Another Perspective
A New Republican Agenda for the
Future
By
Doug Bandow on
11.27.12 @ 6:09AM
The GOP will deserve to lose even more in 2016 if it fails to understand
why it deserved to lose this time.
The Republican echo chamber reached a crescendo on Election Day. Turnout
was at record levels as enthusiastic Romney supporters around the country
were preparing to take their country back.
Oops.
Even the most committed GOP operative recognizes that something went
wrong. Candidates for blame include the biased media, Democratic vote
fraud, and the Obama campaign's superior electoral targeting. Obviously
to many Republicans the loss was someone else's fault.
The real problem is the GOP message. The traditional Republican issue
triad of fiscal responsibility, national defense, and social regulation
is broken. The electoral coalition which delivered the White House to
Ronald Reagan three decades ago is headed toward civil war.
Washington's wild spending, huge deficits, and massive unfunded
liabilities are the most important challenge today. However, the
Republican Party gave away that issue under George W. Bush and the
Republican Congress. The GOP increased spending across-the-board and
added the biggest expansion in the welfare state in four decades, the
Medicare drug benefit. The GOP tossed money at the Pentagon, creating new
unfunded liabilities out of two unnecessary wars, which ultimately will
cost trillions after caring for injured veterans for the rest of their
lives. Bush created the bailout programs used by Barack Obama.
The various Republican campaigns did little better this year. The GOP ran
against the idea of a budget sequester because it insisted on protecting
bloated military outlays. Mitt Romney promised to safeguard Social
Security, even though the system has started running a deficit, years
earlier than predicted, and the much-ballyhooed "trust fund" is
an accounting fiction. Ads for Republican George Allen in the Virginia
Senate race criticized his opponent, Tim Kaine, for being a spendthrift
and supporting the Obama stimulus -- as well as for backing cuts in
military outlays and reducing education expenditures. Duh?
The GOP's foreign policy can be summed up in two words: permanent war.
Throughout the Cold War Republicans held a political advantage in foreign
policy. However, George W. Bush's bungling also wrecked the GOP's
reputation in this area. Voters rated President Obama ahead of his
Republican challengers as military commander-in-chief.
Nevertheless, Republicans remain locked in the past, determined to paint
their Democratic opponents as weak irrespective of the facts -- such as
Obama intensifying the Afghanistan war. Thus, excepting the
redoubtable Rep. Ron Paul, during the primary debates the Republican
contenders, most of whom had never been anywhere near a military
installation let alone worn a uniform, did the foreign policy equivalent
of the Maori Haka, clamoring for a bigger military to be used more often
against additional countries.
Mitt Romney spent five years, from his announcement until the final
debate, simply shouting "we're number one." Although the
Republican nominee did his best to avoid stating a clear position, at
times he seemed to believe that the U.S. should have stayed in Iraq
forever, over the objection of the Iraqi government, and be prepared to
stay in Afghanistan as long as necessary for undefined
"victory," which likely would be forever -- both positions
anathema to the vast majority of Americans. Then a couple of weeks before
the election he declared himself to be a peacenik. All that was missing
was him wearing beads and making a peace sign.
As for social issues, Romney presented a conservative agenda in which he
never seemed to believe. He was for abortion before he was against it,
before he ended up being not so against it. He was against a
contraception mandate that was part of Massachusetts law. He was for
limited government, except when it interfered with people's personal
lives. The Republican Party's mantra was perceived to have gone from
"leave us alone" to "make everyone conform."
The result was an electoral wreck. Although the margin separating Barack
Obama and Mitt Romney was small, the GOP could take little comfort. If
Republicans can only come close when the Democratic incumbent is
presiding over a painful recession and engaged in an orgy of unpopular
spending and borrowing, when can Republicans hope to win?
The GOP should rethink what it stands for. Fiscal responsibility
certainly, but in practice as well as in theory. That means resisting
pork and earmarks, a temptation to which many Republicans yield, and
targeting corporate welfare, since business does not need a
hand-out.
That also means tying military outlays to security challenges, not an
arbitrary share of GDP. Why should Americans spend as much as the rest of
the world combined on "defense" when that means subsidizing
rich allies, engaging in foolish nation-building, and launching military
actions that create more enemies than they kill? There can be no sacred
cows if the budget crisis is going to be resolved.
As for the "entitlements" that threaten to swamp the budget,
Republicans must point out that recipients have not paid for
Social Security and Medicare, which is why the nation's fiscal future is
so bleak. On average the latter alone pays out nearly four times as much
in benefits as it collects in taxes from recipients. The starting point
of reform should be to means-test, that is, kick the rich off the dole.
And why should Washington force young workers into Social Security, which
will pay them less than they "contribute"?
