party of F.D.R. and J.F.K.? While each person would probably have a slightly different reason and answer as to why they choose the label of their political party, I remain baffled as to why when political parties change, people don’t.
The primary reason to associate with any political party is to join with other people who hold similar values and points of view about the government’s role. While many people choose to be associated with a certain party, they are not expected to share exactly the same beliefs, but the core beliefs and values should be fundamentally consistent. For me, no matter how proud I am to call myself a Republican, I can state with complete confidence, if my GOP abandoned the fight for smaller government, disregarded the will of the voters, and became soft on law and order issues, I would leave my political party and find another more in line with my own personal core values. The alternative is illogical and counterproductive to the very purpose we have political parties in the first place.
One of the most notable people to change their political affiliation due to the party’s change away from his own value system was Ronald Reagan. Reagan was not always a Republican Party member. In fact, Reagan was a self-admitted Democrat and proud of it during his younger years. Like so many other Americans of his time, Reagan was born into a family of Democrats and thus he defaulted into that party. At the 1984 GOP convention, Reagan shared the story of his own personal journey to the Republican Party:
“I began political life as a Democrat, casting my first vote in 1932 for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. That year, the Democrats called for a twenty-percent reduction in the cost of government by abolishing useless commissions and offices and consolidating departments and bureaus, and giving more authority tostate governments. As the years went by and those promises were forgotten, did I leave the Democratic Party, or did the leadership of that party leave not just me but millions of patriotic Democrats who believed in the principles and philosophy of that platform? One of the first to declare this was a former Democratic nominee for President Al Smith, the Happy Warrior, who went before the nation in 1936 to say, on television or on radio that he could no longer follow his party's leadership and that he was “taking a walk.” As Democratic leaders have taken their party further and further away from its first principles, it's no surprise that so many responsible Democrats feel that our platform is closer to their views, and we welcome them to our side.”
Often described as a “political pendulum,” both the Democrat and the Republican parties have had their highs and lows over the course of history. Just as individuals can and do change, so do the political parties themselves and their platform issues. I do not question the fact that political parties change; however, when a political party alters its core values, either over a period of years, or overnight by the election of the new leader, I continue to be surprised how many individuals remain faithful to it. If the essential purpose of any political organization is to promote the values of its members and support the candidates who share those very same positions, why do so many people remain loyal, faithful soldiers when they no longer have the same political goals?
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