Posted on 12/03/2005 6:27:44 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
By Tony Snow
Dec 3, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Democrats gibber about Republicans' writhing in a culture of corruption, they're on to something -- but not what they think. The Republican Party in Washington is in trouble not because it's overrun by crooks, but because it's packed with cowards -- and has degenerated into a caricature of the party that swept to power 11 years ago promising to take on the federal bureaucracy and liberate the creative genius of American society.
The collapse stems from the simplest and most natural of causes, the survival instinct. Within months of seizing power in 1995, Republicans began backing away from Big Ideas, from tort reform to the necessary overhaul of the Social Security system. They started consulting pollsters to assay "correct" issues and positions. They played it safe -- or so they thought.
Over time, imagination-grabbing ideas melted away. Gone was the Reaganite breadth of vision, and in its place stood the musty idol of Incumbency. Republicans drew the wrong morals from the decline and fall of Newt Gingrich. They thought his boldness got him in trouble, and chose to crib plays from the Bill Clinton playbook -- tacking left, at least oratorically, so as to appease, rather than confront, their critics.
Hence, George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" -- a slogan that exceeded skeptics' worst expectations. That phrase, aimed at reassuring suburban white moms and queasy left-wing Republicans, became a white flag on the core issue of government size and might. Bush insiders even began boasting about "big government" conservatism -- oblivious to the fact that big government does not conserve or preserve; it crushes and digests, devouring institutions that challenge its supremacy.
Leaders in the Party of Lincoln stopped talking about people, and started talking about programs and expenditures. They justified head-snapping shifts in policy by claiming the need to take issues "off the table." The multi-trillion dollar Medicare "reform" is a case in point. It was designed less to save a system than to deny Democrats a talking point. Yet, the only things Republicans really took off the table were their moral authority and the loyalty of their partisans.
This helps explain one of the great ironies of the age. We live in what ought to be an era of Republican triumphalism. The president's one reliable bit of domestic-policy conservatism, his tax-cut agenda, has succeeded brilliantly. The most recent Commerce Department figures peg the third quarter economic growth rate at a sizzling 4.3 percent -- despite the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the oil shocks that followed.
Republicans have won the battle over whether centralized bureaucracies can eradicate poverty, or perform social services more efficiently than private or volunteer operations. Throughout the country, the same patterns appear: Where elected officials govern with a light touch and without imposing onerous tax and regulatory burdens, prosperity flourishes -- and people flock to the scene. "progressive" states, on the other hand, are becoming empty husks, with more rigid class distinctions than in any other section of the country.
The GOP also wins big on values. Virtually every time the ACLU files a lawsuit, Democrats lose supporters. Despite these advantages, however, the GOP founders. Its Washington potentates simply refuse to embrace the party's ideals or successes (including the war). They have forgotten the most important rule of political survival: If you want to remain an incumbent for long, you don't jettison your principles. You act on them.
When House Speaker Denny Hastert broke arms to secure votes for a pork-packed highway bill, calling the legislation a "jobs bill," it was an embarrassment. When the president signed a campaign-finance bill he called unconstitutional, he seemed to lack not only conviction, but vision.
Fortunately, irate constituents roused some conservatives from their dogmatic slumbers. Young Republicans rebelled against the apostasy of their elders, especially in the matter of the federal budget, and state parties seized the initiative on everything from spending limitations to school choice.
Capitol Hill Republicans now admit their Democratic colleagues don't want peace -- they want the Alamo. So the GOP is fighting back. Hastert approved calling the bluff of anti-victory Democrats last week by demanding a floor vote on the idea of vamoosing Iraq immediately. He scored another triumph this week by restoring the good name of the National Christmas Tree.
Who knows, he may even figure out the Paradox of Incumbency. Politicians who run just to protect incumbency may save their seats, but only by destroying their party's heart and soul. If you really want to build lasting power in politics, you need to forget about mere incumbency -- and remember the principles that got you elected in the first place.
:-( I gave it a miss
Ping
Tony is great!
Quote:"
I don't expect to win every battle, but darn it I want the Senate to TRY once in a while. I am sick of the commity of the Senate. I want Jeff Sessions to punch Kerry in the nose! LOL!"
Oh YES! ;)
Third party, anyone? :)
Snow is so right!
The gutless Reps in DC have become so determined to be "liked" by the press and loved by DC's best party-givers that they have left us in danger of becoming victims to leftism. I know that I AM tired of reps with no stomach for the fight, no strength of their convictions, and no will to stand up to the greatest threat we have ever faced- American leftism and Euro-centrist elitism.
I WISH we could get those liberT's and conservatives, who are SO faithful to vote in all general elections, to get OFF THEIR ASSES and vote in the primaries. I can't take these voters who sit around and whine about the candidate the party gave them, yet did nothing to get the candidate they WANTED.
WAKE UP PEOPLE- the country you lose may be your own.
Tony nailed it!
I really hope that the numbskull Republicans in Congress read this article and absorb its wisdom. The White House should do the same.
The fact that we control Congress and the White House and for whatever reason act like a defeated party in the minority (while winning the war in Iraq and preside over a sizzing economy) sickens me.
...I will now return to my coffee...
Ouch, that one will leave a mark.....
Should we form the "Red State Moving Company" and target the North East Conservatives who have had enough and are getting out?
Was it Glenn Beck or Rush that was talking about this the other day, Red voters in Blue states are getting out of them, and the Blue States are getting Bluer and more in decline.
Amen! This is what we've been saying for years Badray.
Tony just went through a huge fight for his life due to colon cancer. I think he may have seen how fleeting life can be and that we don't have time to pussy foot around. If we don't start telling the truth, and doing something about it, we're cooked.
Tony Snow for President!
Most, in not all, of the effluent which issued forth from the New Deal is unconstitutional. We the people surrendered, or granted the feds specific rights....carefully defined in the body of the Constitution. At no time did we ever grant the feds the right to oversee our medical care or our retirement planning.
Ricky Santorum, supposedly one of the most conservative senators we've got, has now come out in favor of guaranteeing Socialist Insecurity payments. If this isn't proof that the Republicans have lost their way...I don't know what is. Ricky Santorum is going to lose his re-election bid not because he's too conservative, but precisely because he's embraced the leftist agenda. Tony is dead on in this piece.
Well put - I'd guess you've explained Tony's apparent change of tone.
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