In the Battle for the Republican Party, Conservatives Should Hold Their Ground
The arguments claiming the party needs to move to the center to win are simply not sound.
Since the day after John McCain lost the election, a battle has raged. “Pragmatists” have demanded that conservatives, particularly social conservatives, compromise their values in order to win elections.
The argument between the principled and the “pragmatists” goes back and forth, and there are numerous variations. A personal favorite, from the conservatives, is the pugilistic argument: make us.
This, of course, is not so much an argument as a challenge to the David Frums of the world. Conservatives did not obtain their spot in the GOP because the Rockefeller wing decided one day that, in order for the Republicans to win, they needed to let conservatives run things for a while. Conservatives became the core of the party through hard work and struggle.
But conservatives may not be utilizing the most potent fuel for the fight: the self-styled pragmatists’ ideas, listed below, are anything but.
1) Spectral politics is the underlying force of American life
Pragmatists believe Republicans must capture the center to win elections.
John McCain is far closer to the center than Barack Obama. And if spectral politics determined the outcome of elections, the 2008 election would have had much the same result as the 2004 race, based on exit polls showing that the percentage of conservatives, liberals, and moderates voting was essentially the same as four years before.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s theory of vertical politics makes far more sense. Huckabee posits that, while the base of the two parties look for which candidate will take the country to the right or to the left, most voters think vertically and are far more concerned with whether their leaders are taking the country up or down. In 2008, voters rejected the GOP — not because they had taken America too far to the right, but because they were seen as taking the country down.
One can easily make the case that you’ll take the country up while running as a liberal like Obama, or as a conservative like Ronald Reagan.
2) The center is a solid political foundation
The danger of trying to run to the center is that the center is constantly moving. In the early ’90s, the idea of civil unions for gays and lesbians would be considered extreme. Now most observers call it centrist. Opening the Department of Education was an extreme left idea. Not having it is now an extreme right idea.
Building a political party on the center is building on a foundation of Jell-O.
Big Tent Democrat of talkleft.com says it well: “Politics is not a battle for the middle. It is a battle for defining the terms of the political debate. It is a battle to be able to say what is the middle.” If conservatives concede to efforts to move the center to the left, it will not be long until the definition of the center moves leftward again, ever leftward, the terms of the debate being defined by the leftists.
3) The argument matters, not the facts
Good strategy examines the facts and maps out a plan. Bad strategy does what you wanted to do in the first place and tries to frame facts around your argument. The latter is that of the pragmatist. The argument against social conservatives has gone on for years, and only has more potency because Republicans are out of power.
There’s no proof that abortion or same-sex marriage cost Republicans the election. All indicators are that it was the lousy economy and big bailouts. In fact, polls have shown the majority of Americans still oppose same-sex marriage.
The one actual piece of data they’ll point to is that younger people tend to be more open to same-sex marriage. They argue the GOP ought to jump ahead of the age curve and abandon the majority position for what will be the majority position in a few years.
There are two problems with this strategy. First, people tend to become more conservative as they grow older, get away from the politically correct atmosphere of the academy, and marry. Many twenty-two-year-olds who support same-sex marriage may well become thirty-two-year-olds who oppose it.
More importantly, the pragmatists lack solid proof of an army of people who, but for the stance on same-sex marriage and abortion, would join the Republican Party. Indeed, the most vocal supporters of same-sex marriage are either part of the gay rights movement or movement leftism and are unlikely to change sides if Republicans reversed course on these issues.
Some very prominent bloggers on the right, such as Allahpundit at Hot Air, Patterico, and Moe Lane opposed Proposition 8. Yet they’ve said far more in reaction to anti-Prop. 8 extremism than they ever said against Prop. 8.
The reason? Politics isn’t about getting everything you want. Two examples, according to polls: 82 percent of Americans support voluntary prayer in public school and 70 percent of Americans support term limits. Yet both issues are dead in the water. Why?
Because our system is not government by what people want, but by what they care about.
Even if they would personally vote for school prayer or term limits if they were in Congress, few will base their votes on these issues. On the other hand, a November 2008 poll showed 11 percent of people voting Republican had abortion as their top issue, versus only 2 percent of Democrats and 4 percent of independents.
How much pragmatic sense does it make to tick off one out of nine Republicans in order to reach out to independents on an issue they don’t really care about?
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Adam Graham is a contributor at Race42012.com and host of the Truth and Hope Report podcast. His personal site is Adam's Blog.