Republicans should explain that their argument against tax hikes is not
hatred of government, but recognition that Washington wastes money
prodigiously. There's no justification for letting the Feds seize more
resources from working people. As for the "rich" who the Left
expects to provide everything, they already pay the most in taxes and
there aren't enough of them to fund a generous welfare/warfare/bail-out
state.
On international issues Republicans need to rediscover the value of
peace. For most of the campaign Mitt Romney channeled George W. Bush and
John McCain. Yet conservatives once believed in peace. They opposed
wasting lives and money on dubious international crusades; they
understood that war threatened economic prosperity and social stability.
If war became necessary they wanted to win and end it, not turn it
into a permanent condition. Indeed, Ronald Reagan was horrified by the
prospect of nuclear war and refused to be sucked into nation-building in
Lebanon. Republicans should promise there will be no more interminable
wars for democracy promotion and nation-building in the future.
The GOP also should insist on international welfare reform. For more than
six decades Washington has subsidized the defense of Asian and European
allies. All are now prosperous and populous. Indeed, the Europeans
collectively have a larger GDP and population than America. It's time for
Republicans to admit that the party is over. The U.S. should spend less
while its friends spend more -- and they will do so only if the U.S.
spends less.
This doesn't mean "isolationism," the all-purpose swear word
against a traditional, constitutional foreign policy. For instance, if
Republicans want to promise a more prosperous future, they should promote
free trade internationally. The U.S. remains the world's most productive
economy. Americans can beat the best at commerce.
Moreover, seeming hostility to all immigrants is an economic minus as
well as a political loser. The GOP should support an increase in legal
immigration, long a plus to American society, while debating the
parameters of immigration reform. How should we repair socializing
institutions that have weakened and limit public subsidies, especially
for education and health care in border states, that have expanded with
the welfare state? Is unlimited "birthright" citizenship
appropriate today, especially if it has become an inducement to illegal
immigration? While rounding up and deporting millions of people who are
here illegally is unrealistic, how do we design a citizenship process
that does not unduly reward those who illegally "jumped the
queue" compared to those who followed the law?
Tolerance should be the GOP perspective on social questions. Republicans
need to avoid the perception that they are acting out of spite. Years ago
some religious-political activists went into a White House meeting
publicly denouncing "sodomites." That openly offensive approach
is rare these days, but a similar motive is sometimes suspected
nonetheless.
The gay marriage issue is lost. There will be more battles, but changing
social attitudes suggest that the balance is permanently shifting.
Indeed, opposition increasingly is seen as a sign of intolerance. (I
write as a Christian who long supported civil unions, not gay marriage.)
Principles of federalism would suggest leaving the issue up to the
states, while focusing the fight on protecting true tolerance --
including for those who believe in the historic Judeo-Christian
teachings. That is, while gay marriage is increasingly legalized,
government should not force private individuals and institutions to
recognize it. That includes companies in choosing which benefits to
provide to which partners. People should be left alone to make their own
decisions.
Indeed, the expansion of the state into ever more areas of life, such as
health insurance, increases the importance of defending individual and
religious liberty. Republicans should unashamedly insist that "live
and left live" appropriately runs in both directions.
For instance, the administration's contraception mandate was bad
insurance, since genuine insurance does not cover "conditions"
over which the insured has complete control -- that is, having sex. As a
policy the rule makes no sense because there are a host of treatments,
such as for cancer and cardiac disease, which are far more important and
therefore theoretically more deserve to be delivered "free" (of
course, patients will continue to pay, just indirectly).
Instead, the mandate appeared to be motivated by political spite, the
desire of activists to humiliate their opponents. The desire was not to
ensure access to contraception, which is inexpensive and widely
available, but to force those who oppose the practice to pay for it. That
is, the mandate is an aggressive, offensive use of the state against a
fundamental freedom. Republicans should go on the offensive to vigorously
defend the latter.
There are hard issues, such as abortion. Another life is involved, so it
is not just a question of tolerance or even liberty. However, Republican
candidates need to demonstrate that they are acting out of compassion,
not vindictiveness. The principle is simple: If you choose to have sex,
you share responsibility for any life that results. The debate should be
over what that responsibility entails. The purpose of an abortion ban is
not to impose values but to protect life and choice by ensuring
responsibility. However, those who want to philosophize about the
theological implications of rape should join a seminary rather than run
for office.
Every few years someone writes the political obituary of one of the major
parties. Doing so always ends up being premature. However, the Republican
Party's failure to defeat a president who is well to the left of the
country and whose entire first term was characterized by no to low
economic growth demonstrates that the GOP is in serious trouble.
The answer is to mix a rediscovered commitment to fiscal responsibility
with devotion to peace and tolerance. There still is a place for a robust
debate over what real defense entails as well as the responsibilities
which naturally accompany the exercise of freedom. But fundamental
changes are essential.
The Republican Party brand is bust. Republicans aren't likely to win in
2016 unless they realize that they deserved to lose in 2012.
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/11/27/a-new-republican-agenda-for-th/print
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