It’s easy to grow weary of politics, despite the fact that for 16 years as an elected member of the Virginia General Assembly I was clutched by its talons. It wasn’t as if I was unwilling prey. But it was a tight grip that held me. In 2017, the grasp was loosened, and I fell to the ground with a thump, having been turned out of office in the Hillary Clinton backlash that November when 17 of my Republican colleagues were ushered out of office. President Trump’s victory did not include many of us a year later in Virginia. Politics giveth and it taketh away.
I don’t regret my absence from elected office. It opened to me a career as a writer of military history and political commentary. While people have encouraged me to reenter the candidate fray, I have no desire to return, my 72-year old energy and abilities notwithstanding. But I retain an interest in politics, especially writing about the “give and take,” policy debates, the mind-numbing nonsense, and occasionally the infrequent flashes of brilliance some politicians seem to muster at the oddest times.
I enjoy writing about the culture and health of our people and polity. Both are in great disrepair, and I attempt to share a reparative way forward. Being a fallen creature in a fallen world, I think I have a perspective to share in that conversation.
However, I am undeterred in offering my thinking about future presidential candidates. I think it is self-evident that the Democrats have much to worry about with their current incumbent president. Moreover, their bench is not pullulated with alternatives to the one sitting in the Oval Office today. Republicans however have a growing bench of would-be candidates and all of them, in my opinion, are better than the current occupant in the White House.
To be sure Republicans also have their defects. Former President Trump advanced popular policies that stand in stark contrast to some of the severe and vexing complications that have blossomed under the mismanagement we see today. One need look no further than our border with Mexico to see that clearly. It is chaotic. But candidate demeanor matters in politics, and while for a season a rakish and blustering persona may be attractive, it can become annoyingly grating. People on the Republican side may be searching for a person with Trumpian policies devoid of the accompanying drama. In the final analysis, these people prefer victory as opposed to strident rhetoric that may fulfill a fleeting desire to fulminate against the opposition, but in the end leads to defeat at the polls.
I think people are looking for a candidate with a bit more self-discipline yet able to implement the policies of our forty-fifth president. Some of the candidates who have stepped forward are very stable. Yet a few are hamstrung. One, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is profoundly opposed to Mr. Trump. Given the latter’s latent popularity with a significant part of the Republican electorate, Hutchinson will fall short. Others bring an abundance of foreign policy expertise, like Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley. A number bring a clear-minded understanding of the limits of government consistent with conservative principles, like Mike Pence and Senator Tim Scott. But few of them offer the specifics that are needed to right the ship of state and put it back on a course that reflects the founding vision of the nation. However, Vivek Ramaswamy, an Indian-American entrepreneur, unashamedly supports a significant restructuring of the Federal behemoth to one more akin to the limited government model our Founders desired. He’ll have a following. Others are in the wings, some inexperienced, and some probably less attractive with a majority of Republican voters. Nonetheless, all are fascinating to me.
But one has my very focused attention. Florida’s Ron DeSantis is a sitting governor with a demonstrated record of accomplishment and a proclivity for rational governance. And in his most recent election did something other Republican candidates failed to do athwart our nation: win convincingly in the 2022 election cycle.
It’s my bias to look to former governors as candidates for the presidency. After all, they are serving or have served as chief executives. They understand that leadership is not something derived in a crowded caucus room, but often in the solitude where chief executives dwell. They deal with crises that require decisions, sometime quickly. And the best among them find a way to work with their respective legislatures as opposed to trying to maneuver past them. Picking one that won convincingly in 2022 and has a clear vision for proper governance who resides in a sunbathed state would be wise.
And win we must if we plan to drain the putrid porridge of dysfunction that is the thick and miasmic swamp in Washington, DC.
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