In the face of significant losses nationwide, members of the Republican Party are rightly debating the party’s future. Each major political party is a conglomeration of diverse groups, and each group has a right to champion its views.

GOP conservatives argue that the party has lost favor because it has not been true to its conservative principles. GOP moderates say that conservatives have steered the party away from mainstream America.

An example of this second viewpoint is Free the GOP by Christine Todd Whitman and Robert M. Bostock, where the authors acerbically take on “social fundamentalists” that have “taken [the GOP] hostage.”

They write, “On Nov. 4, the American people very clearly rejected the politics of demonization and division.” Oddly, the Whitman and Bostock article is little more than a stunning example of ideological divisiveness and demonization of social conservatives. They offer not even one clue as to what moderate Republicans positively propose.

Like it or not, the GOP includes both conservatives and moderates. Attempts to excommunicate either faction from the party will not produce a winning result. Each faction should engage in honest discussion and debate by putting forward its ideas and respectfully considering the ideas of others.

If moderates like Whitman and Bostock want to help shape the future of the GOP, they should explain the value of their own views and abandon “the politics of demonization and division.”
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