OPINION:
Did George Will, conservative elitist extraordinaire, miss 2016’s populist rebellion (“George Will renounces GOP, declares ’This is not my party,’” Web, June 25)? He says he has left the Republican Party and he is urging other Republicans to ensure that Donald Trump isn’t elected president. One has to wonder whether Mr. Will’s elitism has overcome his common sense, or even his conservatism.
Following his guidance would ensure Hillary Clinton’s election. Clinton would have the opportunity to name three, possibly four, radical new justices to the Supreme Court, upending slow and hard-won conservative progress in restoring the primacy ofthe Constitution. We could lose the Second Amendment and any effective limits on abortion — and see dramatic expansion of the regulatory state. Plus, we’d be saddled with those young, radical justices for 30 years.
Mr. Will urges conservatives not to vote this year. If he gets his way, the Democrats will retake control of both the Senate and the House. There will be nothing to stop a President Hillary Clinton from imposing higher taxes, increasing regulatory burdens, and redoubling the national debt. Charter schools and education vouchers will fade into memory as the government takes over more and more aspects of our lives.
And for foreign and defense policy? The mind boggles. How can Mr. Will simultaneously applaud Britain’s exit from the European Union and look with equanimity on Hillary as commander in chief?
Mr. Will says he became a Republican in 1964 because he was aconservative. As it happens, I did the same thing in the same year. I didn’t support Donald Trump this year because I questioned (and still question) his conservatism. But he’s our candidate. He’s not just better than Hillary, he’s much better. If we follow George Will’s guidance, we will hand the nation over to the worst possible president. Our choice is between imperfect and dreadful; let us not be led astray by the apostasy of the quintessential conservative elitist.
LYNDA “LEA” MEYERS
Arlington
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