Political Variations Variations

Last Sunday, I heard a spectacular piano concert at Noe Music in San Francisco. Pianist Dan Tepfer performed his Goldberg Variations Variations. Highly recommended. I’m still processing it: how Bach’s themes can be explored, stretched, and reimagined in so many different ways.

This week, I hosted three Bay Area Republican Reset dinners with 31 people in Marin, Contra Costa, and San Francisco. Excellent conversations. I’m still processing them.

Here are a few Political Variations Variations inspired by those dinner conversations.

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Heard on Tuesday: “I don’t want to lose the war of ideas.”

Heard on Thursday: “People aren’t persuaded by argument alone. We have to understand psychology.”

What if our goal was not “winning arguments,” but “having arguments?” Even better: “having good arguments”?

The very act of arguing changes people. I’m reminded of what my pastor says about the value of service. “When we give our time and resources to others, we are not only helping our neighbors — we are also shaping ourselves, growing in compassion and solidarity.”

Similarly: When we have good faith arguments with people who see things differently, we are not only benefiting our argument partners — hopefully they are learning something new — we are also shaping ourselves, sharpening our ability to articulate our ideas and learning from the reactions of others.

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So many people avoid real arguments today because everyone is so sensitive — so easily triggered by opinions they don’t like.

That’s a recipe for more polarization, not less, because people aren’t learning from each other.

Regardless of our political persuasion, we should all be running toward good conversations and arguments, not away from them.

The most important debate rule: Always let your curiosity be greater than your indignation.

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Heard on Tuesday: You need to harness the anger people feel toward our dysfunctional two-party system and give them another place to go. What’s the Uber to the San Francisco taxi system?

A Hoover scholar I spoke with this week agreed: Californians are voting more conservatively on many issues, but the Republican brand remains toxic. In 2024, Proposition 36 (strengthening penalties for certain crimes) won by 37 points, even as Harris beat Trump by 20. More recently, Prop 50 (a protest against Trump) won by 29 points. If this effort is organized as nonpartisan, it will gain traction more quickly.

The counterargument: We have a two-party system, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon — because the only thing the two parties can agree on is that there should not be a third party. Therefore, Republicans need to get their act together and evolve their brand to compete in California.

State parties are not all the same. When Trump urged Republican states to redraw districts to gain seats, some, including Indiana, declined. The California Republican Party that helped fuel Reagan’s rise was a competitive, insurgent party that turned conservative ideas into a governing agenda — not an establishment party managing the status quo.

Political parties cannot be replaced the way Uber — and now Waymo — replaced the San Francisco taxi system.

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Heard on Wednesday: Slowly but surely, we, the citizens of California, have acquiesced to a state government architecture (headcount, compensation, pension benefits, healthcare benefits) that is unaffordable and unsustainable.

Yes. Let’s make that argument clearly and compellingly, in ways that people can hear. Over and over again.

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Heard on Thursday: “The right doesn’t fight effectively. We need to put up smart people who are ready to get into the arena and fight for our ideas.”

Heard on Wednesday: “MAGA fights instead of rolling over. That’s what I like about them.”

Thought experiment: What if Frontier Republicans matched that intensity — but directed it toward advancing ideas, not attacking people?

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Heard on Wednesday: Republicans need to be like In-N-Out Burger. Super simple. Three items on the menu: Good schools, Safety, Affordability.

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Heard many times this past week: “I love this country.”

At least half a dozen people offered up that statement. That is such a strong place to start, as we lean in to define what we believe and make decisions about what we want to do.

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Heard on Wednesday: I admire Trump. I appreciate that he wanted to drain the swamp. I admire that he closed the border and stood up to woke culture. But his influence is declining. What do we Bay Area Republicans want to be when we grow up? I care about the long game. It may be time to rebrand the CAGOP.

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Heard on Tuesday: “That’s like showing up to a gun fight with a back-tickler.”

She was questioning my focus on party-building. It takes too long, she said; the Republic may not survive long enough. There are too many people on both sides sowing chaos. She argued for structural changes, such as getting money out of politics.

A project adviser recently made a similar point: gathering people in person to inspire political action is no match for the sophisticated online influence operations that are radicalizing young people. Today: cat videos. Tomorrow: cosmetics. The next day: “globalize the intifada.” It works far too often.

If person-to-person organizing is going to matter in a digital age, it has to be compelling enough to spread — and fast enough to compete.

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Many voters on the moderate left don’t recognize how quickly they dismiss anyone with an “R” next to their name. They don’t even see it happening. Republicans who ran for school board seats in Contra Costa districts in 2022 were largely shouted off the metaphorical stage because they were seen as tied to Trump. Instead of engaging them on local school issues, many voters — and much of the local media — reduced them to a scarlet “R.”

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Heard on Wednesday: Want to get started in politics? Get on a city or county commission. You’ll learn about an issue and get access to people. People will change their minds about you (and Republicans) as you collaborate well with others and do useful work.

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We live in an age of transgression. Pick yours, and I’ll tell you what party you’re in.

• Redefine social norms in ways that ignore widely held intuitions

  vs

  Break basic norms of decency in public life

• Stop prosecuting violent criminals

  vs

  Show indifference to the horrors of violence

• Replace equal treatment with identity-based politics

  vs

  Flirt with authoritarian solutions

• Resist basic election safeguards like voter ID

  vs

  Undermine confidence in election results

• Offer no substantive ideas

  vs

  Turn politics into a spectacle of insults

Today, perhaps the most transgressive thing we could do — the most countercultural move — would be to stop with the transgression. Show some class. Show some restraint. Rediscover small-r republican values: personal responsibility, civic restraint, and negotiation with political opponents. Stop insulting people. Start arguing with them.