Politics

Steven Greenhut | 6.28.2024 7:30 AM

After casting my first vote for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, I was shell-shocked after Ronald Reagan was swept into office. Then something odd happened. I was buoyed by Reagan's optimism, became convinced about the evils of communism and came to realize the free-market economy—rather than expanded federal power—offers the best hope for the downtrodden (and everyone). The Gipper convinced me.

He had some help from former Buffalo Bills quarterback and then-U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp (R–N.Y.), who was an architect of Reagan's tax cuts. I was influenced by one of his articles making the humanitarian case for a market agenda. "Kemp symbolizes for many the hope for a more decent and humane conservatism—a conservatism that leaves nobody out and nobody behind," wrote David Frum in a 2015 tribute to him.

It's no surprise that Frum, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R–Wis.), and those of us who admire the late congressman recoil at the GOP's recent dark and conspiratorial turn. I can't find that old Kemp article, but it was brimming with hope for the future, filled with realistic policy prescriptions to lift people out of poverty and exuded authenticity and graciousness.

It's such a stark contrast to what we hear today: unhinged........

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