By Ken Connor - Townhall.com
Contrary to popular reports by Democrats and members of the chattering class the Republican Party is not deadnot yet.
In the aftermath of the 2008 elections however the GOP is hemorrhaging badly. It is dazed and confused. It is moribund but it is not dead yet. Whether the Party of Lincoln will recover remains to be seen. Its prognosis is at best guarded.
Having had their heads handed to them in the last election and finding it difficult to take on a popular president Republicans are casting about trying to find a new direction. But news of their demise is premature. Pundits would do well to recall that in aftermath of the 2004 elections Karl Rove was predicting a Republican hegemony that would last for 50 years. What goes around comes around.
Forks in the road
Do Republicans need to reinvent themselves? Some say yes. Many are calling for a rebranding of the Republican Party as if the partys woes can be relieved by a new marketing strategy. Othersincluding former Florida Governor Jeb Bushsay the GOP needs to get over its Reagan nostalgia implying that the achievements of the Reagan years are so yesterday. John McCain stresses the need for inclusiveness while others advocate evicting groups deemed unpopular in the Obama Era from the Big Tentnamely social and religious conservatives. If the party pursues these courses of action it is doomed to extinction.
The root of the problem
The Republican Party doesnt need a makeover. Its problem is not that the principles for which it has historically stood are out of vogue. The problem is that its leaders did not live or govern by these principles. The party of fiscal conservatism became a profligate. Under George W. Bush Republicans ratcheted spending to new highs rewarding favored special interests with unprecedented giveaways of taxpayer money. The party of traditional values abandoned those values embraced graft and greed (a la Jack Abramoff et al.) and tried to conceal the peccadilloes of its in-house pedophile Mark Foley. The party of limited government embraced big government conservatism (an oxymoron that only morons could conceive of). Voters reacted with revulsion. Americans hate hypocrisy and they threw the hypocrites out.
To those urging a new course one would do well to ask just which parts of the Reagan legacy should Republicans now eschew? Less government? Lower taxes? Renewed prosperity? The collapse of Communism? Those achievements were the product of principle; they were not the fruit of pragmatism. They resulted in unprecedented popularity for the man that lived by them and for his party as well.
As for McCains inclusiveness thats code for Dont stick your neck out on the tough issues. Dont grasp the nettle. Dont cast a vision for what is right. Create confusion about where you really stand on difficult issues. That way maybe you wont alienate voter groups whose positions differs from your own and maybe just maybe you can cobble enough votes together to win. Look what that approach got Republicans in the last election.
And as for the big tent lets be honest. Republican Blue Bloods have never been comfortable under the same roof with the Republican base. Theyve always looked at social conservatives as people to be tolerated (barely) but not embraced. Truth be told the Blue Bloods would rather live in a Log Cabin than in a tent big enough to include pesky social conservatives.
The idea that social conservatives are to blame for Republicans current crisis does not hold water. The GOPs systematic abandonment of core conservative principles is at the root of its current irrelevance. History shows that successful Republican leaderslike Ronald Reaganstuck by traditional conservative values. They believed as Mr. Reagan famously observed that government is all too often the problem rather than the solution. They understood that a just society is only as robust as the virtue of its citizens. They did not doubt that the Judeo-Christian world view animated our countrys founding. The Republican Partys actions in the last eight years stand in stark contrast to these ideals. Following the dictum of Bushs BrainBoy Genius Karl RoveRepublican leadership shied away from doing the right thing abandoned principles in favor of pragmatism and followed the path of least resistance. The rest as they say is history.
The way ahead
In order to regain relevancy the GOP must once again become the party of principle. It must once again select leaders willing to tackle the hard issues with wisdom eloquence confidence and goodwill. The party must be willing to stick its neck out and stand by what it believes. Attempting to cater to every interest group is a losing strategy. Compromising a clear message in favor of artful ambiguity is not how the GOP became a great party. The American people want resolve and integrity. They want decency and class.
Ronald Reagan exemplified these traits which is why he is revered and emulated by devotees of American conservatism. Mr. Reagan the Great Communicator was a great leader because he projected strength confidence and calm certitude. He knew what he stood for and communicated his partys ideals to the American people in a clear and winsome way. He was a person of goodwill but only fools mistook that quality for a lack of will. He was not called the Happy Warrior for nothing.
Todays GOP leadership would do well to follow Mr. Reagans example. Its the only road to reclaiming the mantle as the party of ideasideas derived from a coherent conservative tradition: protecting innocent life projecting a strong defense limiting government expanding freedom lowering taxes keeping government off of the taxpayers back and out of his pocket valuing families. These are the ideals that made America great.
For the Republicans to recover their vitality they must reclaim the principles that are at the heart of the Republican tradition. They must return the party to its roots. If they fail to do so the voters will inevitably conclude that the Grand Old Party is not worth saving.
Ronald Reagan exemplified these traits which is why he is revered and emulated by devotees of American conservatism. Mr. Reagan the Great Communicator was a great leader because he projected strength confidence and calm certitude. He knew what he stood for and communicated his partys ideals to the American people in a clear and winsome way. He was a person of goodwill but only fools mistook that quality for a lack of will. He was not called the Happy Warrior for nothing.
Todays GOP leadership would do well to follow Mr. Reagans example. Its the only road to reclaiming the mantle as the party of ideasideas derived from a coherent conservative tradition: protecting innocent life projecting a strong defense limiting government expanding freedom lowering taxes keeping government off of the taxpayers back and out of his pocket valuing families. These are the ideals that made America great.
For the Republicans to recover their vitality they must reclaim the principles that are at the heart of the Republican tradition. They must return the party to its roots. If they fail to do so the voters will inevitably conclude that the Grand Old Party is not worth saving.
