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Another Perspective
Opportunity for the Right
A dogged attempt at post-election optimism.
After Tuesday night’s stinging defeats, I’m going to try being an optimist. I’m far better at being a pessimist, so bear with me if this seems a little forced.
Finding positives after an electoral jackhammering is never easy. After breathless predictions of a Republican wave by many conservatives, Mitt Romney barely cleared 200 electoral votes. The GOP actually lost seats in the Senate. Democratic upper house candidates won in red states like Nebraska, North Dakota, and Montana. States like Virginia and Florida, considered ripe for Romney, instead rekindled their love for Barack Obama.
Following electoral disasters, movements and political parties start casting about, searching for answers, threatening to excommunicate people. This process can be dangerous; witness the left’s splintering during the 1980s, unable to counter Ronald Reagan’s statesmanship.
But, if played correctly, it can also be energizing and cleansing. After 2008, when conservatism was supposed to be wheezing on its deathbed, the Tea Party formed, tossing off big-government Bushism and gathering the right into an ideological movement that tackled the challenges of its time. The voters responded in kind and the 2010 election was a blowout.
Now the introspection period is beginning again. Already the firing squads are forming. The GOP’s self-styled moderates are blaming the Tea Party for dragging everyone to the right. The Tea Party is pointing back at the moderates, wondering why Romney never offered voters a real alternative.
Of the two, the Tea Party is much closer to the truth. The lion’s share of this election was lost by Mitt Romney, who initially ran such a vacuous campaign that the Democrats were able to define him as a bloodthirsty plutocrat. Nothing, not the wretched economy or dazzling debate performances, could revive him from that. When you spend six months declaring “I’m not that guy” and “Economy,” you don’t win elections.
The challenge in the coming months, then, is for conservatives to force a return to principles with which most Americans can identify. This might be easier than it seems.
After the election was called for President Obama, I left a party in Washington and hailed a taxi. The cabbie asked if I was a Republican. After I answered yes, he launched into a tirade against the Tea Party. Feeling drunk and belligerent, I argued back and we shouted at each other across much of the city. By the end, he was articulating Paul Ryanesque policy prescriptions in one breath and cursing “right-wing extremists” in the next; a fiscal conservative who loathed the fiscally conservative Tea Party.
I’d wager my cabbie’s sentiments are pretty common. Polls show people favor less government over more government; lower taxes over higher ones; paying down the debt over spending more on stimulus. Even if Americans don’t like movement conservatism right now, they agree with it on the issues that count. Whatever happened on Tuesday, America’s ideological soil is still conservative.
Our president, meanwhile, is a pompous left-wing ideologue, incapable of moving to the center. News is breaking that he’s considering a national carbon tax for his second term. There’s a big battle over income tax rates looming at the beginning of next year. Obamacare’s destructive new tax on medical devices begins in 2013. With no spending cuts planned for the president’s second term, the national debt will be more than $20 trillion by 2017.
Put plainly, things are going to get a lot worse. And the pain will be directly traceable to big-government social engineering policies: a student loan bubble inflated by Sallie Mae, small businesses not hiring thanks to the high fixed costs of regulations, health insurance premiums surging thanks to Obamacare, and much more.
A contrast will beg to be made. “This is what liberals do,” conservatives should say. “And conservatism is a rational response to this.”
The biggest obstacle will be bleating from the press. Scream that conservatives are psychotic extremists over and over again for years and eventually people will believe it. Add a chorus of self-flagellating moderates hand-wringing over the future of their party and it only gets worse. And throw in a few self-inflicted wounds (can we please stop talking about rape?) and conservatives get stigmatized without ever having their ideas seriously discussed. We need to pay down the debt, but seriously, screw the Tea Party. It’s death by cognitive dissonance.
But this time, conservatives won’t have to rely on the robotic cadences of Mitt Romney to get through the cacophony. The right’s bench for 2016 — Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Bob McDonnell, Paul Ryan — is very strong. It’s a good bet that the next Republican presidential nominee will be bright, young, and energetic; an articulate messenger.
The opportunity will be there. We just need to make sure the right (and the country) survives the coming years.
