Here are some reasons I think the right, and specifically the Republican party are setting themselves up for eventual obscurity.
1. Overconfidence in the failure of current economic policies. While I doubt that the $700B stimulus program was the best way to handle the economic crisis, it is one way. People are mad at Obama right now; they are angry with the health care plan, angry with the recession, and angry with the way he has handled other issues. The Republicans will certainly win a significant number of house seats along with a few Senate ones, but it is easy to forget that the same happened to Clinton and Reagan. BTW, one of the reasons for the recovery in the mid 90’s was the Bush I stimulus package, which even included a tax increase. Reagan signed on to increased spending in order to get tax cuts, and they both probably helped us come out of the recession of the early 80s.
2. The sky is falling syndrome. If you listen to the right, you would think we are heading towards a communist utopia under Obama, but the fact is that Obama is just a continuation of the Progressive policies of those such as FDR and LBJ. Not only that, Obama’s policy makers are more influenced by political realism (look at how many Clinton people are in his administration) than the liberal’s of the mid 20th century. Aside from Obama’s pseudo-lovefest with our enemies, his foreign policy has been more like GWB post 2006 than what the right has predicted. Of course it helped that getting out of Iraq was made easier by the very surge that the leadership of the Democratic Party maligned. Obama has kept Gates, and put in Generals (Betrayus anyone) that Bush championed. And he is done playing go-fish with North Korea and Iran (they are our allies now, right?).
3. The belief that the only abuse of power is the government. It’s one thing to be against Obama care or against the latest attempt at Wall Street reform, it’s quite another to be against it and to pretend that there aren’t abuses to be addressed by health insurance companies and financial institutions. People will eventually see through this.
4. Immigration policy. I was very encouraged by conservative Republicans (especially Texas ones) in the last decade attempt to reform immigration policy with a sensible worker visa plan as well as a comprehensive immigration reform. Its too bad that conservatives from other states demonized it as well as Democrats tried to give free tuition to children of illegals. Now, even McCain is against doing something reasonable in favor of the impossible tasks of only preventing people from coming across. Don’t even get me started with this one. If Republicans would take the moral high ground on this issue, they could easily become a majority party again as the Democrats are still divided on it.
5. It’s not had to make caricatures if your politicians ARE caricatures. Sarah Palin could not answer basic questions on civics (it matters not that it was a set up), and she quit as Governor for very poor reasons. She is an uninformed and unfaithful former magistrate. Yah, that’s a winning formula.
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9 comments:
Cool blog!
I think the reason they are failing is ultimately either A) they are failures at messaging and thus failing to communicate to the masses their bedrock belief, that free markets are the best way to bless all people, or B) they really don't care about the best way to bless all people and really are the cold-hearted selfish slugs they constantly portray themsevels to be.
First of fall, let's address this: "one of the reasons for the recovery in the mid 90’s was the Bush I stimulus package, which even included a tax increase."
Bush increased taxes in 1990-the largest tax increase in history to that point, and helped keep the country in recession long enough for Clinton to win on the logo--"Its the economy, stupid."
Just because Obama's foreign policy in ways mirrors Bush's doesn't mean it is conservative. Or good. But as bad a Bush was, Obama is far worse when it comes to coddling terrorist.
If insurance companies abuse power and we fight it, we switch companies. If teh government does it and we try to fight it, we go to jail.
The moral high ground on immigration is NOT rewarding lawbreakers and allowing terrorists free access to our country.
Sarah Palin's not perfect, but she has a moral compass, unlike the current resident in the White house. I'd take her any day over Obama. No reason to dis her when there is so much wrong elsewhere.
I think that most of this is true if Republicans continue to be as washed down as they have been over the last 2 decades when it comes to taxation and spending. If they straighten up and fly right on fiscal policy all is not lost electorally and economically.
Messaging will come online given the continued aggressive push of leftist policy in an mid-term election year, Obamacare being the main example. Clinton kept his post because he altered his direction midstream.
Good indicator of justified Hope: Massachusetts.
Health insurance companies are not the problem. Check the scale and lifestyles of Americans. Asinine regulations and restrictions don't help either.
David,
Thanks for your comments; I think its a bit of both.
Hi Bill,
On the tax increase, you might be right, but I have heard economists credit Bush I for the Clinton recovery.
I'm certainly not a foreign policy expert, but not sure that Obama is coddling terrorist.
The point about the insurance companies is that you can't switch as they are tied to your company. Furthermore, you often don't know how poor they are until it is too late. Furthermore, they write the contracts up where there is almost no recourse when they do something nefarious. My point is that power abuse is bad from government as well as corporations.
How does a reasonable guest worker program reward lawbreakers? Its the moral high ground since the cheap labor they provide lines the very corporations and small business pockets that the Republicans tend to protect. Lets start with that as well as increased border security. At some point we will have to decide what to do with the more than 11 million illegals that are already here though. Not sure it is reasonable to think we can deport all of them.
I do agree that Sarah Palin isn't perfect. :) I would say that 2 years before the next Presidential election is the perfect time to criticize poor candidates.
Hi H. Solo,
The way in which insurance companies arbitrate their policies is most certainly a serious problem.
Last month I was in a conference of HR/benefits people across the UT System; one of the speakers was from Blue Cross Blue Shield, the company UT works with to provide health insurance to employees. He could barely hide his disdain for the White House and the health care bill. His chief complaint was that the bill did nothing to address the high cost of health care.
Afterward, I asked him: Given that the high cost of health care was a problem with the status quo, what did BCBSTX do to fight for cost control in the health care bill? Of course, I already knew the answer: They didn't do anything to try and make a good bill; they didn't think a bill would ever pass; they tried to impede the process and resist reform.
As for Palin: She has a moral compass? Must be the same one she used to follow the speaker's circuit out of the AK governor's office. The story of John McCain's life will always be saddled with his cynical decision to unleash this intellectual and linguistic monstrosity on the American people.
Blane Said:
Afterward, I asked him: Given that the high cost of health care was a problem with the status quo, what did BCBSTX do to fight for cost control in the health care bill? Of course, I already knew the answer: They didn't do anything to try and make a good bill; they didn't think a bill would ever pass; they tried to impede the process and resist reform.
On the other hand, the job of insurance companies isn't to reduce the costs of health care. The problem I have with insurance companies is similar to the problem with wall street. The free market has been replaced with an oligopoly controlled by a select few. With Wall Street, stockholder power has been been replaced by fund managers(often in collusion); with medical insurance, corporate management chooses whichever insurance companies will offer them the best deal. Granted, I guess we could just get another job, but since this isn't happening, there is no real check on the industry.
For those that are defending the insurance companies, have you read all of the agreements that you have to sign? Why is it that concentrated power is only evil when the government has it? I'll be the first to admit that government itself is part of the reason for this problem, but that is no reason to defend the status quo. Also, saying that insurance companies have concentrated power doesn't imply that giving the government more power is the solution. A problem with this industry as well as many others is that the powerful few USE the government to erect barriers of entry.
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