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
Tony c, They don’t have to court them. They are the base these days.
Non presidential years are low turnout years even in MA. If Warren ran in 2010 she might have lost, too. Brown could get another chance if Kerry is appointed to a cabinet position.
@Swarthmore: And courting the evangelicals led directly to a political disaster in 2012, wouldn’t you agree? You keep repeating the evidence for my very point! They have to ditch the religious right in order to have any hope of winning.
Tony C, Good luck organizing the new republican party. It is going to take a lot of work as talk of primary challenges to moderate republicans is already starting.
@Blouise: The “happy accident” (or happy miscalculation) was putting the incompetent, selfish, Martha Coakley up against Scott Brown in the belief that after Kennedy, ANY Democrat could win the special election.
I admit I do not know much about Ms. Coakley and my characterization is based upon TV and Internet information, but apparently my take (incompetent, selfish, stingy and self-absorbed) was shared by enough Democrats in Massachusetts to matter. Fortunately, because after two years of Brown, they went with somebody that actually could fill Kennedy’s shoes as a true champion of the people.
As for Obama, I personally do not believe Obama ever tried. And I have not heard Warren give any credit to Obama for any material support or action in making her candidacy happen. That does not mean it never happened, but I haven’t seen evidence of him doing anything at all to make Warren a candidate.
Tony C,
I offer this as the anthem of your philosophy for the Republican party tetanus shot in the arm.
The end of the line is real.
@Swarthmore: Apparently you failed to understand my post.
“as happened by happy accident with Elizabeth Warren” (Tony C.)
That was no accident. Obama could not get past the banks or Wall Street with her as the nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without alienating a group he was wooing away from Republicans so, in typical Obama fashion, she reappeared as a candidate for Senator. She had all the attributes necessary to win the seat so the risk was a calculated one.
Blouise, I think the republicans will pick up senate seats in 2014. We have several incumbents in very red states, and turnout will be much lower. Boehner will probably increase his house numbers. There is no imminent danger of one party government.
@Bettykath: It may have been the Green party, but the word “Republican” is the key. It has to be the Republican party simply because of the ballot access and stiffness of mind for far too many voters. 25% of the populace is going to vote for the Republican party no matter what it says or does, it is a similar to a religion in that respect. I say the same about Democrats. Of the 50% in the middle, another big chunk will vote only for a major party on the grounds of “not wasting their vote.”
That makes it nearly impossible for a third party or independent to win a national election. But if the Republicans redefine themselves, they get that 25% of “no matter what” voters as the counterbalance to the 25% of “no matter what” Democrats, and then fight a fair fight for the middle.
I do not think there will ever be, in the next forty years, a viable third party or Independent President of The United States. Absent severe social trauma (e.g. losing a war) social belief systems are generational (concretized in individuals by young adulthood and thus very slow to change in the macro sense). If there is going to be a “third party,” I think it will be the transformation of an existing party.
Capt Ratty, If Duval Patrick becomes the democratic nominee, those old white voters will scream until eternity.
“If Obama continues to operate during the next four years as he has done the last four, he will have accomplished that which the Republicans boasted would be their “permanent majority”.”
Which is an equally compelling recipe for disaster.
Single party governments are predictive (some would say prerequisite) of authoritarian totalitarian forms of government.
Tony C, Rove courted the evangelicals, and they are not going anywhere. The church buses will roll in the Iowa caucuses. Even your candidate Ron Paul tried to appeal to the evangelicals.
“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.” (Frankly)
There is a great deal of truth in that short sentence. The Republicans left a void in several areas and Obama, not a stupid man, moved the Democrats right in to fill each one.
Jeb Bush, or whoever runs in 2016, will have a considerably shrunken base as the old angry white men continue to die off and the same narrow platform as Romney from which to campaign thanks to Obama’s so called centralist approach that permitted the takeover Frankly mentioned in the sentence quoted.
If Obama continues to operate during the next four years as he has done the last four, he will have accomplished that which the Republicans boasted would be their “permanent majority”.
“Advocates of the technique, known as “memory morphing”, claim it can be used to improve customers’ perceptions of products and encourage them to repeat their purchases and recommend brands to friends.”
To add emphasis to Dredd’s comment above. The next time you ca watch TV commercials for Coke and Pepsi. They constantly advertise short blurbs for their soda’s using cue words like “The pause that refreshes” which play on people’s emotions about the product and not about its taste.
@Swarthmore: The point is to change cores. Strategically it is stupid to remain with a core that can only lose you an election, as Romney did.
Just as I have argued that rank-and-file Democrats must take losses in order to open seats that give them an opportunity to move forward (as happened by happy accident with Elizabeth Warren) I argue the same thing for Republicans.