Then again, maybe this is all too quixotic. On Tuesday night, there was the singular feeling that a last chance was slipping away, a final stand getting mowed down. Maybe those instincts were right and America is doomed to a future of debt default, massive unemployment, and flaming meteors falling from the sky.
But hey, if you can win over a cabbie…
About the Author
Matt Purple is The American Spectator’s assistant managing editor.
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.8.12 @ 6:30AM
The Senate (So far) has picked up two Democratic Senator. Was it really that stinging of a defeat? To unseat a sitting President takes a lot power and enthusiasm and it wasn't there.
The liberal press is raging against the right wing and with good reason. In just a few months all the right wing predictions will start coming true with a vengeance.
Last night, Lou Dobbs had some interesting numbers. It appears that Democrats turned out 38% of their base and Republicans turned out 32%. That alone looks bad for Democrats and Republicans.
Soon though, there will be new numbers. Capital flight may already be occurring as the investor class cashes in stocks to avoid capital gain tax increases.
Other numbers will arise. Massive layoffs affecting entire industries as they avoid the cash crunch of Obamacare. More taxes pulling capital from efficient spenders and turning it over to speculative spenders, like green energy.
The Democrats were smart to delay Obamacare until 2014. The day of implementation is coming and the negative side effects have already started. By the end of next summer we will see the start of a new recession.
The Republicans should start getting their materials ready now and they should still fight like hell for their principles.
They lost two Senate seats one of which was a miracle they had anyway. A stinging defeat? No.
Even with two idiots like Akin and Mourdock the Republicans took a licking and kept on ticking.
RJ| 11.8.12 @ 7:59AM
The loss was much more than Romney, even though he could have run a better campaign. Having to defend only 10 Senate seats against the Democrat's 23, the GOP managed to lose 2 seats. We need to face the fact that the GOP lost the Presidency to a failed President. We lost Senate seats to weak Democratic candidates like Elizabeth Warren. The Democratic platform appeals to dependent people who want government to let them live off of other people. What we learned this Tuesday is that there are more dependent people than freedom-loving people. They are also younger and in expanding demographic groups. Somehow we need to change their minds if we are to be a free people.
wh| 11.8.12 @ 7:59AM
Rubio supports his version of amnesty and he supports Multiculturalism too
In Florida he prevented many laws which could have control illegal immigration
I know that many feel desperate and they assume that just nominating an "Hispanic" will save America.
America will be save when people again be Americanized instead of allowing the growth of identity politics
Have we ever learn from the mistakes done by the wise men and sage of the GOP ?
Hardcard| 11.8.12 @ 9:01AM
It's the electorate stupid !!!!!
Nancy in NC| 11.8.12 @ 9:07AM
Until (if?) the GOP ever runs a candidate and a campaign based on core principles they will continue to lose.
Much is being said about appealing to minorities, etc. What a bunch of crap. The right has lots more to offer the minorities and women than the left. All the left offers is serfdom and plenty of it.
Until we can effectively market our principles, we are doomed. It really isn't that difficult, but we always pick the wrong messenger.
The Avenger| 11.8.12 @ 9:21AM
Amen sister, Amen
Gary B| 11.8.12 @ 12:25PM
We need to excommunicate the establishment stiffs in the party. They are never, never right. If fact it looks like they are intentionally never, never right.
Von Mises Jr| 11.8.12 @ 9:14AM
The one very good thing that happened Tuesday is that the nation not only lined up ideologically, but geographically.
It is much easier for statist to pick off their targets one at a time. And it is clear that West Coast, Mid-west and the Northeast that went all in for Obama will be the first to have their pension systems fail and they will be unable to afford their government services like police protection and infrastructure. This is already happening in Harrisburg, PA and several cities in CA.
In the Northeast, teachers and cops retire at 55 with $75K plus packages. In CA it is allegedly six-figure. So the South and Western states other than the coast can join together and resist the theft of their taxes to bail out these liberal basket cases. If the national situation gets bad, you will find me with the Southerners.
RCV| 11.8.12 @ 2:42PM
Better go check the facts, Von Mises Jr. It's the read states in the south that suck tax dollars from the productive blue states like California and New York and Massachusetts. Mississippi ain't bailing out anybody.
