The election results were good for the Republican Party. Cleansing and catharsis foster deep thought about the future and provide the first steps toward renewal and health. Whether you are Republican, Democrat, or independent, you must accept that the permanent destruction and defeat of one party is not a sustainable model for national vitality. Even thinking Liberals find appeal in Conservative arguments about getting government off our backs. The future health of the Republican Party is a necessary condition for the future health of our country.
In The Wall Street Journal today, “Conservatism Isn’t Finished”, Thomas Frank, a Liberal, wrote,
“The conservative movement, after all, came to Washington under a banner of ‘reform’ but promptly turned Congress over to lobbyists and opened countless regulatory agencies to the industries they regulated. The movement clamored for fiscal responsibility and proceeded to outsource, at vast expense, every government operation it could. It boasted of its business savvy but just couldn’t see the housing bubble bursting. It looked to the Northern Mariana Islands as a beacon of human freedom. It insisted that Tom DeLay was a man of integrity.”
This, obviously, cannot stand.
I believe the Republican Party must turn again to its Conservative roots. Not neo-Conservatism, not compassionate Conservatism, not this or that Conservatism, but pure Conservatism in the tradition of Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley, Jr. Conservatism founded on firm principles is inherently compassionate because, above all, individual rights and freedoms are standards by which all policy is judged.
Conservatism, with an intellectual structure, is founded on:
- Individual rights over state’s rights, and state’s rights over Federal rights;
- Free enterprise;
- Respect for the Constitution as the ultimate guidepost for the protection of individual rights.
Each of these has policy implications:
1) Smaller government. Our national debt is now larger than the GDP of all but 12 countries. We cannot saddle our children and grandchildren with such burdens.
2. Re-engineering the tax code to encourage enterprise and business creation by catalyzing capital formation. The ultimate tax proposal in this regard was designed by Milton Freidman in 1960: the flat tax.
3. Resisting the attempt to modify the Constitution de facto by aggressive legislation.
4. Continued pursuit of free trade, as long it is fair trade.
5. A monetary system that measures and lubricates real production; i.e., reining in that “fourth branch” of government, the Federal Reserve.
6. Minimalist government intervention in the economy: a reversal of the trend we have witnessed in the last month.
7. A strong national defense to protect our liberties, but an end to the interventionism of the Bush doctrine.
8. A continued respect for all life, but a divorce from right wing evangelicals with narrow social agendas whose desired intrusiveness in private lives is counter-Conservative.
9. Zero tolerance for abuse of power from any man, Republican or Democrat; and the highest ethical standards.
Other policy implications issue from the core principles. Conservative literature that was so prolific in the mid 1900’s provide rigorous theoretical underpinnings for these principles. Together they could serve as the new platform for the Republican Party, or the platform for the new Republican Party.
Congratulations to President-elect Obama for elevating our country to judge a man “by the content of his character, not the color of his skin” as Martin Luther King dreamed.
And for others who are dismayed by the election result: do not go gently into that good night. Conservatism must come back.
Let’s be clear and objective: the Republicans wounded America. America answered back. Now how will the Party respond? The answer depends on whether we believe — deeply believe, in Conservative principles.
I do.
Because if we do, we know a) Liberalism will not work, b) the American thirst for freedom will not remain unquenched; therefore, c) Conservatism will be resurgent.
Clarity can be a wonderful thing.
Michael Avari
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7 users commented in " What the Republican Party must do now "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbacka very well written post. Republicans or for that matter conservatives need to cultivate skills to better communicate their ideology, The Era of Reagan is long over, simply attempting to repackage Karl Rove cut throat politics will not work.
Outstanding commentary! I am pleasantly surprised to agree wholeheartedly with an avowed Democrat on the fact that the Republican party is in dire need of an ideological enema. We must stand back and assess the damage done, come up with fresh ideas and leaders, reach across racial divisions and make the party more representative of what America looks like today, and then move forward agressively with a renewed vigor.
Thank you both for your kind comments!
- Michael
OK,
I think you have the right Idea. I might have voted for the pro nuclear energy McCain, but your waco anti-education, anti-science, prayer in school freinds, headed up by VP nominee Sarah Palin, scare the hell out of me.
When it comes to spending, If my choice is too have my money given to Haliburton or to poor people, I’ll choose the poor people.
Hear, hear. Well said - except for, perhaps, judging Obama on his character. I don’t think the American people really did that. But in any case, a return to bedrock principles is in order.
Michael:
Conservatism may not be dead but it appears to have seen its shadow on Groundhog’s day and thus will lie dormant for sometime to come.
Perhaps the best that conservatives do in this environment is remember to put country first and lend their considerable expertise to nudge the government into making less poor judgements about the economy.
The time may also have come to decouple conservatism from militarism inherited from the cold war and begin to see that that ‘defense’ spending is just another government entitlement (Eisenhower’s admonition).
Conservatism does deserve blame for where the economy is today. It aligned itself with ideo-loons and islamophobes from the far right who maintain a worldview based on conspiracy. The Party kowtowed to the most base anti-intellectual elements until expertise itself was eschewed in favor of tribal rhetoric. Conservatives allowed their principles to be hijacked by allowing the marginalised to move into the center stage.
Civility and logical discourse is now shouted down from within and thus the voice of fiscal moderation is drowned.
Hey Ovari, I warned you to stop spouting your aisle-crawling nabobity of defeat all over the place!
Since you insist on posting where you are not welcome please allow me to return the favor…
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