Robert Van Rens

C/W: Politics, skip of you're not interested in my skepticism of the current state of partisanship
We're seeing more and more stories about prominent Republicans "defecting" and registering as Democrats in advance of the 2024 general election. It's likely not enough of a number to significantly effect the balance of votes in and of itself, but it's supposed to be indicative of what is likely the death throes of the GOP. Yesterday's was Jimmy McCain, son of Arizona Senator and member of the Keating 5 John McCain. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced he will vote Democratic this time. Illinois Republican Adam Kinzinger had a floor speech at the Democratic National Convention.

The fact that a measurable number of prominent Republicans have finally summoned some degree of personal and political integrity is great. I'm for it. The idea that one of the two major political parties in this country is being entirely and openly subsumed by lawless authoritarian fascism is an existential threat; seeing members of the GOP decide they aren't willing to be party to that is not a bad thing.

However... HOWEVER...the result that I'm seeing is an..._accomodation_, for lack of a better term, in Democratic circles, for Republican ideology. Rather than pushing Republican apostates to clean their own house, Democrats are embracing them into The Big Tent. And that's a problem.

Even if they are people of personal integrity (and while I disagree with, say, Kinzinger on virtually every single point of policy, I can freely admit that he has never been willing to go along with the openly anti-democratic efforts of Republican leadership. What he has been willing to simp for virtue of being a Republican is a different matter...), welcoming and openly celebrating them is having some negative effects. We saw it at the DNC. The Democratic Party, already centrist under the best of circumstances, is being dragged further to the right both by incorporating former Republicans into the body politic and by attempting once again to capture the "moderate Republican" vote.

No more talk about cancelling student debt. No more plans to ensure affordable post-secondary education for everyone regardless of income. No next step towards universal health care coverage.

Contrary to what many voters believe, the incumbent got a lot done in four years, including working an economic miracle unmatched in the better part of a century. He did this in the face of a bare majority in the Senate and an implacably hostile (although comically incompetent) House.

He also suffered some major unforced errors and moral failures, and some of those are ongoing. A president who was supposed to bring us back to coherence and thoughtfulness in foreign policy has proven in some ways to have feet of clay.

Defeating the Orange Defendant isn't a goal. It's an obstacle, and a life-or-death imperative, but there HAS to be a plan for what comes next. That plan SHOULD be about making the world a better place for people living on the margins, not just in the middle.

I can't be happy about or comforted by the number of former Republicans who are turning up as registered Democrats. As someone managing a campaign reliant heavily on Democratic votes, I'm glad to see higher numbers in that column, but we all need the Democratic Party to move -left- and not -right-. I can't say that I'm worried about this causing a rightward drift during election season; it's already happening as a result.