RCV| 11.8.12 @ 2:43PM
obviously "red" not "read"
Von Mises Jr| 11.8.12 @ 3:43PM
I am not talking about current allocation of education dollars and the like. I am explaining that the states of CA, IL and NJ are about to crap the bed with the pension plans and benefits for retirees.
CA has a $16B shortfall and they just voted to raise taxes on themselves. But that does not solve the long-term pension funding problem. IL was short about half that amount. NJ had $47B a couple years ago when they should have had $107B for pensions and about $65B for Cadillac Health Plans in the pension accounts. That is about $0.27 cents on the dollar to pay the annuity.
These and other states pensions are doomed starting as early as 2018. NJ has pensions come before bonds, so the State Employees are allegedly made whole as the state spins into a death spiral.
If ObamaCare Medicaid mandate is funded, FL estimated it would be another $2B to their budget each year.
I am talking about bailouts when the funds implode. The entire public sector pension funds are underfunded by about $1 trillion, I believe.
John Navratil| 11.8.12 @ 5:42PM
Von Mises Jr,
Half of California seems to be moving to Texas. I'm concerned.
handsoff| 11.8.12 @ 8:53PM
A whole lot of CA moved to CO in the 90's-doubled the population. I have residences in both places not happy with situation in either. May go to AZ, lower state tax, lower housing, not much else. CA is a nightmare of gov problems and illegal immigrants and stupidity. CO becoming that way. Not much to recommend any state. Anyone have any suggestions?
John Navratil| 11.8.12 @ 5:40PM
RCV,
Did you forget Texas? It's a donor state. The big teat sucker is D.C., of course. The states that are donor states are those that are most populous. Florida and Ohio are net suckers (not by much). The big suckers in the South are Mississippi and Alabama - not much surprise there as they are the poorest states. New Mexico out sucks the both of them. Maine sucks more than half of the states in ole' Dixie. West Virginia sucks more than any state in the South.
Of the ten largest teat suckers, only three are in the South. One of the three is the government contracting capital of Virginia.
Perhaps you owe Von Mises Jr. a bit more respect for his facts.
handsoff| 11.8.12 @ 9:00PM
CA is NOT productive. It is a nightmare of taxes, corruption, illegal immigrants (not welfare or jobssuckers but school and medical system suckers) and general government incompetence and stupidity. Resident for 20 yrs.
PS just a few facts CA adds over .90cents to every gallon of gas, pays 250k to each member of many boards and commissions which meet for 1 hr a year, some monthly, and they get pensions. Brown is back and he was a colossal idiot the first time and set some of these idiocies in place.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 10:22AM
"Always look on the bright side of life!"
Yeah yeah yeah. Economy this and economy that. But what happened was that 40% of the (voting) electorate showed up to vote for Obama due to race. The remaining 9% that put him over the top were whites who bought into his hokum and didn't see a reason to vote for Romney because Romney was obsessed with "binders full of women" (and minorities) When Romney and McCain are too busy pandering to the left's electorate, why should their own show up?
Bottom line: This was a repeat of McCain but to a lesser extent. Romney didn't go to LaRaza and chant the Mexican national anthem, but he didn't take care of his electorate either. The left wins elections by taking care of their electorates and interests. Romney and the Republican party elites hanging out at country clubs isn't going to cut it anymore. Take care of your electorate.
Period! Do you hear that yet? TAKE CARE OF YOUR ELECTORATE!!!! Again:
TAKE CARE OF YOUR ELECTORATE!!!!
ElGordo| 11.8.12 @ 10:55AM
It's time for the Congress to Investigate ;
Benghazi and Fast and Furious
GobBluthe| 11.8.12 @ 11:01AM
""The GOP actually lost seats in the Senate. Democratic upper house candidates won in red states like Nebraska, North Dakota, and Montana""
NOT NEBRASKA
GobBluthe| 11.8.12 @ 11:09AM
Romney overall ran a decent campaign. He was disciplined and on message. The fact the author thinks Romney didnt offer a competing vision speaks to the cluelessness of the author. There was a competing vision, the voters rejected it. It is possible there was an anti-Mormon factor at work with northern evangelicals. But I dont know.
I do know this. Romney won the highest percentage of the white vote 59% since 1984 and still lost. There is your problem. On top of that Obama built an excellent electoral vote firewall. 51% of the vote for the GOP gets you 286 EVs (2004) while the same percent for the Dems gets likely 335 EVs. The GOP is uncompetitive in too many states in Presidential elections to garner a majority.
