I don’t want to exaggerate Erick Erickson’s influence over the Republican base, but he does seem emblematic of their general view on many topics. And he’s trying to gin up a civil war within the GOP.
In today’s edition, Mr. Erickson is responding to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s prediction that the Republican Establishment will crush Tea Party challengers “everywhere.”
This is why I think, in truth, whether you as a conservative think you can sit this out or not, if conservatives do not beat McConnell, Thad Cochran, Pat Roberts, Shane Osborne, and others, the Republican establishment in Washington will finally conclude that conservatives are paper tigers who can be ignored…
…The Republican leaders prefer their billionaire donors with their cosmopolitan interests. These people just want carve outs for themselves. They are not asking for an actual shrinking of government like Main Street is. The GOP Leadership really needs an excuse to totally ignore Main Street and give Wall Street comprehensive immigration reform, tax breaks for big business, etc.
So all of you on the sidelines might as well write a check to Matt Bevin right now. And send some to the Senate Conservatives Fund, Madison Project, Club for Growth, and FreedomWorks. All four are under unyielding attacks from the Republican leadership. If the Republican leadership wins, they will view all of us — whether you engaged or sat on the sidelines — as unable to challenge them in either politics or policy.
Crush or be crushed — Mitch McConnell just clarified this election.
I’d say that the Establishment Republicans have been very obedient in seeking to downsize the government, but I don’t disagree with the rest of Erickson’s observations above. In fact, I agree with this next bit until the last sentence, which comes off like a needle raking across a record.
The Republican establishment they fight is the one that gave us the foundation for Common Core in No Child Left Behind, the welfare state expansion of Medicare Part D, the ballooning of the national debt for domestic programs while hiding behind war spending, and then collaborating with the Democrats for TARP, the General Motors bailout, and banning the incandescent light bulb.
Again, with the light bulbs?
Erickson has the makings of a solid populist indictment of Republican hypocrisy. But then he tops it off by complaining about a bipartisan conspiracy to do away with light bulbs.
In the short-term, this is why his movement is likely to be crushed.
In the long-term, his kind will just get overwhelmed by demographic change and a more progressive streak in younger generations.
