View source for Essay:Reagan's 11th commandment

While running for governor of California, in the mid-1960s, Reagan created, and reportedly pledged to follow, a simple rule called "the 11th commandment": Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican. It was created in response to the party's risk of fracture following Lyndon B. Johnson's win over Barry Goldwater. Many policies held by Goldwater were said to be more liberal, such as separation of church and state were not found to be good by many Republicans. This resulted in disagreement in the party. <ref>https://www.reagan.com/ronald-reagan-the-11th-commandment (Retrieved 12/28/2020)</ref>

Reagan recognized that a divided party would prevent Republicans from getting the White House for a while. That is why he attempted to promote his 11th commandment- to help unify the party, and be able get the White House back from Democrats.

Of course, Reagan did not completely follow the commandment- he would occasionally make small jabs at George H.W. Bush during the 1980 Republican Primaries. However, the worst ones were aimed at Democrats- for example:

"A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose ''your'' job. And recovery begins when Jimmy Carter loses ''his'' job."

However, now, very little Republican's follow his commandment- during the rather chaotic Republican primaries of 2016, there were repetitive jabs between the candidates, with Jeb Bush calling Trump the "chaos candidate", and Trump saying that Ted Cruz's father assisted Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of JFK. <ref>https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/11th-commandment-gop-republican-reagan-trump-214982 (Retrieved 12/28/2020)</ref> With Donald Trump as president, the arguing between fellow conservatives has gradually decreased (Trump had no major opponents in the Republican primaries), but I personally believe that the Republican party will reach full unity once a Republican candidate runs unopposed again.
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