Let’s Bring Back Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment

Ronald Reagan famously proclaimed what he called the Eleventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”  While President Reagan did not come up with it (California Republican Party chairman Gaylord Parkinson did), he did popularize it.  And I think it’s time to bring it back.

With more candidates and potential candidates than the Chicago Cubs have relief pitchers, there is a real potential for Republicans presidential candidates to consider violating the rule this year.  They may feel the only way their candidacy can gain traction is criticize other Republicans.  But that is not what we need. 

After eight years of Barack Obama and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, we don’t need one Republican gaining traction against another.  We need to elect a Republican in 2016.  Discussion of solid policy differences are one thing.  Ad hominin attacks on fellow Republicans are another. 

For example, Scott Walker recently went on the Glenn Beck show to talk about, inter alia, immigration.  Governor Walker suggested that a proper immigration policy should consider the interests of American workers and American wages.  This is not an unreasonable thought.  In fact, it fits with an immigration policy that focuses on letting in more highly skilled people, a policy that many countries follow.  Also, why should we let people in for whom we don’t have good jobs.

But Republican commentators went ballistic on Governor Walker.  “Economic ignorance,” said Ben Domenech.  “Pandering” and a “perversion of American ideals,” said Philip Klein.  Jennifer Rubin called it a “know-nothing” policy.

I understand James Taranto’s “Taranto Principle,” which “assets that liberal media bias leads to less thorough vetting of liberal politicians, which can be a disadvantage in general elections.”  But we don’t need to worry about the Eleventh Commandment leading to inadequate vetting of the eventual Republican nominee for president.  We don’t need Republicans to go negative on each other to get that.  The media can do it for us.

What Republicans need to do is emphasize why they are the right candidate.  Why they have the best views for 2017 and why they can get elected.  In the meantime, they can trust the media and the Democrats (assuming that is not a redundancy) to vet the various Republicans candidates. 

Because the most important thing in 2016 is a good Republican winning.  Neither we nor the world can afford another four years of progressive Democratic foreign policy.

Follow Up (4/25/15 5:35 pm): The Wall Street Journal this morning said that Scott Walker was talking about limits on visas for highly skilled jobs when he was on Glenn Beck’s show.  If Governor Walker was talking about lowering the number of those visas, I disagree.  Immigrants with those visas are not taking jobs away from Americans or hurting their wages.  Highly skilled people add to our economy; they don’t hurt it.  By helping the economy grow, they wind up adding jobs to the economy.  Where we need to be careful is with respect to lower skilled jobs.  The number of those jobs isn’t growing, and the pay those workers are receiving isn’t increasing.  This is where we need to be careful.  But in any case, even when Republicans disagree with each other, we need to keep it civil.  Winning in November of 2016 is too important.
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¹ Here is the full quote, thanks to Ross Douthat at The New York Times:

“‘In terms of legal immigration, how we need to approach that going forward is saying, we will make adjustments,’ Walker said.  ‘The next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages.

‘Because the more I’ve talked to folks – I’ve talked to Senator [Jeff] Sessions and others out there, but it is a fundamentally lost issue by many in elected positions today – is what is this doing for American workers looking for jobs, what is this doing to wages, and we need to have that be at the forefront of our discussion going forward.’”