Not your father's GOP

An abbreviated version of this piece appeared in the December 10, 2017 edition of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

Many Republicans, including this writer, are appalled by the behavior, direction, and seeming incompetence of Donald Trump.  Perhaps you find that surprising.  However, in a world where Democrats are screaming at the top of their lungs, it’s difficult to notice us hanging our heads in… what?  Disillusionment?  Disbelief?

Since WWII, the party in the White House has shifted from one party to the other every 8 years with few exceptions.  So, it seemed logical to expect 2016 to be a Republican year.  But, what we got doesn’t quite seem Republican to me. 

I am old enough to remember when the internal struggles of the party were between followers of Goldwater and Rockefeller.  But, my perspective is much longer range.  About every 50 years, our nation elects a transformative president who follows a failed one.  The last time was the transition from Carter to Reagan.  Before that, it was Hoover to FDR.

The transition to the Reagan presidency was marked by a clearly stated philosophy:  government is the problem, not the solution.  During his term, we saw dramatic changes to the social contract and to how the government allocated capital.  Like any set of principles, this one attracted its own special interests.  And, like any special interests, they became entrenched – reliant on a government scheme that served their purposes.  And, so, lobbyists abound.  If the lobbies get what they want, the people feel they should get what they want too.  Republicans have, thusly, lost track of their stated philosophy.  In practice, they do what they need to do to be reelected. 

This paradigm has yielded multiple attempts to overturn Obamacare by doing exactly what Republicans correctly criticized Democrats for doing 8 years ago: tinkering with a complex system that represents 17% of our economy without a clear understanding of what might result.  Moreover, the tax reform being bandied about in Congress reflects a vague memory of Reagan’s approach without the pragmatism that Reagan exhibited.  In 1980, the country had relatively low debt and much higher taxes.  Today, the opposite is true.  Has it occurred to anyone inside the Beltway bubble that different circumstances might require new solutions?

(Perhaps they should listen to their own congressional delegation.  Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) has introduced the “Tax Code Termination Act” six times in the last 10 years.  It’s four pages long and has fewer words than the new Republican bill has pages.)

Reagan was able to pursue his agenda successfully because he understood that big changes require big majorities.  In practice, that meant he had to persuade a significant number of Democrats (who controlled Congress at the time) to vote for his budget, his tax cuts (and subsequent increases), and his deregulation schemes. 

The current crop of Republicans has forgotten that, as the majority party, they serve all Americans and seem hell bent on undermining the future of their own party.  Doubling down on retrograde ideas on immigration, economics, and social policy coupled with the outrageous behavior of our Republican President has made the party toxic for a generation of young voters.  In turn, they are being driven into the hands of the increasingly liberal Democratic Party.

Given young people’s generally reserved attitudes towards conservatism, radicalism is bound to make the conservative label and ideas of conservatism and classical liberalism toxic for at least a generation. 

The Trump presidency has moved too far down the path of impossible promises.  And so, like all tyrants, the president has begun the process of blaming others for his failings.  That is not the path to success.  It is not the path to restoring the nation’s faith in conservative principles.  And, it will not make America great again.