By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Bobby Jindral, Governor of Louisiana, has caused quite a stir in Republican circles calling on the party to throw off the mantle of the stupid and prejudiced among us. Pleading for an end to dumbed-down conservatism, the former golden boy of the party (before a disastrous 2009 televised reply to President Obama’s address to Congress) begged the party to turn away from being the champion of the “haves” and, most importantly, jettisoning its appeal to the lowbrow of society.
It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that. It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.
That sentiment is being echoed in many of the cloistered salons of the GOP. Even bomb throwing (but weirdly cerebral) Newt Gingrich, responding to Mitt Romney’s childish comment that he lost the election to Obama because of bribes gifts to core Democratic constituencies, seems poised to make a philosophical change of course. “I just think it’s nuts,” Gingrich said on ABC. “I mean, first of all, it’s insulting. The job of a political leader in part is to understand the people. If we can’t offer a better future that is believable to more people, we’re not going to win.” Amen.
The transition appears broad-based and involves more than a little soul-searching for the political party whose victories in the 2010 mid-term elections seemed to leave it poised for a complete take over of the government this time around. The shock of November 6th seems sincere enough and could lead to something we haven’t seen in conservative circles for some time – a push to make the party one of ideas and not just demagoguery.
Not so long ago — before the party was held hostage by that tax-pledging Rumpelstiltskin of the Right, Grover Nordquist, — Republicans felt free to represent conservative values and the nation’s interests. Imagine a Republican congressperson saying today, “I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.” That was the late Everett Dirksen, the horn-rimmed Senator from Illinois, and one of the men directly responsible for the Herculean efforts to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Open Housing Act of 1968. Both laws decidedly liberal, decidedly unpopular, and decidedly needed to realize the American dream of social equality.
Voting for cloture against the southern Democrats who filibustered the measures, Dirksen told the Senate:
Victor Hugo wrote in his diary substantially this sentiment, ‘Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.’ The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied.’
That’s intellectual gravitas not seen in the GOP in some time. Compare it to the rhetoric from the current Republican intelligentsia, this time in the person of South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer arguing against the Food Stamp Program and free school lunches for poor children:
My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.
It doesn’t take a physicist to see how far the party’s grip on the American soul has slipped or how fast.
What can a resurrected GOP accomplish? Here are some ideas:
1. Less Government Intrusion Into Our Lives – The GOP has a traditional and noble role of advocating smaller government with an eye on protecting the property and privacy of its citizens. It was Dirksen who said, “It is the expansion of Federal power, about which I wish to express my alarm. How easily we embrace such business.” Few people would disagree that endless (sometimes mindless) government regulations and bureaucratic red tape are social ills that an effective government could end. Henry David Thoreau’s observation that, “[t]he best government is that which governs least” is as true to the American psyche now as it was in 1849.
2. Strong National Defense — The world is still a dangerous place as Einstein used to say. Whatever you think about the military-industrial complex, it’s worth remembering it is that institution that’s kept us safe and free for decades although we can certainly debate the costs of that security. It’s also worth remembering that for all our flaws, America remains the only nation in the history of the world who having once conquered foreign lands promptly returned it to the indigenous people to govern. A strong America means some sense of justice in the world if only an imperfect one.
3. Protection of Privacy – A political party founded on conservative principles could be in the forefront of protecting the privacy of its citizens. Women’s issues should be the cutting edge of that philosophy especially those relating to control over their own bodies. True conservatism means less government interference in personal decisions and a rejuvenated Republican Party could lead on this issue with perfect philosophical consistency.
4.Advocating For Small Business – The backbone for the American economy remains small business. According to the SBA, fifty percent of all American jobs remain in small business (defined as any entity employing 500 workers of fewer). Most importantly small business fill niches in the labor market that are under-served. For example small businesses employ greater proportions of Hispanics than large businesses (65% versus 35%). Also small businesses hire more high school degree or lower attaining workers as well as more of the elderly and disabled than large business. While small business does not match large business in campaign contributions it is the largest growth area in the economy and worthy of support from a party openly dedicated to capitalism.
These are just a few of the areas where bona fide conservative principles aid rather than detract from the national dialogue. A return to them, and away from the religion-based rhetoric that got the GOP scorched in the last national election, would mean a stronger party and a stronger nation.
For the two-party system to work you really do need two viable political parties who are willing to both advocate and cooperate. The GOP has done a poor job of both. If demographics truly are destiny in politics, the GOP will have to change or die. For the sake of all of us, let’s hope they change.
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Update 7:46 p.m.: Is the dike breaking? South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has added his name the growing number of Republicans rebuking Grover Norquist’s no tax hike pledge. Graham joins Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) in disavowing the now almost two decade old pledge. “I’m willing to generate revenue,” Graham said on ABC. “It’s fair to ask my party to put revenue on the table. We’re below historic averages.” New York Republican Congressman Peter King has also refused to honor the pledge bushing off any of Norquist’s threats of retaliation saying, “A pledge you signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that Congress.” Norquist was nonplussed and blasted Chambliss. “If he wants to change his mind and become a tax increaser so we don’t have to reform government, he needs to have that conversation with the people of Georgia,” Mr. Norquist said on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” Chambliss retorted that “I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge.”
This one is going to get good.
Source: CNN
Dredd,
Thank you, and that’s exactly the point….. Both are guilty of polarization of America….. Excellent tie in with Mike S. Post…..
We can all hope….
Fonda – thanks for explaining that, I guess the GOP does not need to change a thing!
