There are few of the punditry anymore who will challenge the statement that the Republican Party and by extension, the Conservative Movement, are in disarray. You might even apply the term defunct. Like the Norwegian Blue Parrot of Monty Python renown, they seem to have shuffled off this mortal coil. So, we see this today at Human Events:
Building a New Majority or Not
It is inevitable that we should start to see efforts to rebuild the party. Part of those efforts will be to first define that elusive “what went wrong?” Until you understand how you went astray it is hopeless to think you can find your way out of the wilderness. How did it happen?
I’ve always noted that “conservative” basically means individual responsibility and as a corollary a severe distrust of government solutions to societal problems. The famous Reagan quote applies, “government isn’t the solution; it is the problem.” The free market, when allowed to operate in the classic Adam Smith model, is the control for avarice and greed. It is the protection for the consumer. It is the guarantor of quality and price. It is the reward for effort and the punishment for sloth. When allowed to operate unfettered, all can be hopeful for the future. If examined in contrast to a controlled (read Communist/Socialist) economy, it can be seen historically to be successful because it effectively eliminates the two-class structure upon which the envy that foments revolution feeds. The free market builds a middle class.
But, that basic conservatism got hijacked along the way. Suddenly we equated conservative with a far-reaching moralist agenda. In a perverse twist, the conservatives began to demand government action to resolve their moral questions. Rather than expect families and churches, schools and communities to instruct and demand proper behavior, they sought the easy solution of government control. What happened to freedom to make bad choices? What became of individual responsibility and consequences for bad behavior that rose from society not government? What happened to parenting and self-control? No problem, pass a law!
What followed was the natural outgrowth of any severe ideology: intolerance for straying from the true path. Consider again that Reagan dictum of the Eleventh Commandment—“never speak ill of another Republican.” How then does one rationalize the very concept of a RINO? At the core, you are speaking of an individual who identifies with the conservative party and opposes the liberal/socialist agenda, but does not totally embrace a particular stance on a moral issue. If you take a party forged from disparate elements to achieve a majority in order to prevail in elections, then you begin to discredit and undermine your own members, how can you succeed? In a day filled with quotes, recall that from the signing of the Declaration of Independence, “we must hang together or surely we will all hang separately.” What then of “RINO”?
There is certainly justification to purge those who fail to meet basic standards. Larry Craig, Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley meet that definition. Denounce them and oust them. But driving wedges between groups who don’t meet an arbitrary standard of ideological purity begins to create a resemblance among Republicans much like Sunni and Shi’a. You won’t win elections that way. You’ve got to focus on the enemy, not your friends.
Can the party cease and desist in this foolishness? Can they form a united front in which they develop a meaningful agenda of policy actions that America can understand and embrace? Can they define themselves beyond the elemental pro-life position which is always followed with “you are either with me or against me”? Or will they follow the model of the Democrats for the last eight years and do nothing in power, but continually characterize the opposition as something incompetent and evil? That way lies madness.
I’m not optimistic right now.
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