On June 16, 2015 Donald Trump climbed aboard the gilded escalator in his namesake tower and rode down to the podium while clapping and giving his iconic “thumbs-up” gesture. He walked to the stage and gave a speech where he decried illegal immigrants as “drug dealers” “rapists” and “…some, I assume, are good people.”

For many Republicans it confirmed what their greatest fears had been since another notorious bomb thrower raging against an eastern establishment said as he sauntered to his podium on a steamy California evening some 54 years ago.

This man was Barry Goldwater, but this story is not about Barry Goldwater, or even Donald Trump.

This story is about the hordes of alienated Republicans who feel uncomfortable with the far-right conservatives and religious zealots who have been steadily seizing power in their party, and it is about the millions of Americans who tell pollsters they do not think either party is really representing them. This story is about how the Democrats can claw their way not only to relevance, but to come back in start winning elections in places they never thought possible.

I would like to introduce you all to a concept that, while ubiquitous in the UK, is completely alien to our political landscape: One-Nation Conservatism.

This breed of blue politics, because in everywhere except America blue means Conservative, is about preserving and maintaining social institutions such as marriage, notice I did not say between whom, faith, notice I did not say which faith, and country coupled with policies designed to benefit the common man like a National Health Service, and an intense interest in social justice programs for both minorities and the poor.

If the Democrats really want to win back Dixie, this would be a good place to start. However, retaking the South would also involve not falling down the rabbit hole of Social Conservatism that is now the dominant philosophy in the Republican Party.

You see, most people did not vote for Trump because they are racist or sexist or inherently “deplorable,” he was the only one promising real, lasting and permanent improvement for their lives.

Now, in West Virginia the current Governor Jim Justice is a Democrat who, earlier last year, defected to the Republicans.

Down there, like in Stockbridge, Michigan, people do not care about transgender bathrooms; they care about jobs, about the opioid epidemic, and their healthcare.

Say you were to go down to West Virginia as a Democrat and elevate the importance of religion, of family, and of our country, but also talk about the legitimate needs of blue-collar working folks; you would win resoundingly.

My point, simply, is this: at a time where confidence in the two party system is at an all time low, perhaps each party should be embracing a new type of politics, a politics not of gridlock, but consensus, not of suspicion, but of respect, and not of absolutism, but of acknowledgement  that large majorities of Americans do not belong to any political party.