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My
last column calling for a clear and forceful
Republican agenda ("GOP
Must Look Forward") prompted some readers
to ask about content. I’m happy to oblige.
Before
I spell out my suggestions, I think it is important
to consider what the purpose of an agenda really is.
I believe it should be the membrane that binds party
members together. A political party without an
agenda is an empty vessel in pursuit of raw power.
Without an agenda, a party lacks coherence and
grassroots energy.
As
a party grows larger, its ability to agree on a
political agenda becomes increasingly difficult.
Most parties begin as relatively small groups of
likeminded people intensely committed to a political
objective. As political parties seek to expand their
power, they typically embrace people who aren’t as
committed to the original objective and may even
disagree with party members on policy matters.
In
Virginia, Republicans displaced Democrats as the
dominant political party by pursuing a mixed agenda
of fiscal and social conservatism. A cluster of
policy objectives from opposition to higher taxes to
support for legislation restricting abortion to
resistance to gun control brought disparate groups
together under the GOP banner. In this mixed agenda,
the overarching policy that gave Republicans the
semblance of unity was opposition to higher taxes.
When
some Republicans in the General Assembly joined
Democrats in 2004 to enact a huge tax increase, they
destroyed the GOP’s brand identity and the bond
that held a diverse group of Virginians together in
the same party. The content of the new agenda,
therefore, is critically important.
Instead
of focusing on taxes, Republicans should emphasize
the need to control spending. Higher state taxes are
merely the consequence of a lack of spending
restraint. Republicans have too often been seen as
wanting it both ways — opposed to higher taxes,
but eager to spend the new revenues.
Unless
the GOP makes fiscal discipline the centerpiece of
its agenda again, it will surely lose the support of
limited-government conservatives who have
traditionally constituted the largest segment of the
party’s base. Simply declaring that the party
supports fiscal conservatism won’t be enough. To
restore voter confidence, Republican elected
officials must exhibit the courage to hold the line
on spending, lop off some low priority programs and
consider innovative ways to achieve the same program
objectives at lower cost to the taxpayers.
The
first test is to restrain the 2006-2008 state
budget. This won’t be easy for GOP politicians,
who are under constant pressure to expand government
programs. They feel the need to compete with
Democrats to curry voter support. But the Republican
Party will never succeed for long if it becomes a
pale reflection of the Democratic Party.
Republicans
don’t have the luxury of relying on fiscal policy
alone to remain the majority party. Until the party
reached out to social conservatives in the 1970s, it
had no prospect of winning control of the Virginia
General Assembly. As the 2004 presidential election
and the 2005 statewide elections in Virginia showed,
Republicans aren’t likely to prevail without
intense support from social conservatives.
Virginia
Republicans can take advice from liberal
commentators who always depict the GOP as extreme or
they can rediscover the agenda that brought them to
majority status. This is not a situation where an
agenda has been pushed and found wanting. It
hasn’t been pushed enough.
No
agenda can succeed if it isn’t vigorously
advocated and defended.
--
November 28, 2005
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