Attracting people to the Republican Party has mainly been a con-game since at least the New Deal. For example, let’s look at this tidbit from Politico’s coverage of today’s CPAC conference.
Ascendant are groups that focus on fiscal issues such as reducing government spending and taxation, which last year drove tens of thousands of new conservative activists to the streets and town halls in protest of big spending initiatives backed by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. Groups that concentrate on social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage have been relegated to a lower profile, as, to some extent, have those focusing on national security.
Grass-roots organizations have seen their membership rolls, coffers and standing boosted by the new activists, many — but not all — of whom identify with the cacophonous tea party movement.
These activists generally have been leery of the Republican Party, as well as established big-name conservative groups and leaders who made their reputations in the Washington game, particularly those seen as tainted by a pay-to-play Beltway culture or linked to a George W. Bush-era GOP establishment viewed as having abandoned its principles.
So, the new game (which is the same as the old game we played in the 1970’s and the 1990’s) is to get rid of those profligate Republicans-in-name-only and put a bunch of real hard-core deficit hawks in Congress? Right? Why would the next time be any different?
How do Republicans explain their failure to reduce spending or balance budgets when they are given the opportunity? They always say the same thing. “We came to Washington, and Washington changed us. We lost our principles.” This is, of course, either rank bullshit or just something so inevitable that it will repeat itself until people stop believing it.
But, maybe you need some proof. Remember Tom DeLay and Rick Santorum’s K Street Project? That took “getting in bed with lobbyists” to a whole other level. Republicans will always increase spending and lower taxes because that way they can steal coming and going. You want an outlet for your anger against the elites? The GOP will never be it. Whatever crumbs the hoi polloi get, they get from the Democratic Party.
