ORL Statement on National Unity

The Issue. Our Republican Legacy’s first principle – UNITY – is first for a reason: it provides the foundation for our other principles. It states:

From its beginning, ours has been the party of Unity, of holding a fractured country together as one indivisible nation. That remains our purpose today. We embrace America’s motto, e pluribus unum. America is a nation of many different backgrounds and interests, yet we are one people. We stand against the divisive tactics of both right and left that divide Americans as “us against them” by exploiting emotions of grievance and rage. 

Our nation’s motto – “Out of many, one”  – is simple but profound. We are many different people from different backgrounds, different walks of life, and with different beliefs, but with all our diversity we are just one nation.

President Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, understood the need for unity in a divided nation over the issue of the expansion of slavery in the run-up to the American Civil War in 1861. In his first inaugural speech just weeks before the first battle between the Union and the rebellious Confederacy, he made an urgent plea to “the better angels of our nature.” Lincoln wanted to avoid secession of the southern states and disunity: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” Lincoln called on the “mystic chords of memory” to “swell the chorus of the Union.” Lincoln saved the Union after four long years of bloody war but didn’t live to see the reunification of a divided nation.

A century later, Republicans were at the forefront of the civil rights movement to fulfill the promises of equality in our Constitution in the aftermath of the civil war. Civil rights legislation in the 1960s aimed to end segregation and eliminate political inequality. The Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964, and 1991; the Voting Rights Acts of 1965, 1982 and 2006;, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, and the later Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) were enacted to ban various forms of discrimination against African Americans and other minorities in employment, voting, education, housing, and other areas. All of these pieces of legislation passed with strong Republican leadership and support. 

As a percentage of elected representatives in both chambers of Congress in the 1960s, Republicans – even though they were the minority party – had a higher percentage of voting in favor of civil rights legislation than Democrats. Republicans have always stood for equal opportunity for all in one, unified nation.  Civil Rights laws should focus on equality of opportunity and not a guarantee of results.  That is where American consensus and unity lie. 

While the facts and political environment today are different from the ones leading up to the civil war, Lincoln’s advice to all Americans – including his “dissatisfied fellow-countrymen” – is as important today as it was then. We can have legitimate political differences and lively public debate about the critical issues of our day with our neighbors and friends, but we must not be enemies of one another or engage in retribution and violence against one another, which only further divides us. Disunity – spurred by grievances and acts of revenge  – does our nation a great disservice. Unity for a better America and a better life for all citizens should be our common goal and uniting principle. We are all Americans regardless of our different backgrounds and diverse beliefs. We are one nation.

ORL policy position. Republicans should embrace the party’s historical tradition of being the party of unity and not division. We must avoid sowing discord for political advantage. We embrace diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our civil society as a strength not a weakness. We support and encourage peaceful, civil debate and engagement in the public policy arena to find common-sense solutions to the many challenges facing our nation domestically and internationally. ORL rejects all forms of discrimination as well as all acts of political extremism and violence that are meant to divide us, including blatant acts of political revenge and retribution by extremists in the party in power.

Action required. Specifically, ORL:

• Supports active and peaceful citizen engagement in civil discourse and public debates, being respectful of different points of view to achieve common-sense public policies under a rule of law without fear of retaliation or retribution.

• Supports all forms of diversity and inclusion of all citizens as a national policy to promote greater unity and equality, and less artificial division in our pluralistic society.

• Supports equality of opportunity for all and opposes legal guarantees of particular results for specific groups.

• Renounces extremism and political violence of any kind as a means to an end.

• Supports an independent Department of Justice (DOJ) upholding the Constitution and the rule of law, and urges the Administration and the Congress to fully ensure that independence.

• Renounces and opposes any political interference from the White House in our justice system – the so-called “weaponization” of the DOJ and the attack on judges and the courts – to harass or harm political opponents of the current Administration.