Where Do We Go from Here?

So, where do Republicans and conservatives go from here? It would be nice if we could intelligently and rationally figure out what went wrong, determine how we can correct the mistakes, and get ready for when things start to go bad for the Democrats.

But it won’t happen. At least not for a while. We are in for lots of shouting and screaming, blaming and accusing. It was McCain’s fault. It was Bush’s fault. It was the House Republicans’ fault. It was Palin’s fault.

But at least Republicans will be lucky in that we will be able to have our fights and arguments in private. A media that was so enthusiastic about an Obama victory will spend all of its time speculating on and preparing for an Obama administration. All new presidencies get a media honeymoon, but Obama’s will be longer than most. And so we will be able to fight each other and blame each other without the world watching.

In fact, the recriminations have already started. Rush Limbaugh has tried to read people like Christopher Buckley out of the party for endorsing Obama. He says "good riddance" to what he calls "Republican moderates" who did not support John McCain. Tony Blankley has lashed out at what he calls "me-too conservatives" and ends his article by asking "Whose side are you on, comrade?" I am sure more attempted excommunications will follow. It is phase some of us have to go through. Part of the grieving process, I suppose. We just have to try to keep it as short as possible.

But after the grieving, what should we do? We need to ignore personalities and ignore individual people. The rebuilding of the Republican Party as a reasonable, conservative, center-right party, must start with principles, not people.

In that regard, the first thing we need to understand is that Ronald Reagan is not coming back. Our search is not for another Ronald Reagan. Our search is to rediscover the reasons we became Republicans and conservatives. We need to re-identify and re-establish the principles we believe in.

Let me make a start: Limited government. Low taxes. Federalism and local government. Freedom, both political and economic. Strong defense. A responsible foreign policy that protects us at home and abroad – and protects our friends, too. Free trade. Helping those in need. I am sure there are more, but that is a good start.

After we have refocused on our principles, we need to come up with policies that will implement these principles today. This is where too much focus on Ronald Reagan can misdirect us. Ronald Reagan’s principles are still true, but his policies, which worked so well in the 1980s, need some adjusting for 2009. It has been 20 years since Ronald Reagan left Washington. The Berlin Wall is down, and the Soviet Union has dissolved. Our nuclear threat is no longer from the USSR but from North Korea. A tax code that Reagan helped simplify has become more complex than ever. Health care has become an issue that must be dealt with. The principles are the same, but the policies will be different because conditions are different.

There will also be differences from our most recent Republican administration. Too often in the last eight years, instead of basing our policies on our principles, we did what we thought would get us elected. The theory was that we needed to be in power to do good, so we did things to stay in power so we could do good. But we spent so much time doing things to stay in power, that we never got around to doing the good things we were allegedly trying to stay in power to do.

Earmarks would help us stay in power, so we became earmark machines. To get the senior vote, we passed a senior drug bill when the nation didn’t even have a plan to pay for Social Security and Medicare, let alone a huge new program for seniors. Spending on defense needed to increase after 9/11 and after Bill Clinton achieved a good share of his budget surpluses by cutting defense spending. But many of the increases in domestic spending were about getting re-elected instead of implementing our principles.

The changes we need, however, will not be in our principles. We just need to re-establish them and re-focus on them. The changes will be in the policies that implement those principles. This is what ideas like Mark Kirk’s (R., IL) suburban agenda are aimed at doing. The Republican Study Committee is working on other good policies. And there is Frank Wolf’s (R., VA) SAFE Commission, which follows the successful example of the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission, to force up-or-down votes on the elimination of whole lists of programs that are no longer needed.

Finally, what about those who would read people out of our party? They are wrong. We don’t need to kick people out of our party. We need to re-establish our principles. We need to identify policies that will implement those principles. And we need the help of everybody who wants to join us.

We don’t need to set up some kind of test to decide who can join and who cannot. Our principles and our policies are designed for all, so all can join. And as for those who left, for whatever reason, we should joyfully welcome them back when they want to return, as the father in that parable welcomed back his prodigal son.

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Update (11/5/08 9:50 a.m.): This is a an updated version of the article that was originally posted.

Comments

[TiredOfStupid]

You seem like a very thoughtful and intelligent person.

I am not an American. I have always liked Americans, although sometimes in the past 8 years I, on occasion, found it hard to like America. Have you ever considered that, rather than trying to fight with your political rivals, it might be more productive to put your energy into finding common ground?

Jesus rejected politics and repudiated the money changers. The Prince of Peace would have America become part of the world, as a united force of freedom. Not a force of arms, but a force of ideals and examples - of hope and opportunity.

God bless you.