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30 Comments
1. David Thomson:The Republicans would be foolish to be perceived as “moderate” on economic issues. Secular yuppies. who in the recent past primarily voted on cultural war issues, are now scared about their economic futures. They realize that Obama and the Democrats are hurting their pocketbooks. A mushy headed, somewhat Keynesian GOP candidate will simply turn them off. They want candidates who will straighten out the current mess. Take a look at the recent polling data. The majority of the citizenry is rejecting the president’s economic agenda. He will not be able to get his major legislation through Congress.
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:22 am 2. Blivet:“Republicans have to realize that, while the GOP is big enough to hold people with conflicting viewpoints, it is not big enough to hold people with conflicting priorities.”
Put into other words, the GOP is like a blivet. A “blivet” is a 5 pound sock that ruptures when you try to stuff 10 pounds of pure 100% BS in it.
People are not all that demanding when it comes to what they want. Most would agree on national defense, lower taxes, reduced government intrusion and putting a stop to the illegal immigration mess.
Check your coffers RNC. Voters are not in the mood for another popularity contest between a squeaky, old has-been and a young, slick talking black, neither of which have what it takes to sit in the Whitehouse.
Jun 25, 2009 - 4:46 am 3. Ed Wallis:I’m sensing a mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it-anymore moment among conservatives vis a vis the GOP.
’bout time.
Jun 25, 2009 - 5:07 am 4. Darius Thomson:The party needs to hold true to its core values, but would be foolish not to exploit the zeitgeist. Further, the party is a democratic organization. The party will have no choice to change its stance on issues if the facts on an issue change, or if there are a groundswell of new people present when the platform is voted upon.
Jun 25, 2009 - 5:40 am 5. sheesh:Adam Graham . . . any relation to . . .
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-06-24-graham-tapes_N.htm?csp=34
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:11 am 6. sheesh:By all means, hold your ground . . . stand on your principles . . . fiscal conservatism and family values . . . OK, maybe not those . . . let’s try . . . gun totin and gay bashin . . . yeah, that feels better . . . like that favorite soft old white shirt.
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:17 am 7. rocketeer:Ed @3 – I’m not sensing that feeling, I read it every day in all of these posts. There are millions of us that are so tired of the party trying to be Democrat lite. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve read about Republican’s telling the party that they’re just not going to donate anymore until they start representing them. We need a house-cleaning at the top of the party to bring in some people with conservative values that can represent us and not just give us lip service and assume that they have our votes.
I completely agree with the author in that the Republican party did lurch to the center this last election cycle, and we got our hats handed to us. It is said that only a fool keeps doing what doesn’t work, but that’s what the higher ups seem bent on doing. Why don’t we just try mounting a truly conservative candidate just to see what happens guys? Common!!
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:22 am 8. Reaganite Republican:Only Libs and useful idiot tools like Meghan McCain want the GOP to become Obama-lite. And people will want Reaganite principles to restore our economic power and world leadership position after the comprehensive collapse of Obamamania.
Regarding the GOP’s recent setbacks at the polls, Bobby Jindal has said:
“People need to look at the history of Ronald Reagan when he lost his first attempt at the Presidency (in 1976). He didn’t go back and say, ‘Let’s water down the conservatism. Let’s dilute what we’re saying. He made it even stronger…. he made it EVEN sharper. There’s a lesson there for potential candidates”
“We need to be principled in our conservatism. We need to be unabashed, unafraid. We won’t always be popular with editorial writers and a lot of the members of the national media… and that’s OK. At the end of the day, it’s more important that we stick to our principles.”
Jun 25, 2009 - 6:50 am 9. Sapwolf:EVERY person I know or heard of leaving the GOP left because they were libertarian or conservative, not because they were moderate.
The GOP is becoming moderate by default as libertarians/conservatives leave it. Once it stops these moderate to lib shenanigans, people will vote the GOP way.
The MSM is TOTALLY misinterpreting WHY people have left the GOP. You want to find ex-GOP’ers, just go to a Tea Party.
I’m still in the GOP because of Gov. Sarah Palin, the only fiscal conservative hope in the GOP that could merge with the Tea Party movement and truly represent the Constitution and the 2nd and 10th Amendments.
Jun 25, 2009 - 7:24 am 10. Sebastian Shaw:The Conservatives do indeed need to fight back against the moderate Republicans who seem to shift like sand depending on the issue; the moderates have no real core to themselves & should not be the focus for the Republican Party as it has been for several years; as a result, the Republicans have lost badly in 2006 & 2008. The Conservatives need to stand for the Constitution, traditional family, smaller government, & lowering taxes across the board. Once a Conservative Republican emerges & provides leadership for these ideas, he or she will pull the ever shifty moderate Republicans to him.
