Republicans Need To Build Their Coalition, Not Destroy It

One might think that Republicans would understand that political power in America is all about building coalitions. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by creating a coalition of anti-slavery Northerners and the remnants of the Whig party. Abolitionists, merchants, and the emerging urban middle class combined to create a party which ran the U.S. government most of the time from 1861 until 1913. Moralists and economic pragmatists joined together to win political power and use it effectively. The coalition split in 1912, when Republican Teddy Roosevelt ran against Republican President William Taft, thereby handing the presidency to Woodrow Wilson.

Fast forward one hundred years. Republicans today are in as much disarray as in 1912. How did they get here?