Bill Kristol with some good thoughts this morning:
You Don’t Have to Love ’Em to Vote for ’Em
by William Kristol
To begin the week, just a brief thought on political parties.
In modern politics, you can’t really live without them. But it’s a pain to live with them.
We know that bold leaders don’t fit comfortably in them. Churchill switched parties (twice!), and then spent the 1930s fighting against the disastrous policies of the party he’d returned to. Reagan switched parties once, but then went so far as to challenge the sitting president of his adopted party for the nomination. The senators I’ve known the best and admired the most, Pat Moynihan and John McCain, were willing to take on their own parties.
Even we ordinary citizens have a difficult time with political parties. If you like to think for yourself, you chafe at party orthodoxy. If you like strong leadership, you chafe at party timidity.
This is all a way of saying that if you, dear reader, find today’s Democratic party annoying and frustrating and exasperating, there’s nothing wrong with you. Quite the contrary. You’re most likely a reasonable person.
And you’re not alone. A majority of Americans look set to choose the Democratic party over the Republicans this fall. But they share your doubts about the Democratic party, which clocks in at only about
38 percent approval.
Still, most Americans seem to realize that, whatever its problems, there’s only one party that stands ready to check a reckless administration that threatens our well-being and to oppose an authoritarian movement that threatens our freedoms. They accept the fact that what the 2026 election is about is whether Donald Trump will for the next two years have a Congress run by Republicans who will continue to bow to him and enable him, or one run by Democrats that will challenge and check him.
It’s frustrating to loyal Democrats that they’re not universally loved. But asking Americans who aren’t thrilled with either party suddenly, in the summer of 2026, to become huge fans of the Democrats, is asking too much. All Democrats have to do is to win their vote this November.
