Steve's list of 5 things the GOP can do to save itself
1. Deregulate, deregulate, deregulate Return to the mantra of the Reagan years. There is no situation, problem, or incident for which government is the best solution. Every FUD issue that the Democrats raise is either smoke and mirrors, or it has a market solution. Global warming is myth and fodder for demagogues. Deregulate the medical industry and put the skids on ridiculous malpractice awards. Let charity help the poor and stop trying to pretend that redistributionism is any kind of substitute. Return to the strategy of looking for ways to privatize literally everything the federal government is involved in.
2. Taxes suck Drop the big government conservatism, which is nothing but a facade for fascism, and start stripping the government down to its bare essentials, give money that isn't spent back to the taxpayers. Starve stubborn bureaucracies out by cutting their budgets and matching those budget cuts with tax cuts. Eliminate the income tax and abolish the IRS. Now rather than later. Make sure the federal government never, ever confiscates more than 10% of anyone's wealth or income.
3. Stop screwing around in the states' business Once again, return to the Reagan/Goldwater mantras of states rights. Stop using the Supreme Court as a bludgeon to destroy federalism. Reverse the progressivist destruction of the republic that has been going on for the last 100 years. In short, act like you know what republican actually means.
4. Family values have no place in government Drop the whole line of conservative social engineering. It is no more moral a stance than the Democrats pandering to liberal social engineering. Nosy, authoritarian Republicans are just as obnoxious as nosy, authoritarian Democrats, maybe more so.
5. Say what you'll do and do what you say Stop acting like Democrats just to get elected. Wake up and figure out that appeals to style over substance are what got you into your current predicament. You say you have principles. Prove it. Don't campaign as a Republican and govern as a Democrat.
2. Taxes suck Drop the big government conservatism, which is nothing but a facade for fascism, and start stripping the government down to its bare essentials, give money that isn't spent back to the taxpayers. Starve stubborn bureaucracies out by cutting their budgets and matching those budget cuts with tax cuts. Eliminate the income tax and abolish the IRS. Now rather than later. Make sure the federal government never, ever confiscates more than 10% of anyone's wealth or income.
3. Stop screwing around in the states' business Once again, return to the Reagan/Goldwater mantras of states rights. Stop using the Supreme Court as a bludgeon to destroy federalism. Reverse the progressivist destruction of the republic that has been going on for the last 100 years. In short, act like you know what republican actually means.
4. Family values have no place in government Drop the whole line of conservative social engineering. It is no more moral a stance than the Democrats pandering to liberal social engineering. Nosy, authoritarian Republicans are just as obnoxious as nosy, authoritarian Democrats, maybe more so.
5. Say what you'll do and do what you say Stop acting like Democrats just to get elected. Wake up and figure out that appeals to style over substance are what got you into your current predicament. You say you have principles. Prove it. Don't campaign as a Republican and govern as a Democrat.
posted by Anonymous | 5:51 PM
3 Comments:
I should add a sixth...
Knock off all this Wilsonian imperialism and go back to the days when the GOP opposed nation building and adventurism. The military is for defense and defense only.
I like the six steps, but they are not representative of the Republican party at all. They are Libertarian.
Face it, throughout most of US history the GOP has sucked. Goldwater was cool but that's pretty much it.
Look at any local Republican Party website or the literature they hand out, and you will find Abraham Lincoln's Ten Principles in there somewhere:
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
The sad irony is that the Republicans, from Lincoln on, have never actually governed under these principles. Reagan came the closest, with his inclinations toward libertarianism ("If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism."), but even he fell short several times. And in fact, he was openly thwarted on many occasions by Congressional Republicans themselves.
We talk about the lock-step mindlessness of Democrats, following their leaders into oblivion as they pander to every wing-nut faction on the left, but the Republicans are no different. There are no end of ernest, reasonably intelligent Republicans who believe they are following a principle, when all they are doing is lining up behind leaders who have no more interest in that principle than a used car salesman has an interest in your personal well-being. This Fall will be no different. All those doe-eyed pubbies will flock to the polls to vote for a man who is on the public record as being no different than either of the Democrats, and on balance is probably well to the left of Hillary, simply so the guy on the other team won't win.
The GOP was founded on a lie and has lived a lie for most of its 150-plus years of existence. Maybe it's time for it just to go ahead and die.
Post a Comment
<< Home