I Heard What the Headlines Missed: My Takeaways from the Principles First Summit
The following is an op-ed written by the 74th Governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory.
In the days since the State of the Union, many are dissecting the health of our democracy. But an equally urgent and less examined question is the condition of the political institutions that sustain it
– especially our parties. If those institutions become closed to dissent, unwilling to debate, or disconnected from the concerns of voters, the consequences extend far beyond any single election or leader.
I attended the Principles First summit, an annual, grassroots event focused on these challenges. Coverage portrayed the event as a “fractured ‘Never Trump’ Movement,” and characterized many of the speakers, like myself, as powerless political exiles. That narrative may be compelling, but it is also incomplete.
First, while there was certainly disagreement among principled conservatives as to where we go from here, disagreement is not equivalent to dysfunction. My experience as a city councilman, mayor, and governor taught me that disagreement produces dialogue, and dialogue produces solutions. In other words, disagreement is often a starting point for progress, rather than a concession that it’s impossible.
In politics, what is far more concerning than debate is the absence of it. Today’s Republican Party has significantly curtailed the boundaries of acceptable dissent, resembling a junior high cafeteria with cliques and bullies more than a forum for ideas. This was reflected at the State of the Union, which has increasingly become a partisan spectacle of sycophantic applause and contemptuous jeers rather than a serious speech about national unity. Moreover, President Trump largely sidestepped solutions to voters’ top concerns in favor of his preferred pep rally style of insistence that everything is great. It isn’t – cost of living remains a top concern and tariffs are widely unpopular – and telling voters not to believe their own lived experience will prove problematic in the midterms.
To be clear, this is not a challenge unique to one party. Democrats response to the State of the Union wasn’t much better in terms of providing actionable solutions, and they face their own internal tensions – from ideological litmus tests to growing divisions between activists and governing pragmatists. No party is immune from the temptation to substitute conformity for conversation. But at this moment the Republican Party’s narrowing tolerance for dissent presents a particularly acute test for its long-term vitality.
As anyone familiar with basic twelve-step programs knows, the first step toward solving a problem is admitting you have one. The crowd at the summit understood this – and were eager to find solutions. Whether attendees identified as MAGA, progressive, or anywhere in between, they were welcomed if they came with ideas rather than insults. The open-minded mosaic of policy positions presented should be seen as a strength, not criticized for lacking consensus.
Next, critics dismissed those of us no longer holding office as irrelevant. This view reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of both citizenship and our Constitution. Public office is not the sole source of political power; in a republic, enduring authority belongs to the people. While I am no longer an elected official, my greatest power is as a citizen who continues to stay engaged and exercises my right to vote. Many of us will support candidates who demonstrate seriousness about governing and national unity, even when that means backing candidates who do not have the president or their party’s official endorsement. Political parties succeed by expanding their coalitions, not policing them.
Finally, and for what it’s worth, I do want to offer my own personal vision for the country’s future. Character and integrity must matter just as much as politics and policy do. I agree with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt who recently stated, “we have to get back to integrity” and “we cannot be a pendulum swing where we are going back and forth and we’re killing different projects based on our political views.”
To the Republican Party, I offer a reminder that the future will not be secured by relitigating the past decade. Nostalgia is not a strategy, and the Republican Party of the future must be willing to get back to its roots: federalism, the rule of law, fiscal discipline, and public safety. At the same time, it must also address contemporary challenges, leading honest conversations about the future of work, technological disruption, economic concentration, and widespread public distrust that leaves many Americans feeling that the system is stacked against them. Our institutions aren’t rigged, but they are rusty.
I am realistic about the near term. But American political parties have reinvented themselves before, and will do so again. The question is whether Republicans will choose to define themselves by one man, or by the enduring principles that last for generations.
Pat McCrory served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013-2017, the longest-serving mayor of Charlotte from 1995-2009, and is a previous national co-chair for No Labels.