Moderate Republicans are too soft & too willing to give in to the Democrats for so-called “bipartisanship.” And for what? The Republicans get the shaft while the moderate Republicans smile like a dumb kid given the short end of the stick & told otherwise. The John McCain’s of the USA need to go away, far away from the Congress as possible. They do more damage than good.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:09 am 11. Big Red:The big delusion is you must win the ______ (fill in the blank) vote. Blacks vote 90% Democrat, so you’re not going to pull that off easily. However, if you pull away 5% of that, you put the Dems in serious trouble. The same for other blocs. Leave the identity politics to the Left. Only half the electorate show up to vote, and it’s not all the same people evey time. Figure out what’s keeping the others from voting. Disgust with the options, not being represented, laziness, indifference? Whatever the reason, there are millions of votes not being cast every election. Reagen won by raising a banner of “bold colors” and people came to him. He didn’t waste time chasing the ____ vote and neither should the GOP now. Give people a reason to vote for you and they will. Look like the others guys, just less so, and nobody will bother to care.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:17 am 12. arhooley:The Constitution. Stick to it. Shove the Democrats (”We’re gonna force you to be nice”) and the Republicans (”We’re gonna force you to obey the Ten Commandments”) and see who comes under the tent. I bet even sheesh would.
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:44 am 13. JED:Simple works. Solid foundations hold. The list is long. Here are a few core ideas/strengths:
Jun 25, 2009 - 8:47 am 14. clare spark:Term limits including the judiciary
Less government intervention
Secure the borders
No deficit spending/Yes to balanced budget
Free enterprise
Government as the referee, not the player
Those that don’t work, don’t eat, end handouts
Equal application under the law
State rights, 10th Admendment over federal omnipresence/omnipotence in matters less than national security
Beware of political/social experimentation
Warning labels on the MSM as to fact/opinion
Stringent voting rules and punishment against any fraud, tandamount to treason and forfiture of citizenship
Transparency and uniformity in budgets and taxes
No Pork!
If the block voting public is too ignorant to make solid choices, then we are all damned anyway.
Although I have been voting for Republicans of late (call me neocon), I cannot stomach the strong biases against science among many conservatives. I would add that if any one group attempts to impose its rigid morality on the rest of the population, you will lose the young voter.
Jun 25, 2009 - 9:30 am 15. "progressive"watch:As American democrats we have both rights and duties. For the authoritarian among conservatives, there are only obligations. For the extreme libertarians, there are only rights. Surely there must be a way to create and analyze public policy that recognizes both the autonomy of the individual and the need to acknowledge obligations to others.
Graham is right,right and right. Giving up your values is a lose-lose situation. If you win,you’ve lost yourself.
Jun 25, 2009 - 9:55 am 16. JED:To the party of “No”: Stop allowing the civil servants to become our civil masters.
Jun 25, 2009 - 10:52 am 17. Big Red:An Independent and Tax Payer
14 – Clare. Not trying to be snarky, but could you define the science conservatives are biased about? It usually means “embryonic” stem-cell research. Most of us do appreciate the fruits of science in our lives and those who are blessed with the intelligence to pursue it.
Jun 25, 2009 - 11:24 am 18. Tristan:Yes, there are both rights and obligations in life. We just resent those claiming to be our “betters” sitting in Washington and defining them for us. As for the young, they have a funny way of growing up. As did we all, well maybe except sheesh, but where there is life there is hope.
As one poster here says “Welcome to the Dark Side. We have cookies”.
Good article. The Democrats were teflon going into the election, far too small of a portion of the voters connected the party to its long legacy of economic, social, and foreign policy failures. That’s because the GOP did not do its job, both in the ‘06 and ‘08 election. The answer is to get some fresh blood into the party. A related issue is that Barack Obama is *not* Bill Clinton yet was allowed to run on his Democratic coattails and the memory of a good economy and relative peace. Clinton was/is a centrist Democrat, although you could make the argument that was because of Newt in Congress. Centrist Democrats understand that if you trash the economy, all of their social programs go bust too. Barack Obama, as a progressive, feels that it is the government’s duty to replace the private sector, and that will obviously be a disaster. GOP did *not* draw that distinction and should have. Centrist Democrats have both a heart and a brain, to use the old Winston Churchill categorization. Chicago machine politicians co-opting the anti-war movement have neither.
