Thursday, November 06, 2008
Another quick point on the GOP's future
I would like to see Republicans have a debate over what our guiding principles will be going forward. Huckabee-style populism? Paul-style draconian spending cuts? Bush-style muscular foreign policy?
If we start trying to choose our next standard bearer before deciding on our core priorities, we'll have put the cart before the horse yet again. Placing electability over principles is what led to the muddled mess of the last 8 years, where we've spent money like crazy and acted like Democrats-lite with a more aggressive foreign policy.
Will we be the party of the Bush Doctrine or Nixonian realism?
Will we be the party of "deficits don't matter" or deficit hawks?
Will we be the party of limited government and local decision making, or of one-size-fits-all conservative solutions to social issues?
Will we be the party that pushes structural reform of our entitlement programs? Will we back free-market solutions to education, retirement income and health care, when people perceive the free market to have failed?
If we start trying to choose our next standard bearer before deciding on our core priorities, we'll have put the cart before the horse yet again. Placing electability over principles is what led to the muddled mess of the last 8 years, where we've spent money like crazy and acted like Democrats-lite with a more aggressive foreign policy.
Will we be the party of the Bush Doctrine or Nixonian realism?
Will we be the party of "deficits don't matter" or deficit hawks?
Will we be the party of limited government and local decision making, or of one-size-fits-all conservative solutions to social issues?
Will we be the party that pushes structural reform of our entitlement programs? Will we back free-market solutions to education, retirement income and health care, when people perceive the free market to have failed?
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3 comments:
FWIW, Race 4 2008 is now Race42012.com and they already have their list up of 2012 GOP contenders.
Jeb Bush
Tim Pawlenty
Bobby Jindal
Mitt Romney
Mike Huckabee
Newt Gingrich
Sarah Palin
Mark Sanford
It's sad to say but we now must run against two opponents: Dem candidate and MSM. Unfortunately I think this reality is going to force our hand in picking candidates going forward. Specifically, it almost certainly rules out Palin or Jeb.
Newt would be great, but I'm not sure I see him running. Jindal will be great, but is probably still too young.
Expect a 4-way split/debate over the next few years. Mitt will try to pull the party in a FiCon direction, focusing primarily on economics rather than social issues. Huckabee will be the opposite, focusing primarily on social issues and trying to strengthen the SoCon wing of the party. Palin will try to appeal to the populist group within the party. Finally, someone like a Pawlenty or eventually a Jindal will try to be the next Reagan - the great uniter, bringing all groups together. This person will try to say that all wings of the party will have to make some compromises for the good of the party in order to expand the tent.
I look forward to the debate but I surely hope we get our sh*t together before 2010. I can tolerate a few years of liberal rule (it's inevitable after all, we can't dominate government forever), but not much more than that.
I posted the R 4 2012 names just to point out how so many people already want to jump into the next cycle.
I think it's premature. We have no idea where things will be two or three years from now. At this stage of the '08 cycle, just after the '04 election, the odds on favorite for the GOP was George Allen. How'd that work out?
I'm much more interested in figuring out how we can get SoCons and FiCons, many of whom are socially liberal, to get along. Once we have a platform, the candidate will fall into place naturally.