Recently, I’ve seen several sources talking about how Republicans or former Republicans were putting aside ideological differences to endorse Kamala Harris for president. For example, the Heather Digby Parton at Salon writes:
the Never Trump faction…has set ideology aside for the moment in order to create a popular front to defeat Trump. (https://www.salon.com/2024/08/26/protection-racket-crumbles-now-have-cover-to-come-out-as-anti/)
Or, the retired lawyers from the Reagan and Bush administrations, who write:
we urge all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris. (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-lawyers-who-advised-reagan-bush-endorse-harris-over-trump-2024-showdown)
With all due respect, the reason these Republicans agree with Democrats is because of shared ideology: the idea that Democracy is good, and autocracy is bad; the idea that we should support the US Constitution; the idea that everybody should be equally bound by the laws; and other related beliefs–ideals about what the United States of America aspires to.
In my opinion, one reason the Democrats have long struggled to make their message heard is their failure to focus on these shared principles.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal.” We can get sidetracked from the general principle espoused by quibbling about Jefferson’s commitment to that principle, and his use of the gender-specific word “men” instead of “people.” Or we can set aside those historical details to focus on the principle implied: all people are created equal, and all people have rights, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But it is that ideal of equality–that ideology–that is at the heart of what has made the United States of America great.
The history of the United States has many examples of the people and the government violating the noble principles espoused in the Constitution (“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”) and the Declaration of Independence (“all men are created equal”). But those principles are still good principles. In these divisive times, let’s not lose sight of these principles–this ideology–that should bring us together.