Future GOP

What's the matter with Republicans these days? In the wake of the electoral win by Obama last year and with Democrats controlling the legislative branch and the executive branch, they're on the back foot and they're flailing around just as much as Obama. There are those (Cheney, Gingrich and Company) who think that the GOP should NOT moderate at all, but instead stick to its guns and the American people will come back to the pack and send them all back to Washington- and there are some cautious voices of moderation out there urging change.

As usual, they're missing the point and both sides are equally as right. I'm an independent myself and far from being comfortable with the idea of the Republican Party as it stands now, but what I don't like is laziness. It's endemic in our crappy two party system: no one has to work for anything, because the opposition party knows that eventually the hamster wheel will come back around and they'll be back in charge. It's why the Democrats keep parroting talking points from 1964 and 1932 and why Republicans keep parroting talking points from 1980. It's why the Democrats have no ideological depth to speak of, why liberalism is so moribund and conservatism is so tired. No has to work for it. No one has to have the vicious, idea generating ideological debates anymore.

Which is why both sides are equally as right: for the GOP, moderation is needed, but at the same time, radicalization is needed. Standing up and running on the same, tired platform of small government and low taxes will not cut the mustard anymore. The American people brought into that from 1994 to 2006 and Republicans failed to deliver- if the GOP starts talking the same old talk, they won't buy. They need a game changer- something big, something different and something they will actually deliver on. My suggestions:

1. Fair Tax.
2. Downsize government. (My old man had an interesting idea- how about outsourcing government departments- does the USDA need to be in D.C.? How much corn do they grow there?)

3. Legalize marijuana. This could pay huge dividends. Kids can get it way too easily and sticking it behind a shelf and requiring an ID would do wonders for keeping it off the playgrounds. Plus, everyone smokes it anyway and there are real drugs like X, Meth, Coke, Heroin that are worth spending some money on interdicting. Taking weed off the table would let us do that. Plus, GOPers win points on all fronts- fiscal responsibility especially.

4. Break-Up the Unions. This would probably require a serious amendment of the NLRA and Taft-Hartley, but to me breaking up the big, humongous unions in this country can only be a good thing. My main opposition to the EFCA stems from the fact that if it's a bill that's supposed to help out workers, then it should actually help out workers. The EFCA is essentially going to give union bosses lots of power and workers not so much. Done right, this could pay dividends for organized labor and business.

These are just some basic ideas- but you see where I'm going with this? The traditional small government thing ain't working anymore. You gotta go big, you gotta get radical, you gotta shoot the moon and then you gotta deliver.

The other side of the equation is are social issues. This is where the 'lets moderate' crowd is on firmer ground. There's an approaching generational gap that could do serious damage to the Republican Party if they don't change their tune on social issues in a big way. Meghan McCain has been making good points all across the board where this is concerned- and the polling seems to back her and me up on this. Gay marriage, abortion- all the big vote-getters for the GOP swing against them if you look at people under 30. People my age couldn't care less about gay marriage and we may not like abortion, but we don't want it banned either.

The Republicans are stumbling towards coherence on gay marriage- not on opposing it, but on the larger point: the Left can't castigate the Right for having beliefs against gay marriage when there are plenty of chicken-ass Democrats who hold the exact same view (namely our President for one. And I don't see Perez Hilton calling him a dumb bitch. Which is a load of horseshit in my book.) The message should be that there's room at the table for all points of view. If marriage equality is for all, then it has to be for all. But people have a right to disapprove of that. People of faith and churches have a right to dictate what their churches believe, not the government- and they have just as much of a right to freedom of conscience as the latte drinking ex-hippies in Seattle. In fact, let's go with that: Freedom of Conscience (an amendment more explicit than the one against that of an established religion. I like that. Throw in the Federalism thing they've got going at the state level and we could have a ball game.)

Right now, the ratio is this: 80% social conservatism, 20% small government. The Republicans need to flip this ratio. Go big, radical and head for the moonshot with the small government stuff and follow through on it. And get wise and smart on the social issues to maybe get some of us young folks on board. (And push that Federalism Amendment and start debating the idea of a Freedom of Conscience thing as well. Freedom of Religion means that we can't favor one over the other- it doesn't, at least from what I know, protect the beliefs of believers and non-believers alike. And they should be protected from the government. At the very least, it's a debate worth having.)

That's what I think. Whether or not the Republicans will listen (they won't- pretty sure Michael Steele doesn't read my blog, but it'd be awesome if he did) is an open question- hopefully it doesn't take them too long to retrench and learn.