I read where the administration has put together more detailed rules for drone strikes so it is nice to know these random bombings in foreign countries will now be a continuing, formal part of out foreign policy. Like so many of these horrors both parties have a hand in the degradation. The lack of a sane party on the right has allowed Obama to stake out ground no Dem would have even considered a generation ago. That does not excuse him for his part in this atrocity but demonstrates the need for two sane parties.
The people voting for Obama are not really that bright anyways.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/20/jeb-bush-jr-hopes-dad-will-run-for-president/ Maybe Jeb Bush will be their answer.
Anonymously Yours 1, November 25, 2012 at 9:19 am
Dredd,
I think you have valid points….. Can you expand upon the authorities you quoted…. The next to last paragraph specifically…..
============================================
I take it you mean:
If so I mean that all groups follow group dynamics of the sort that has currently been focused on by Mark E in this guest post.
My intent, among other things, was to enforce the notion that hubris is not a cure for hubris.
IOW I would prefer that the D group offer a helping hand to the R group.
But do not misunderstand, the Republican party has a powerful internal faction at this time that is “eyeball deep bat guano crazy” as OS said.
I can’t help wonder if those Republicans Mark E quoted have the wherewithal to repair their compass.
Like Mark E said, it would be better for all concerned if they could pull it off and eject the stupidity from their midst.
I am not holding my breath, but I am also not sure they will fail.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/11/09/why_did_romney_lose_fox_news_blames_single_women.html Single women gave Obama 68% of their votes.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/08/gop-respect-women-or-keep-losing.html Obama won the women’s vote 55-44.
OS,
Does a political party ever really resurrect or do they change so much that they loose the ID they set out upon and become entrenched…..
I say this based upon Lincoln turning in his grave based upon what the republican party stands for today as well as the demoncrats…….
Dredd,
I think you have valid points….. Can you expand upon the authorities you quoted…. The next to last paragraph specifically…..
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/11/11/how-the-republicans-got-stuck-in-the-past.html Instead of broadening their appeal to the changing face of America, the republicans narrowed it.
It’s also worth remembering that for all our flaws, America remains the only nation in the history of the world who having once conquered foreign lands promptly returned it to the indigenous people to govern.
You are kidding, right?? Or did America return the land to the NATIVE Americans when I wasn’t looking.
Well said and well covered Mark E. Great and timely subject. Group dynamics.
It is interesting that when we diagnose and treat groups we commonly talk to groups as if they behaved entirely like individuals.
They don’t.
Sigmund Freud recognized that reality but left it to future generations after him to develop effective group psychoanalysis and treatment:
(MOMCOM’s Mass Suicide & Murder Pact – 5). When Gov. Jindal and other Republicans talk to their group they naturally tend to talk as they would when talking to an individual.
Others have noticed the divergence from individual behavioral patterns that groups habitually tend to take:
(The Life and Death of Bright Things). The concept applies to “groups, parties, nations and epochs” as Nietzsche pointed out.
The Democrats are also a subgroup of the human species, and thus subject to the same maladies.
Yesterday, Mike S in his post “Humanity’s Hubris” got down to brass tacks showing some of the dark side of the force that works upon the psychology of groups.
Cassidy,
Even when it’s clearly pointed out that they “politicians” are hypocrites and are great at double speak….. Obama authorized legislation to take away more of our American Civil liberties….. Within a week of winning reelection….
Mark,
What a wonderful and thoughtful essay to read on a Sunday morning. I am not sure the pre-Goldwater Republican party can be resurrected. It is too far into eyeball deep bat guano crazy.
FM,
What do you mean? Evil begets evil……I have an inquiring mind and I want to know….
It’s ironic that you cite Bobby Jindal as a critic of dumbed-down conservatism, after he signed legislation to allow the teaching of creationism in Louisiana schools.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/07/bobby_jindal_possible_vice_presidential_pick_but_has_a_creationism_problem_.html
Evil begets evil, as it is written.
The GOP lost young people, hispanics, asians, african americans, affluent women in traditionally republican suburbs, and rural people in the midwest. They would have to make gains among more than one of these groups to win the presidency in 2016. Right now, nationally they are the party of the confederacy although even cities in the south like Jackson. MS voted blue. Obama was a lot more than the lesser of two evils to those that waited in line for 8 hours to vote for him.
Problems problems problems.
The GOP can’t easily undo the institutionalized stupidity they built into the wingnut faction. They would have to convince them that all the “facts” they have been feed are incorrect and that will not be easy.
Less government intrusion? You mean like give up the fight to intrude between doctors and women seeking family planning help? Yeah, that’ll work.
Better defense? We already spend more than the rest of the world put together on our military, whats left? Plus the Rand wing of the party wants us tromping around setting off land mines around the world less not more.
Privacy might be one area they could BS their way out of. The whole ugly fatherland security apparatus was built under their watch after 9/11 & death to anyone who dared question it at the time. But they could pivot 180 on this one because it would play to that Randian base.
The GOP already mouths a lot of words in support of small business but has no programs and no ideas about how to promote the growth of actual small businesses (most ‘small businesses’ are actually people who have incorporated themselves to gain tax advantages & they do nothing to produce jobs).
I agree that in order to be healthy we need two sane political parties but the foundation for that has been eroded so that there is no ground on which the GOP can build that does not alienate a good portion of its current followers. The basic social contract has been broken by years of cynical manipulation
Great article Mark….. I don’t think the election results were a mandate for the demon-crats either….. The only reason Obama won was the key state electoral college….. Except for stupidity in the GOP they most likely would have won…..
Both parties are out of touch with mainstream America…. Obama was the lesser of the two evils….. But should we have to continue to have our decisions based on which one poses a greater threat?
What’s wrong wit the system we forced Germany to take before we’d leave?