Posted on 09/06/2017 4:32:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
Politics is the art of shifting the playing field.
This is an art Republicans simply don't understand. Perhaps it's because they spend so much time attempting to stop the Democratic snowball from running downhill too quickly, but Republicans in power have an unfortunate tendency to conserve their political capital rather than invest it. That's unfortunate because political capital doesn't accrue when you save it; it degrades. Just as sticking your cash in a mattress is a bad strategy when it comes to investment, inaction in power is a bad strategy when it comes to politics.
Democrats understand that political capital must be used, not to pass popular legislation but to fundamentally change the nature of the political game itself. Democrats do not see Obamacare -- a piece of legislation that cost them the House, the Senate and, eventually, the presidency -- as a disaster area. They see it as an investment in a leftist future: By making Americans accustomed to the idea that the government is responsible for universal coverage, they understand that any future failures will be attributed to lack of government, not an excess of it. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, understood that in 2013 when he attempted to block Obamacare funding. He quite rightly explained that once Obamacare went into effect, it would be nearly impossible to dismantle it. That became obvious this year, just four years after its full implementation, when congressional Republicans obviously have no political will to get rid of Obamacare at all.
This is the difference between Republicans and Democrats: Democrats see their radical legislative moves as building blocks for the future. Republicans, afraid that their carefully crafted tower of electability will come crumbling down, make no radical legislative moves.
That basic formula is playing out yet again with regard to former President Obama's executive amnesty. Obama implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, knowing full well that a Republican president could get rid of it with the stroke of a pen. But he also knew that Republicans would not want to be responsible for changing the status quo -- they wouldn't want to own the political consequences of allowing the deportation of DACA recipients.
And Obama was completely right. Republicans promised for years that they would get rid of Obama's executive amnesty if given power. Finally, President Trump has pledged to get rid of it ... in six months. And everyone knows that he is willing to trade away DACA enforcement for border-wall funding. The Democratic status quo will win out, one way or another.
Now, quickly: Name the last transformational conservative change Republicans have made -- a change to the field of play; any change that would redound to the detriment of Democrats. It's pretty tough. That's despite Republican control of the legislature and the presidency from 2002 to 2006; that's a longer period of unified control than Democrats had from 2008 to 2010.
Republicans have unified control of government once again. But they seem less willing to use it than ever, afraid that their tenuous control will dissipate.
That must end. If Republicans hope to set a foundation for future victory, they'll need to do more than act as an impediment to bad Democratic ideas. They'll need to take political risks in order to shift the playing field itself. If they don't, they'll lose quickly. And they'll deserve to lose.
How prophetic and still so obvious. Republicans stump for votes with conservative platitudes but cannot deliver the goods when given a mandate. Sad.
The GOP BEGAN, with the DNC, the use of IRS
against conservatives, and began ISIS.
They LOVE ObamaCARE (RomneyCARE) and is obvious
hate Americans and their President Trump.
The GOP and North Korea deserve the same.
I have learned to absolutely hate politics and politicians. I don’t even buy into the lie that they are a necessary evil. They look at themselves as necessary. I see them as worthless.
It’s pathetic to watch the GOP squander the opportunity America handed them. The only thing worse than a pathetic GOP in control of Congress is the Marxist democrat party.
The point being missed. Most pubs want to keep the status quo as much as the dems. They wouldn’t mind losing the majority, heck they would be happy to give it up, if they could go back to the cushy way things were. If it weren’t for those stupid promises they made to get elected, they could be more defiant of the president. Will someone not rid them of those pesky elections!
More amnesty promoting garbage.
Not only will THEY lose but so will America as we know and love it. It will then be on a greased slide to hell, maybe never ever to be rescued. Dark Ages 2.0
I try to love Ben Shapiro, I really want to. But he is a ringleader in our circular firing squad.
What a nothing article political predictions from been Shapiro are about as useful as climate predictions from Gore.
Pathetic Benji cannot give Trump credit for anything. This was Consfitutionally right and strategically brilliant by Frump.
The article wasn’t about giving credit. He doesn’t have to have a slobbering live affair with our great president to write an article that speaks truth. Yes the GOP will lose mid terms and it will be bad
This has happened over and over again. Soon after his election to the presidency, Dwight Eisenhower embraced the New and Fair Deals, and the Republican Party lost seats in both the House and Senate in each subsequent election during the rest of the 1950's. In 1990, after President Bush broke his solemn 'no new taxes" pledge, the GOP got hammered.
On the presidential level, Richard Nixon was able to get away with embracing and expanding the Great Society, but in the Congressional elections, the GOP did poorly even in 1972, the year of Nixon's landslide win over George McGovern.
What evidence do you present for this prediction? I realize you truly dislike our President but show us where a dem will beat a republican. Thanks
His childish ranting are sad, he should have been a stronger voice for all of us but his rage blinds him.
Trump needs to keep loading up Congress with work they don’t want to do and showing the public how pathetic Congress really are.
You assume that because I don’t hero worship that I dislike the President? I don’t hero worship anyone. He like many other men (including me) is flawed. Thus far he is doing just fine. I’ll wait the final verdict once a meaningful piece of legislation passes, the millions of jobs come flooding back, the wall is built, tax reform is done, a conservative budget is passed and illegal immigration is a thing of the past. I’ll repeat it again.....we will lose our a$$es if some of the above is not accomplished.
I measure success based on accomplishments while others hand out admiration far too easily. Time will tell and thus far he is doing a good job. A real deal maker gets things done. Reagan did so with a Democrat Congress. He had to give and take.
It seems you’re not truly paying attention, more reading and less posting may help. How long before Reagan saw results?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.