Reforming the Right: A Brand New Image (Part II of V)
Let’s look at the possible outcomes of the current election cycle:
Conor Friedersdorf suggests that the best possible short term outcome for the revitalization of the GOP is an Obama presidency.
Overall I’d say the best case for conservatives is an Obama Presidency whose overambitious agenda provokes a GOP backlash in the 2010 midterms, causing a chastened Obama Administration to focus on bipartisan entitlement reforms that only a Democratic president could pass. As I think about it, what I’m saying is the best we can hope for is another Clinton Administration sans the affairs while the right regroups, casts aside the corrupt yes men who enabled the Bush Administration to do so many un-conservative things, and develops a coherent, appealing domestic agenda. My assumption is that such a process could not proceed with John McCain and Sarah Palin in the White House.
James Poulos disagrees:
The best-case scenario for conservatives this election season is a Presidential blowout and a gridlocked Congress. If McCain wins in a landslide (if! I said if!), the political and philosophical reappraisal of conservatism and the GOP that’s already underway will continue under conditions of relative calm. Even a major McCain win will not fool anyone that Bush’s main political legacy is anything beside sweeping and profound disappointment among Americans generally and conservatives in particular. A huge vote for McCain wouldn’t be a mandate for either him or the party; it would be an awkward plea for a national pause. For conservatives, the inevitable internecine conflict that will put a McCain presidency on pause will at least avoid the special kind of petty panic and bitterness that accompanies a narrow loss. And a big win would let McCain spring a one-term pledge on the country without looking like a guy without the support to attempt another four years.
But he raises an interesting point:
Conservatives… really want to know how an Obama blowout and a seized-up Congress could also make for a best-case scenario. Simple: a narrow McCain win or loss will keep Republicans locked in a death struggle over the true meaning of conservatism and the identity of the party. So long as Congress doesn’t flip completely and utterly into Democratic hands, a landslide for Obama will do conservatives much more good than harm. Without an all-powerful Democratic House and Senate behind him—or, more likely, in front of him, pulling him along — a President Obama (even with an apparent mandate) would be high on inspiration and togetherness but low on power and ambition.
However, the current polling data trends suggest a Democratic power surge into both the House and the Senate. An Obama victory in the presidential campaign may well sweep more Democrats into office leaving Conservatives little opportunity to voice, let alone advance, any conservative ideas, let alone an agenda.
This being said, Jon Henke proposes benefits of either outcome:
If Obama wins, the Right has nothing left to fall back upon; Republicans will be forced to change. What’s more, Democratic consolidation of power – an Obama Presidency and Democratic control of the House and Senate – will give Republicans the unifying grievances they need to begin turning the political pendulum back to the Right. Of course, those “unifying grievances” are “Democratic victories”, so this isn’t exactly a painless scenario.
If McCain wins, Republicans get an opportunity to mitigate the short-term damage while reorienting the movement. But will the Republican Party make the fundamental changes it needs to make while still hanging onto power – however intangible, unsuccessful and unproductive that power is? That’s a less painful short term outcome, but the longer-term change is less certain.
Asking a politician to change the way he does business while he is in power is a little like asking America to drill offshore or pursue energy independence when oil prices have dropped and imports are cheaper…
Which is precisely why neither of those things will ever occur.
Only fear and pain are the true agents of change. And the Democrats are using both tactics right now to persuade voters that their platform is the only choice that offers relief from both.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:32 am
I think the best way to reform the Right is to take on Big Government in a profound and aggressive way. Conservatives need to provide a strong counter argument to the Left’s positions that America must be reformed, the American people must change, traditional American values are wrong, our economic system is broken, etc. That counter argument in my view is that Big Government is the problem and our political system needs to be reformed. And here is my proposal for re-embracing the Constitution and the ideal of limited government: term limits for all three branches of the Federal Government, a Constitutional limit on the amount of government spending (capped at a specific percenatge of GDP), and the implementation of a consumption-based tax system (e.g. the Fair Tax) including a repeal of the 16th Amendment. We need to force teh Federal Government back into a limited box, or our addiction to government in this country will eventually cause us all to hit bottom.
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I think another thing that we have to consider is an entire image overhall. The majority of the United States sees Republicans as bible-thumping right wing extremists who want to rid the world of all sinners by the use of our handguns! The reality of the situation is that we are normal, hardworking patriots who believe that the Government works for us and that it should only be as powerful as we want it to be. The one thing that we have going for us is the fact that most of America is actually Center-Right, but that is not enough to win a favorable image. We need to step back and energize young voters who look at the contrast in age of McCain and Obama and transfer that to the bulk of our party even though we all know that there is no comparison to McCain’s abilities when it comes to Obama. No one wants to be linked to their parents when they are young! Heck, most of you wanted your parents to drop you off way before school so that you could walk in with your friends! Does this mean that we have to abandoned our principles to attract young, energized voters? No, it just means that we have to get away from the adage that we are old cronies who preach rather than educate. The democrats have a huge advantage over Republicans when it comes to young voters because of the image that they put up and we need to welcome and educate people of all walks of life and parties so that they can see that we are a group of individuals who have heloped to make this country great. It is all about outreach my friends. We don’t need to pat each other’s backs because we know that we are right, we need to go out to the bars and streets and show the future leaders of the world that we like Rock n’ Roll too!!!