GOP Remains the Only Party for Conservatives

Kevin Williamson argued yesterday that “the Republican Party as it currently is constituted is not the only instrument available to [conservatives], nor is it the only possible instrument that might be available to us. Those who speak despairingly about the prospects of third parties should remember that the GOP began as one.” Kevin has, of course, his reasons for discontent with the party, as do many of us. But the situation today is quite dramatically different from the conditions that led to the formation of the Republican Party in 1854, and a comparison illustrates precisely why — as I have argued on prior occasions — a third-party effort today would have the opposite effect of what Republicans accomplished in building a national majority party by the 1860s.

The Fall of the House of Whig

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Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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Kevin Williamson argued yesterday that “the Republican Party as it currently is constituted is not the only instrument available to [conservatives], nor is it the only possible instrument that might be available to us. Those who speak despairingly about the prospects of third parties should remember that the GOP began as one.” Kevin has, of course, his reasons for discontent with the party, as do many of us. But the situation today is quite dramatically different from the conditions that led to the formation of the Republican Party in 1854, and a comparison illustrates precisely why — as I have argued on prior occasions — a third-party effort today would have the opposite effect of what Republicans accomplished in building a national majority party by the 1860s.

The Fall of the House of Whig