So far in this series, I’ve ascribed blame for the dismal downward curve in the greatest society in the history of the world – from the apogee in the early nineties to the riot at the Capitol amid dueling thud-witted social media chanting mobs – to some easy suspects; the President himself, the extreme Progressive tilt of the left, and the collapse of trust in the institutions, education and law enforcement and the media, that we depend on to keep government fair, accountable and transparent.
Today? I turn the cannon on the Republican Party.
The GOP had virtually nothing to lose when it nominated Ronald Reagan in 1980. Gutted by Watergate and the Nixon resignation after four decades of basically being Democrats with better suits, sometimes it seemed that Ronald Reagan dragged the GOP into success, kicking and screaming and against its own will.
But by 1994, when the Newt Gringrich phalanx swung Congress to the GOP for the first time since the ’20s, the Party seemed to have its priorities straight: limit the size of government, cut taxes, and defend the country. Being a polyglot party, it enacted policy perfectly in none of those areas. But from 1980-ish until about 2000, the GOP was clear, principled alternative to the Democratic Party.
After that?
Analogy Time
I left the GOP in 1994, disgusted by the votes of so many Republicans for the 1994 “Crime Bill”, a knee-jerk reaction to a surge in crime that marked a high-water point in gun control as well as the weaponizing of drug policy.
I complained that the GOP – which had always paid lip service to gun rights – was happy to collect the votes of gun owners, but wouldn’t deliver for them when the chips were down. (Which was true – it took a surging gun rights movement to give the GOP religion on the subject). The complacent assumption that gun owners owed the GOP their votes drove me to the Libertarians – for a while, anyway.
The complacency drove me crazy.
And it still does.
Of course, economic economic conservatism is hard and tends to get people un-elected these days, so that by 2000 the Republican president was a bigger spender than the Demcorat he replaced (albet Clinton’s relative “conservatism” was a reaction to the 1994 Congress).
Hey – he was better than Algore would have been…
…right?
Second Acts
Fifteen years after Newt Gingrich’s revolution, the GOP was back in the minority in both chambers, victims of economic circumstance and offering roughly no reason to vote for them other than…you guessed it, they were better than the alternative.
The Tea Party sprang from nowhere, doing for basic conservative causes like fiscal discipline and limited government what the gun rights movement had done for “Shall Issue” over the previous two decades – took it to the streets and the halls of the Capitol. Very successfully…
…briefly. The “establishments” of both parties teamed up to slander the Tea Party out of existence – leaving only a few elected members of the Class of 2010 left to tell the tale.
And with the Tea Party beaten back underground, the GOP stood for…
…well, what?
Really, two things – an appeal to cliche, and another to some party crashers.
The Business Of The GOP Is…
The GOP’s commitment to business – or, mostly, limiting the impact of business taxes – is undeniable.
Unfortunately, it was a broad brush approach that focused on the sorts of breaks larger companies get with the help of offices full of tax lawyers, and left smaller busineses, and especially younger consumers, mostly alone.
Which played its part in creating a generation to whom the wealth hasn’t “trickled down” yet, and may well not at this rate.
We’ll come back to that later.
And of course, after nearly twenty years of standing for nothing, it spent five years falling for something that gave it purpose – populism. Giving the people what they want, rather than what a civilization needs. Given a choice between standing for the principles that gave it success in the first place, and the dog’s breakfast of big spending and big lip service to its ideals, the GOP ditched its principles like a two dollar date.
And with Donald Trump’s imminent departure from office, what will the GOP replace him with?
The GOP doesn’t even know, at this point.
Given an opportunity to cement our nation’s, and civilization’s, status, the GOP…
…whiffed.
It had help, of course.
More in the next installment.
It
Hey MBerg—what happened?
“Lawlessness by the mob, as with the individual, will not be tolerated. We will act firmly and quickly to put down riot or insurrection wherever and whenever the situation requires.” ~ Ronald Reagan
And of course, after nearly twenty years of standing for nothing, it spent five years falling for something that gave it purpose – populism. Giving the people what they want, rather than what a civilization needs.
Are you in fact saying that Trump got NOTHING done? Peace in the Middle East was NOT what civilization needed? Who knew! That freedom of association and a right to life is NOT what civilization needed? Or are you completely separating Trump from GOP?
“Giving the people what they want, rather than what a civilization needs.”
This is always the hardest part of politics: knowing which is which and deciding who decides. Maybe the public wants bread and circuses when what they need is roads and sewers. But sometimes what they want IS what they need.
For example, President Trump campaigned on building a wall (which Mexico would pay for). That’s populist, a response to outrage over caravans of illegal immigrants invited by Obama (and there’s another on the way right now, anticipating Biden’s administration will equally as welcoming).
But it’s also what a nation needs. If there are no borders – if everyone in the world is free to wander in at will – then there is no “nation” in any meaningful sense of the word, particularly not when voting in an election requires no proof of citizenship and illegal immigrants are afforded benefits and privileges which existing citizens are not.
It’s telling that the person who fought for a temporary pause in the national slide down the slippery slope to ruin was not a Republican but an outsider who convinced millions of Republicans to ditch the party’s milquetoast offerings in favor of a robust effort to put things right. Now that the establishment Republican party has joined with Democrats to turn Trump out of office – effectively reprising their backstabbing of the Tea Party – the next populist is likely to be even less palatable to the Establishment.
Given a choice between standing for the principles that gave it success in the first place, and the dog’s breakfast of big spending and big lip service to its ideals, the GOP ditched its principles like a two dollar date.
I dunno, Mitch — I like principles as much as the next guy, but the reason Trump carried the day in the primaries in ’16 is because the principle standing was a smidge on the supine side. And the career choices of the NeverTrump cadres and professional Republicans (distinction without a difference, in large measure) over the past four years suggest their primary concern was with their sinecures and that their principles were similar to those Rufus T. Firefly promulgated in Duck Soup.