They need to learn that embracing the religious white right, as Romney clearly tried to do, as McCain clearly tried to do, leads to a 47% or worse loss. They need to understand that the reason those people dominate the primaries is their own self-fulfilling prophecy; if their small-minded belief system is what you preach, then that is the choir that shows up to vote because you have alienated the people that are enthusiastically waiting for some other message.
If Republicans want to avoid a loss, they need to ditch the whole shtick of coded racism, coded bigotry, coded misogyny, coded homophobia and coded patriarchy. They cannot win with white traditionalists that want to live in 1940 or 1955.
They need a new core. My post is about what that core can be, it is actually the majority position in the USA: Be careful with our money, be careful with laws that restrict our social liberty, but we are not without empathy, caring, or charity for those truly in need, and we are supportive of communal action like roads, police protection, schools, social security, health care, non-profit research, disaster relief and similar programs.
I am sure it would be hard, and it may lead to losses. But if they preached a different message, New Republicans could attract a new crowd to their primaries; and leave the religious right without a party to call their own.
Heck, much of what I talk about is in the Bible, and much of what the religious right talks about is not. Or at least, is certainly not Christ’s view. Even as an atheist, I think with some research I could make a strong Bible-based argument for my “New Republican.” For example, in John 8, Christ says, “Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone.” (and that was about a sex crime, adultery, caught in the act). After which the woman was left alone, and Christ says, “I do not condemn you either.”
Mike Spindell 1, November 25, 2012 at 10:56 am
“Bobby Jindal was the Golden Boy of the GOP for a reason and he isn’t talking policy he is talking “messaging”.”
I agree with Justice Holmes on this as in the quote from Mark’s blog:
“we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year”
The concept of “brand” is a marketing one, not one of ideas. A “brand” of food for instance is trying to sell its’ concept, rather than its taste or it nutritional value.
============================================
I want to focus on your:
Indeed. Some of our nation’s luminaries have pointed that out both disturbingly and succinctly:
(A Structure RE: Corruption of Memes – 3). The Republican party has obviously been battered by brain-changing machinations of their own propagandists.
What is obvious to us in our discussion on Mark E’s guest post is that those Republican propagandists, who just got beat in an election, are out of touch with mainstream America in terms of the toothpaste they are peddling.
But as has also been mentioned up-thread, this allows the democrats to peddle toothpaste they never could have peddled before.
Which brings up my worry that this whole thing is scripted by interests more powerful than mere party operatives of either party.
I just do not trust political discourse anymore, in terms of it being based on the interests of the 99% …
” 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.”
——–
What old nurse and Bukko said. Is there any country that we conquered that is not part of the US as a state or protectorate or does not now have US bases?
=====================
Bruce 1, November 25, 2012 at 10:43 am
Ross Perot was right when he said “as soon as half the people depend on government for their existance the party’s over. He must have been talking about the same 47% Romney was.
———
The false part of Romney’s thinking is that he was thinking of those who receive social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, etc. He was NOT thinking about himself or his very wealthy cohorts who got/get government help in the form of various subsidies and generous contracts. So if he includes all the rest, those of his “class”, the number is probably around 90+%
======================
Bruce said, “The fiscal crisis and a war in middle east, so where does obummer go, Burma, RELLAY?”
Obama is looking forward. He is working on the new NAFTA for that part of the world.
===================
Tony said, “Here would be my prescription for a “real” Republican party: ”
———
I would vote for that party. Oh, I already did. It’s the Green Party.
Bobby J is avoiding the racist prong of Republican strategy since Nixon. Lee Atwather invented The Southern Strategy. The effort has been to ween white rednecks away from the Democrats. It has been totally successful. Look at the Electoral Map. All the South, former Slave States, except Florida and Virginia are in the Atwater Fold. The problem is this. Back when Nixon and Raygun were working the strategy the Norhteastern states were Republican. The swing to the raciist calculations alienated the voters of New Hampshire and Maine for example. The strategy was essentially a “went in dumb, come out dumb too” strategy that took these forty plus years to play out. The RepubliCons try very hard to get the old fart white voters who used to vote Democrat to switch over. They particularly barked about Obama. In North Carolina thiey succeeded this time. Obama won in 2008 but in this election the bigots came back. You could hear it on the streets. “I dont know how this happened.”, he says solemnly. “What happened?”, I say. “You know, a nigra for President!” “Oh”. Some of these guys were first time voters and they are in their sixties. White trash have a history of not participating in democracy in NC which was fine for the oligarchs who ran the Democratic Party when blacks were legally denied the vote.. Bobby Jindahl knows all about this. As an Indian he overcame some prejudices to make his way in the RepubliCon Party in Louisiana. But he has to say openly what he knows: End The Southern Strategy.