Republicans, Ditch MAGA and Return to the Basics

The GOP traditionally stood for the rule of law, limited government and unity. It should again.

By John C. Danforth and Rina Shah

Originally published in the Wall Street Journal America’s center has collapsed. But it can be restored if Republicans return to their roots.

Both political parties have gravitated toward their extremes, but given our backgrounds, our primary concern is the GOP, which is firmly under MAGA’s influence. MAGA Republicanism is an incoherent form of populism—sometimes leaning right, sometimes left. It isn’t the responsible, conservative party America needs.

We believe that a responsible, conservative party in this country can be defined by five key principles that Republicans have historically championed, whatever their other differences. MAGA has turned these tenets upside down. But they are our party’s foundation, and we have adopted them for Our Republican Legacy—a nonprofit advocacy organization we established last year as a home for Republicans in exile.

These are the five bedrock principles:

• The rule of law, grounded in the U.S. Constitution. We Republicans embrace the fact that we are a country of laws, not men. The Constitution establishes checks and balances to prevent the concentration and abuse of government power, vesting the power to tax, spend and impose tariffs in Congress, not in the president. The Bill of Rights protects the people against a government that punishes critics and wreaks retribution on opponents.
  

• Unity. We are the party of Lincoln, who sought to hold America together as one indivisible nation. We stand against us-vs.-them tactics of left and right. Identity politics that inflame passions of grievance and resentment are no longer the sole property of Democrats. Now MAGA has hoodwinked straight, white, male Christians into believing that they are victims of “the elites.”
  

• Fiscal responsibility. We oppose large and persistent federal deficits. The national debt increased nearly 40% in the first Trump administration, and under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it will grow over the next decade by more than $3 trillion. Our current fiscal trajectory isn’t greatness: It is weakness, and we are accelerating toward that end.
  

• Limited government. We insist that the private sector, not an overreaching federal government, is the source of America’s strength. Governmental control, once the province of progressive Democrats, is the hallmark of MAGA Republicans. They impose high tariffs and propose government ownership stakes in corporations. And no administration should direct what universities can teach, where law firms can practice, or whom comedians can mock.
  

• Strong national defense. We are the party of Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, which since World War II has carried the responsibility of protecting the West against Russian aggression. We support a national defense that is second to none, and we encourage reliable alliances among democracies that protect our national interests overseas. We are under no illusions about Vladimir Putin’s intentions, and we support America providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs to defend itself.

Republicans have always differed with one another on certain issues. Disagreement is healthy. But MAGA has thrown out the core principles Republicans agreed on. MAGA’s GOP and Reagan’s are incompatible.

Our Republican Legacy supports leaders who will embrace the five bedrock principles of Republicanism. We are organizing in all 50 states. We are the conservative alternative to MAGA populism.

Those of us who call ourselves Republicans have a choice to make. We can choose to stand for our historic principles, or we can continue on the road to angry populism. By making the first choice, we can restore the center. That is where most Americans happen to be. And that is where our nation has its best chance for a bright future.

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