Now that the establishment Republican party has joined with Democrats to turn Trump out of office – effectively reprising their backstabbing of the Tea Party – the next populist is likely to be even less palatable to the Establishment.
This.
I gotta real problem with this, Mitch.
You’ve been Mr. “Romney is better than nothing”, Mr. “Hands across the water” as long as you’ve been writing this blog. I’ve been gently, then stridently trying to focus you on the obvious; we’ve got zips in the wire, buddy.
And now, after they finally went nuclear on Americans, you have a little problem with the GOP.
ffs, dude.
The perimeter has been breached. It’s time to call a “broken arrow” fire mission on the GOP’s position.
Emery is blathering again.
Or is he off-topic?
I would sure like to see Merg actually defend this inane post against either or both of the fine comments from JD or the Doctor. He claims to not want an echo chamber? Well, now’s his chance for having an interesting discussion instead of playing Whack-a-Troll.
I think this sort of fits:
But isn’t preening smugness a glorious end of itself?
In response to this:
The System is about to criminalize opposition to it and you still have people on the Right who think Trump and his supporters are the problem.
We have much bigger fish to fry. This is really bad and you morons can’t see it coming. Or maybe you don’t want to.
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Are you in fact saying that Trump got NOTHING done?
Where on earth did you get that?
I was referring to the GOP.
JDM – yes.
Not sure to what you’re answering yes, but it is certainly concise. 😉
If this could possibly mean the end of the Mitt Romney/Glen Taylor wing of the Republican Party, please make it so.
I mean, yeah, the party should be a big tent, but who needs, “I made myself wealthy beyond my wildest dreams by selling out to China and sucking up to identity extremists.”
I’ll confine myself to the past 4 years. Trump was near to being a Black Swan. Since populist movements were breaking out over the West, he doesn’t stand alone. His victory aided by the connivance of the MSM, believing all the attention would give the nomination to the weakest GOP candidate. Instead, the heir apparent ran the lamest campaign ever and blew her one big chance. Too late, the MSM and progressive overlords took up the battle but they had the advantage of four years of nonstop lies and deceptions to use. Trump’s tragic flaw worked to seal the deal. I don’t mean a tragic flaw in the legal sense, just the dramatic. His character and standard behavior blocked him from solving his biggest challenge: Covid. Not that he or anyone was going to cure it or slow it down. The virus didn’t care about his usual bludgeoning tactics, exaggerations, lies and Twitter insults. Enough people tired of the drama and self-inflicted wounds to tip the scales. Case in point, the final rally on the Ellipse. Someone please explain the strategy there. It could only end badly, and it did. Trump isn’t the kind of guy who works to limit the damage. Sometimes that’s the best strategy. Frontal assaults may work but like Pickett’s charge, often end in disaster.
Trust the plan….
Are you in fact saying that Trump got NOTHING done?
Where on earth did you get that?
I was referring to the GOP.
Oh, that’s right…. Trump had nothing to do with GOP.
Berg, keep up with the agenda.
WaPo:
By Robert O’Harrow Jr.
Jan. 17, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. EST
The fiery rallies that preceded the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were organized and promoted by an array of established conservative insiders and activists, documents and videos show.
The Republican Attorneys General Association was involved, as were the activist groups Turning Point Action and Tea Party Patriots. At least six current or former members of the Council for National Policy (CNP), an influential group that for decades has served as a hub for conservative and Christian activists, also played roles in promoting the rallies.
The two days of rallies were staged not by white nationalists and other extremists, but by well-funded nonprofit groups and individuals that figure prominently in the machinery of conservative activism in Washington.
See, the reprobates in charge can’t stick with the “white supremacist” theme much longer…they’ve labeled 1/2 the country Nazis and Klan members. Hacking on them is the job of the 90 IQ rank and file (see also: Reek and Faphammer). The money is in tearing up the mainstream conservative thought leaders.
jdm, it appears Merg only engages with the trollbots as you so astutely pointed out.
Oh, that’s right…. Trump had nothing to do with GOP.
He really didn’t jpa. The Neo-con old guard was just as active in destroying Trump as the reprobates.
My guess is, Trump will parlay 74 million voters into a new voting bloc.
If he did not, he would not have survived the first impeachment, never mind the first 100 days. He worked within the GOP framework, like it or not. Cocaine Mitch, despite his establishment cred actually worked with Trump to get things done – just look at judge confirmations. Of course, being the ultimate establishment creature, he turned on Trump the moment it was obvious the ship had sailed.
Trump was extremely successful with his judicial nominations — and tax cuts and borrowing to pay for them. He took office during a time of economic prosperity and then at his inauguration—went on to give a speech about how awful things were, then left office amid an economic downturn with over 400,000 dead by giving a speech about how great things are.
More asshattery from doc asshat: “Oh, that’s right…. Trump had nothing to do with GOP”
To Trump, a RINO is a Republican who recognizes reality.
To me, a RINO is a long time registered Democrat and Clinton donor who saw an opportunity to run for president and became an R.
Reek, a bit of kindly advice;
Stick to ransacking reprobate cesspools for bits to pass as your own observations.
Left to to the genuine article, you bring vacuousness to new lows.
btw, Reek. I thought you promised you would be spending the rest of the year hiding in your UP chalet, and gliding the birkie with your fellow sophisticates.
What happened with that? Were you lying again, Reek?
Btw, Reek. I seem to recall you boasting ownership of several fine lakefront homes in Minnesota. Prime properties it seems.
Why would you abandon such splendor for the bleak winter wastelands of the UP?
Methinks Reek, you are a fucundity of uninspired bullshit.