Curing The Republican Funk

The arc of Republican status in the U.S. Congress in the past 16 years has gone from out-of-power minority to majority and back, a truly Greek epic: Minority status begat Resolution begat Strategies to Win begat Vigor begat Victory begat Accomplishment begat Satisfaction begat Complacency begat Corruption begat Isolation begat Defeat begat Loss of faith begat ... the GOP funk.

In the aftermath of the 2006 election, GOP insiders knew that reviving the Republican brand was critical. Understanding and doing are two different things, and the Republicans failed to get things right and got whacked in special Congressional elections in the past month, losing traditionally Republican seats. And here the GOP funk remains. Congressional Republicans face a rout in November if they don't turn things around.

The simple calculus is this: Many people, despite low unemployment and a war in Iraq that is being won, feel we are on the 'wrong track', and are blaming Republicans. Never mind the reality that We are on the wrong track because we are on the leftist track. The Democrats are the majority in Congress, yet are managing to evade the responsibility for the Democrat majority's incompetence, bad policies, and corruption. The media is too in love with Obama to inform people that we even have a Democrat majority in Congress, let alone that they are larding up every spending bill with pork; putting in tax increase after tax increase; socking it to investors; attempting cut-n-run from Iraq; etc.

There is an opportunity, if only the Republicans weren't too spineless to stop being pork-barrellers themselves. More than half of Republicans in Congress are going along with the budget-busting Farm subsidies bill this week, defying Bush's sensible veto threat of this literal "pork" bill. $300 billion wasteful Government spending over 5 years. A complete and total waste of money, made more egregious by the fact that grain prices are at all-time highs. The spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, and the GOP brand is sullied by such acts of political pandering. Nobody can out-pander Democrats, and to be a Republican panderer is like being a short NBA player, or a deaf violinist, or one-legged tap-dancer; you'll never win.

All a conservative is left with if the Republicans don't re-secure their appeal is the sure knowledge that, as bad as the Republicans might be, the Democrats are worse. Alas, consider the many, many under 30 voters who don't remember how bad the Democrats can get when given power. They are more than willing to listen to Democrat campaign lies instead of Republican campaign excuses, and make us relive the painful experience.

One real solution is a return to core conservative values, as expressed by a man who was around the last time the Democrats had a free ride of House, Senate and Presidency for 4 years:

“We, the members of the New Republican Party, believe that the preservation and enhancement of the values that strengthen and protect individual freedom, family life, communities and neighborhoods and the liberty of our beloved nation should be at the heart of any legislative or political program presented to the American people... Our task now is not to sell a philosophy, but to make the majority of Americans, who already share that philosophy, see that modern conservatism offers them a political home... The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when? Our party must be the party of the individual. It must not sell out the individual to cater to the group. No greater challenge faces our society today than ensuring that each one of us can maintain his dignity and his identity in an increasingly complex, centralized society. Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business... frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite. Our party must be based on the kind of leadership that grows and takes its strength from the people. Any organization is in actuality only the lengthened shadow of its members. A political party is a mechanical structure created to further a cause. The cause, not the mechanism, brings and holds the members together. And our cause must be to rediscover, reassert and reapply America’s spiritual heritage to our national affairs. Then with God’s help we shall indeed be as a city upon a hill with the eyes of all people upon us.” —from Ronald Reagan’s “New Republican Party”

Or we can look to Newt Gingrich who says bluntly:
"Faced with these election results, the House Republicans should hold an emergency members-only meeting. At the meeting, they should pose this stark choice: Real change or certain defeat. ... No Republicans should kid themselves. It's time to face up to a stark choice. Without change we could face a catastrophic election this fall." He calls for 9 planks of change to act on immediately:

• Repeal the gas tax for the summer, and pay for the repeal by cutting domestic discretionary spending.
  
• Redirect the oil being put into the national petroleum reserve onto the open market.
  
• "Introduce a "more energy at lower cost with less environmental damage and greater national security bill" as a replacement for the Warner-Lieberman "tax and trade" bill which is coming to the floor of the Senate in the next few weeks."
  
• Establish an earmark moratorium for one year and pledge to uphold the presidential veto of bills with earmarks through the end of 2009.
  
• Declare English the official language of government.
  
• Overhaul the census and cut its budget radically.
  
• Protect the workers' right to a secret ballot.
  
• Implement a space-based, GPS-style air traffic control system.
  
• Remind Americans that judges matter.
  

It's time for the Republicans to Be Bold ... or they will be gone.