Re: Grim Old Party

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:54:30 -1000, "Alvin E. Toda" <aet@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007, NoName wrote:

This is an op ed piece by David Brooks, the New York
Times conservative columnist. I would be interested
to hear from some conservativs in the group -- is he
off base or on target?

The New York Times


April 29, 2007

Grim Old Party
By DAVID BROOKS

At the University of Chicago there?s a group of
scholars who are members of what is called the
Rational Expectations school of economics. They
believe human beings tend to anticipate unpleasant
future events and seek in advance to avoid them.
Their teachings do not apply to the Republican Party.

The Republicans suffered one unpleasant event in
November 2006, and they are headed toward an even
nastier one in 2008. The Democrats have opened up a
wide advantage in party identification and are
crushing the G.O.P. among voters under 30.

Moreover, there has been a clear shift, in poll after
poll, away from Republican positions on social issues
and on attitudes toward government. Democratic
approaches are favored on almost all domestic, tax
and fiscal issues, and even on foreign affairs.

The public, in short, wants change.

And yet the Republicans refuse to offer that. On
Capitol Hill, there is a strange passivity in
Republican ranks. Republicans are privately disgusted
with how President Bush has led their party and the
nation, but they don?t publicly offer any
alternatives. They just follow sullenly along. They
privately believe the country needs new approaches to
the war against Islamic extremism, but they don?t
offer them. They try to block Democratic initiatives,
but they don?t offer the country any new ways to
think about the G.O.P.

They are like people quietly marching to their doom.

And at the presidential level, things are even worse.
The party is blessed with a series of charismatic
candidates who are not orthodox Republicans. But the
pressures of the campaign are such that these
candidates have had to repress anything that might
make them interesting. Instead of offering something
new, each of them has been going around pretending to
be the second coming of George Allen ? a bland,
orthodox candidate who will not challenge any of the
party?s customs or prejudices.

Mitt Romney created an interesting health care
reform, but he?s suppressing that in an effort to
pretend to be George Allen. Rudy Giuliani has an
unusual profile that won him a majority of votes on
the Upper West Side of Manhattan, of all places, but
he?s suppressing that to be George Allen. John McCain
has a record on taxes and spending that suggests he
really could take on entitlements. But at least until
last week, he suppressed that in order not to offend
the George Allen vote.

And just in case any of these George Allen wannabes
weren?t George Allen enough for voters, Fred Thompson
may enter the race as the Authentic Conservative,
even though deep in his heart he?s no more George
Allen than the rest of them.

The big question is, Why are the Republicans so
immobile?

There are several reasons. First, there are
structural barriers to change. As it has aged, the
conservative movement has grown a collection of
special interest groups that restrict its mobility.
Anybody who offers unorthodox tax policies gets
whacked by the Club for Growth and Americans for Tax
Reform. Anybody who offers unorthodox social policies
gets whacked by James Dobson.

Second, there is the corrupting influence of teamism.
Being a good conservative now means sticking together
with other conservatives, not thinking new and
adventurous thoughts. Those who stray from the
reservation are accused of selling out to the
mainstream media by the guardians of conservative
correctness.

Third, there is the oppressive power of the past.
Conservatives have allowed a simplistic view of
Ronald Reagan to define the sacred parameters of
thought. Reagan himself was flexible, unorthodox and
creative. But conservatives have created a mythical,
rigid Reagan, and any deviation from that is
considered unholy.

Fourth, there is the bunker mentality. Republican
morale has been brutalized by the Iraq war and the
party?s decline. This state of emotional pain is not
conducive to risk-taking and free and open debate.

In sum, Republicans know they need to change, but
they have closed off all the avenues for change.

The tale is not entirely hopeless. McCain seems now
to be throwing off his yoke. Newt Gingrich is way
ahead of his colleagues when it comes to new ideas
and policies. The libertarians and paleoconservatives
have been losing for so long they are suddenly quite
interesting. There are even a few of us who think it
is time to revive the Alexander Hamilton-Theodore
Roosevelt legacy.

Change could, miraculously, come soon. But the odds
are it will take a few more crushing defeats before
Republicans tear down the self-imposed walls that
confine them.

I have a friend who is a former Republican and
Catholic. For years, that she thought that she could
effect change from within. She gave up a long time ago.
But have no fear for the Republicans. They are much
more opportunistic than Democrats. Rather than fight
for an unpopular minority, they gravitate to the big
moneybags in our society, and advocate favors for their
friends and "safe" positions in politics. It seems
pretty much a formula for success (if not popularity in
the long run) in the American way of politics.

But Alvin, have you not read that this time around the
Dems are raising more money than the Republicans? I don't
think many of their usual money supporters see anyone
they want to take a chance on.

.

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