In today’s New York Times, Ross Douthat has a column that looked at how ready the Republicans are to be the majority in the House. Now, Mr. Douthat is a pretty conservative guy. I rarely agree with him. In fact, I can’t think of a single time that I’ve finished his column and said “Wow, I liked that. I thought really good points were made and I agree with them.” It’s simply never happened. Until now.
Douthat essentially says that the Republicans are not ready to govern. He thinks that Republicans shouldn’t get too excited because the party has no real coherent strategy. The Republican game plan so far has been to say “We hate government!” and then leave it at that. There are, as Douthat notes, some conservatives with (arguably) intelligent and insightful policy positions. But none of the important Republican politicians have come together around any of them. Do you remember a coherent response to the health care bill? Or on global warming? Or taxes? Of course you don’t. There are no real, popular policy positions besides “small government,” and there’s even disagreement about what the means in the Republican Party.
One of Douthat’s best points is that the Republican narrative about why they lost so badly in 2008 and won in 2010 is wrong. Republicans have said that Americans kicked them out of office because they overspent. But that’s a simplistic and false view of history. Douthat says, and I agree with him, that the Republicans lost because “the Republican majority seemed to have no answers to Middle America’s economic struggles, and no appetite for the structural reforms required to keep the United States competitive.” Americans are not dogmatic about the exact size of their government. If you don’t believe me, go up to a person on the street, and ask them how big the government is. I’m fairly certain that unless you happen to be talking to an economist or a political scientist, the person will have no idea on how to respond. What Americans really care about is having a government that helps them yet doesn’t seem intrusive. It isn’t about how big the federal government is. It’s a simple equation: am I getting an adequate return on my investment? The taxes we pay are an investment into the country. People want to believe that their money is being used to help the country. If people don’t feel like they’re getting bang for their buck, then they react against the government, regardless of its size.
I’m glad that Douthat wrote this column. It proves that he isn’t a partisan hack, that he actually does want a good government without the rancor that has spread throughout the nation. And I agree with him. Call me naïve, but I think that it’s really important to have a strong, intelligent opposition. Of course I’d like it if everyone agreed with me, but that obviously isn’t the case. If the moderates and mainstream conservatives of the Republican Party take control away from the Tea Party, we’ll have an opposition party we can respect and work with. If the extremists take control, the ones who don’t have any ideas on how to govern, then we’ll be stuck in the bureaucratic quagmire we’re in now. If Republicans follow Douthat’s advice, then I will finally be able to respect the Republican Party. Of course, I still wouldn’t dream of voting for them, but at least they won’t make me break out in a cold sweat every time their name is mentioned. It is imperative for the country, regardless of which party you support, that we have an intelligent opposition party to keep government honest. If we don’t have that, and the current Republicans certainly don’t meet that standard, then we’re never going to get out of the mess we’re in.