Jun 25, 2009 - 12:17 pm 19. skydiver:#8, I agree with you wholeheartedly.
We should not try to be everything for everyone. But we should hold on to our principles, and maybe, just maybe the others will understand, that conservative values are not just a word.
If only we can persuade our elected officials to listen to us and do as they are told and not as it suits them.
Can not wait for 2010.
Jun 25, 2009 - 1:23 pm 20. skydiver:JED #13,
Hear, Hear!!!
Jun 25, 2009 - 1:31 pm 21. Blarty Blarckleblart:Along with most of you, I strongly encourage the GOP to continue on its present path towards becoming a regional, racially homogeneous party. That would be the best thing for the country.
Jun 25, 2009 - 2:52 pm 22. Rev316:Republicans would be quite foolish to listen to the liberal opposition to become more like liberal Democrats if they want to grow the Republican party. The Republicans are weak because they have turned their backs on conservative, Christian, small government values. McCain was a Gang of Fourteen RINO whose presidential campaign was stillborn until SARAH PALIN gave CONSERVATIVES something to get excited about–and scare the heck out of liberals who know Palin has what it takes to lead conservatives. I don’t care what the name of the party is, I vote conservative and socially conservative, to be more specific. Whichever candidate is the most conservative gets my vote.
Jun 25, 2009 - 2:56 pm 23. Whistler:I don’t know the statistics but the independents are growing at a faster rate than the Republican party. These people are going to be the king makers. They don’t like the political slop from the left or the same old reactionary stuff from the right. He who grabs the center will control this country.
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:06 pm 24. Whistler:Here is what the main problem is. Republicans tend to be one issue voters while most of America is conservative without the one issue dogma. The one issue Republicans turn off the rest of the country. Just as Obama is bad on the left, one issue Republicans are as bad on the right. Nobody likes to have something crammed down their throat. The next election will be up for grabs as center America gets sick of the new status quo. If the Republican party is going to let the tail wag the dog, they’ll hand Obama a second term. In my thinking this is a lot worse than a little hard headed compromise. If the ultra Conservatives refuse to show up at the polls, they will deserve to have Obama as their grand leader again.
Jun 25, 2009 - 3:19 pm 25. Warren Bonesteel:The party of principle keeps shooting itself in the foot…ignoring The Constitution, promoting big government, ignoring ethics and ignoring morals and honor which they claim to live and to value. Now, Conservatives and Republicans are looking for a Great Leader of their own, contrary to the narrative of small government and self-reliant individualism which they espouse.
Start local. Town councils, county commissions, county sheriffs, state legislatures, Congressional and Senate meetings.
Free men and women don’t need leaders.
They are leaders.
Jun 25, 2009 - 10:38 pm 26. sheesh:25. Warren Bonesteel: . . . “The party of principle . . . ignoring The Constitution, promoting big government, ignoring ethics and ignoring morals and honor . . . ”
Then what makes you think they’re the party of principle?
Jun 26, 2009 - 3:25 pm 27. Patrick of Atlantis:If Republicans want to win, they must disabuse voters of the notion that Republicans are for the rich and Democrats are for the “poor working man”. Republicans must show that the Democrats’ “empathy” for the poor is as phony as Nancy Pelosi’s face. And they must refrain from running candidates who have zero sex appeal to the largest voting bloc, young women between the ages of 18 and 45. Sex appeal is important to most of them although they would probably tell you otherwise.
Jun 27, 2009 - 7:02 am 28. Northern Light:#14 Clare Spark and #17 Big Red. I think that Clare was thinking of anti-science arguments like,
- Evolution is a secular humanist ploy to remove God from creation
- The Earth is 6000 years old
- Dinosaurs existed up until the Middle Ages
- Human beings are incapeable of damaging the environment
- Oil is not produced from ancient decayed matter, but is constantly being replenished by God.
I’m sure there are other lovely examples, but these ones so boggle my mind that I haven’t had time to look for others.
Jun 27, 2009 - 11:08 am 29. Marc Malone:#28 Northern Light – Thanks for clearing that up for me, because I had never heard those things.
All my friends are Conservative. The only Dems I know are my aged Mother, and one Sister, whom I never call anymore, because her worthless boyfriend answers the phone. So, as I don’t waste my time on HuffPo, and I have no liberal friends to give me the Dem talking points and propoganda, I would never have known what clare was going on about. Thanks again.
Jun 28, 2009 - 3:23 pm 30. Will:Move to the center and be wishy washy,over the fence with no mind of your own.
Jun 28, 2009 - 3:52 pm