BTW looking at the returns state by state, the next swing state isnt TX or AZ, it is GA. GA barely budged from 2008 results while TX and AZ actually had Romney out pacing McCain in the % of the vote.
PolishKnight| 11.8.12 @ 1:27PM
GobBluthe, another way of looking at the glass is that Obama got 41% of the white votes while Romney got something like 5% of the black votes. There has to be a reason why 35% (or 7 times) more whites vote Democrat than blacks vote Republican.
The Republicans don't take care of their electorate. They either go for helping "everyone" or for lost causes (gay marriage/outlaw abortion) or bring back the government of before 1932. Nice causes, but not winnable other than when the Democrats put up unusually bad candidates (such as Gore or Kerry).
In the meantime, special interest groups will vote based upon their self interest versus "helping everyone" everytime. It's funny that I argued with a leftist and he said "You're part of the problem! You vote against Democrats because you're selfish! You're the problem with the whole world!" yet he loves the majority of Dems who are simply welfare recipients or race entitlement seekers.
Until the Republicans even address race and gender entitlements, they're destined to lose elections.
zhaba1| 11.8.12 @ 1:19PM
God, how naive. Just look at the demographics and the growth of dependency. Superimpose with the falling test scores (which is a good indication of the average IQ trends).
Within the framework of the current electoral process Conservatives have no chance anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if Texas flips next time.
As Rush said, in the Land of Children Santa Claus always wins.
It is time for a Plan "B". Hopefully somebody (who doesn't want to live in the United States of Amerika) can figure out what this might be.
RCV| 11.8.12 @ 2:44PM
Adios!
Fiscal| 11.8.12 @ 3:34PM
You could be right Matt as long as you also include a plan to stop Republicans from shoving their religion down our throats. You failed to mention social issues at all. That is one of the major problems.
handsoff| 11.8.12 @ 9:06PM
No repub I know wants to shove any christian religion down anyone's throat.
Islam is being foisted on us in the name of nondiscrimination, as are the religions of humanism (liberalism, socialism,scientific reason, communism) and the cult of BO, the annointed one.
Islam is a real and present danger as the major if not main tenet is world domination by force and BO supports, praises and encourages Islam in the US, while denigrating the Judeo-Christian religions that helped found this country.
Fiscal| 11.8.12 @ 3:34PM
You could be right Matt as long as you also include a plan to stop Republicans from shoving their religion down our throats. You failed to mention social issues at all. That is one of the major problems.
Archie| 11.8.12 @ 3:44PM
I don't get this. I don't recall Romney saying he wanted to shove Christianity or Mormanism down anyone's throat. And I don't recall any Republican running for the house or senate expressing that desire either. Are you talking about some local yahoo no one ever heard of outside your city?
handsoff| 11.8.12 @ 9:07PM
Good on ye Archie.
gray man| 11.10.12 @ 12:06AM
You must be talking about a fantasy election, no one shoved religion down anyones throat.....asinine comment.
Vance P. Frickey| 11.11.12 @ 9:04AM
We DO have an opportunity here - if we take it.
Nothing the Democrats did to us in this last election could have been done if we'd anchored the party to the Constitution. Want to outlaw abortion? Show it to me in the Constitution. Want to define "marriage" as "the union of a man and a woman in holy matrimony"? Go back and read the First Amendment, and if you don't understand what it says on the topic, go over to the Democrats, who don't like the Constitution when it doesn't say what they want to hear.
It's pretty simple. Liberalism has (until now) been able to beat us with rolled-up copies of a document they now have shown us they don't truly understand, or they'd have forsaken Obama in his first two years as President. Which leaves the Constitution to us, if we care to honor it.
If I could transform the Republican Party into a group that was civil in its internal discourse and always with its eye to the Prize - a country that would see Barack Obama for who and what he is - then I would. Social conservatives would still exist in that party but would realize that their power only exists as long as it's confined to the bounds set for it in the Constitution. We can't run the country to suit the churches.
The churches must gain power by educating the people, not ruling over them in Congress, because the people themselves can put them OUT of power pretty quickly. And just have, for the second time in five years.