So what’s to become of my beloved old GOP? Whither the Party of Lincoln?Buckley is right...until he gets to the point where he suggests we give up on core issues just to make people like us. If we stand for nothing we'll fall for anything, as the old saying goes. And since when does our enemy have our best interests at heart?
Many bright right minds have weighed in on this, from David Frum to Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, offering detailed prescriptions. I’m no strategist or political thinker, and I voted Democrat in the last presidential election—but since everyone else is weighing in, what the hell.
One of the oldest rules in politics is: If your opponent is committing suicide, don’t interfere. So were I in charge of the Republican Party, I would send out a coded text message saying: REMAIN CALM. SHUT UP. THIS IS GOING TO BLOW UP IN THEIR FACES.
Much as I admire President Obama, I believe with something approaching certainty that his spending will bring this country to its knees. “Sustainability” is all the rage as a buzzword, but a $3.6 trillion budget is not “sustainable.” Doubling the national debt is not “sustainable.” Inaction in the face of $77 trillion in unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, entitlements) is not “sustainable.” This is math, not ideology.
The Republican Party once could lay claim to the mantle of being the fiscally responsible, or “Daddy Party.” That reputation was squandered some time ago, but it could be regained if the party would content itself with that all-important goal, and not instead fight doomed skirmishes over gay marriage, stem-cell research, abortion and creationism, Ten Commandments in the courtroom, and other such issues that the country has by and large already decided upon. The GOP once liked to call itself the party of “the Big Tent.” But America itself is the bigger tent.
Andrew Ward, writing in the Financial Times, quotes a Democratic Party strategist: “Right now, the Republican Party is the party of Southern white males, and that is a shrinking group. You are never going to win elections if you cannot compete north of the Mason-Dixon line or west of the Rockies.”
That’s the enemy speaking. He’s giving us advice. Let’s listen.
Ronald Reagan, who some would have us forget, never wavered on his conservative positions. He may not have made abortion his primary issue, and gay marriage wasn't even on the radar back then, but even if it had been I doubt he would have walked away from his core beliefs.
He didn't need to.
He presented conservatism for what it was supposed to be - low taxes and smaller government. Those should be the main issues we talk about and we need to quit letting our enemies distract us with these other issues. If we present conservatism correctly, we will attract the voters.
It's worked every time it's been tried.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment