The defection of Arlen Specter has predictably started a conversation on the future of the Republican Party, but I haven’t seen anyone hit the nail on the head, yet. Most talk revolves around relaxing their positions on abortion, immigration, and gay rights. None of those issues are their core problem. Their core problem is their anti-government stance, particularly as it concerns the federal government. In a time when people are looking for big government solutions to health care, climate change, energy dependence, and education quality and costs, it is simply untenable to take a position against government action. The Republicans look fondly back on the presidency of Ronald Reagan and his philosophy that government is too often the problem rather than the solution for our national concerns. That philosophy is inappropriate in our current political climate because the people are clamoring for government-provided solutions.
More than the shift in cultural attitudes, the GOP’s refusal to articulate a rival positive theory of government is what is leaving them helpless in their bid to attract voters. George W. Bush at least attempted to offer a positive alternative with his ‘Ownership Society’ platform. Privatizing Social Security proved to be a bust (and it looks much worse in retrospect) but it did represent a political view where government was seen as a partner, not an innate evil. I don’t think the Republicans should revert to Bush’s plans for entitlement reform, but they need to decide on a vision for what government should do and stop this nonsense about how the government is doing too much. Hurricane Katrina and Credit Default Swaps killed off the viability of Reagan’s creed quite thoroughly. Until the GOP realizes this, no amount of tinkering about the edges of social mores will help them sufficiently to allow for a comeback.
