As Election Day draws closer, conservative commentators and Republican party officials, as well as rank-and-file members, are visibly worried about the prospects of an overwhelming, disastrous defeat at the polls in November. And it is no wonder why.
As ALG News has reported, Republicans have stopped acting like Republicans.
They have abandoned their conservative principles, so much so that former leaders like Newt Gingrich and influential talk-show hosts like Sean Hannity are calling for an emergency meeting of elected Republicans in Washington to get their act together, carve out a new reform-based agenda which sharply contrasts with the Democrats’ program, and to take that message rapidly and repeatedly to voters.
The writing is clearly on the wall for all to see. Rasmussen Reports has recently published data that shows that Democrats are beating Republicans in terms of trust on every important issue in America during this election year:
“American voters now trust the Democrats on all ten key electoral issues tracked regularly by Rasmussen Reports.”
Included as troubling signs are that Democrats lead Republicans by 14 points on the economy, by 19 points on corruption and ethics, by 5 points on taxes, 15 points on education, 13 points on Social Security, and 21 points on health care. These numbers, coupled with the recent loss of three House seats in special elections, certainly foretell a coming slaughter at the polls in November.
Moreover, these numbers are not any surprise. Leadership from the Republican caucus in Congress on these issues has been appalling, and to the extent that Republicans are leading on certain issues, their message is not reaching the ears of the American people.
All is not lost, however. Despite the fear pervading the political right of the coming onslaught, there are still those that believe that the Republicans’ fortunes may be reversed, including the Wall Street Journal in an editorial yesterday, “The Republican Panic”:
“[I]t’s time for Plan B. One immediate temptation will be for Republicans to abandon Mr. Bush and start voting with the Pelosi Democrats to claim they’re doing something about health care, gas prices, and so on. But this will only further alienate the conservative voters they’ll need in November.
“The better strategy is to offer a reform agenda of their own, especially one that begins to speak to the economic anxieties of the middle class…
“Voters are especially angry about rising prices for food and gasoline, and here too Republicans can start speaking for the middle class. The weak dollar policy of the Bush Administration and Federal Reserve has helped to cause the price spike, and Republicans on Capitol Hill should start talking about how inflation punishes those who work and save. With oil at $124 a barrel, voters are also willing to listen to a message that encourages more domestic energy production across the board – oil, natural gas, coal, shale and nuclear.
“Democrats have settled on a formula of running as cultural conservatives in GOP districts, and as economic populists on “fiscal discipline,” trade protection, corporate bashing, and “middle-class tax cuts” paid for by taxes on the rich. If Republicans can’t trump that message with an agenda of low taxes, health-care affordability and portability, jobs and stable prices, they will be routed again in November.”
Clearly, Republicans are not hurting from a lack potential positions to take, with a mind towards promoting free markets, but for a lack of starkly taking those positions on the issues and promoting them. Republicans need a unified agenda that is promoted on a daily basis, and sets the table for the policy debate.
To a large extent, a lot of the hard work has been done by conservatives already framing these issues through media outlets. For example, voters are ready to blame government for high food and energy prices for its ethanol mandates and lack of increased energy production. Are Republicans in Congress? Voters are aware that a weak currency will increase prices. But are Republicans making that case?
Even though Republicans are in the minority that does not mean that they cannot take the lead on these and other issues. Realistically, even if they got their acts together tomorrow, and presented a united reform agenda to the voters, and promoted it every day between now and election day, it might not be enough to help Republicans sweep back into the majority.
But it would give the American people a clear, real choice to make in the voting booth, which is more than they’re doing now. If the GOP does not wish to remain in the minority for perpetuity, then the party must return to its conservative roots and craft an agenda with an eye to appealing to a majority of voters.
They may ultimately be defeated anyway, but it need not be a catastrophic, realigning election which pushes this nation too far to the Hard Left.
ALG CTA: We call upon journalists throughout the nation to urge their audiences to contact House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to demand that action be taken to draft a new platform for elected officials to follow. The American people do not want one party rule, they want a choice. And it is up to the leaders of political parties to give them that choice by demonstrating real leadership.
