Conservatism in search of a leader

Elvin Lin has published an excellent essay, "The Republican Party is Not the Conservative Movement" (read it here). While much has been written about the struggle between conservatives and moderates for the soul of the Republican Party, it is a battle conservatives have no hope of winning unless they renew old alliances. That means that Republican conservatives and Republican libertarians need to not only make peace with each other, but together they must forge a coalition with the Tea Party movement, a force which owes no allegiance to the GOP or any other political party. It is among these three groups -- conservatives, libertarians and the grassroots movement -- where the seeds of the Reagan Coalition have been scattered.

In his essay, Lin discusses how that winning coalition became unraveled:

The Reagan coalition is fraying, because the libertarian faction of the conservative movement has had enough of sitting at the back of the movement's bus. For too long, they bought Ronald Reagan's and George Bush's argument that expensive and deficit-increasing wars are a necessary evil to combat a greater evil, but the bailout of the big banks last Fall was the last straw for them. If Irving Kristol once said that neoconservatives are converted liberals (like Ronald Reagan himself) who had been "mugged by reality," Tea Partiers are conservatives who have woken up to the fact that neoconseratives are no different from pre-Vietnam-era liberals chasing after utopian dreams.

 While we agree with Lin that Iraq was both a botched and expensive adventure, we believe that the terrible price paid in blood and treasure to have a bastion of liberty in the Middle East and a base from which to ride herd on radical jihadists could have been worthwhile, had the neoconservatives only been willing to make the additional sacrifice of spending restraint on other fronts and committing the assets required to win the war sooner. Had there a sufficient   commitment to the effort from the beginning no surge would have been required, and the war could have been won sooner and with far fewer casualties. But George W. Bush and those who were advising him were more interested in playing at the margins. While Republicans in Congress were busy spending like Democrats, no adult was in the room to put a halt to it and school them on the error of their ways. As a result, neoconservatism is in decline, and its death as a force in American politics can't come too soon for libertarians and populists alike.

As Lin points out, the fall of neoconservatism has created a leadership vacuum in both the conservative movement and the GOP:

Most people will agree that we know exactly what Barack Obama is up to, politically. The right-wing talk-show hosts will be the first to tell us. But we really do not know what the Republican party stands for or who could possibly lead it in 2012. This is because the party has lost its synthesizing logic and lacks a unifying hero. This weekend, a straw poll conducted at the Values Voters Summit put Mike Huckabee on top, with 28 percent of the vote, because the straw pollers are Values Voters, who constitute yet another faction within the conservative movement. But what was more telling is that even though Sarah Palin did not even turn up for the event, she nevertheless garnered the same endorsement as Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Mike Pence, at 12% each. This is conservatism in search of a leader.

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and so a golden opportunity presents itself:

Because it is parties that win elections and not movements, Republican members of congress should not be taking any comfort from the passionate protests of the Tea Partiers. Instead, they should be embarrassed about the fact that they have been trying to play catch up with a movement that has lost hope in its elected officials. More importantly, the Republican party must find a new way to unite the neoconservative, libertarian, and traditionalist factions of the movement to have any chance of standing up against a president and party, who in 2010, could well be riding the wave of an economic recovery to electoral success.

Viewed in this light, Sarah Palin's decision to give up her office and title as Governor of Alaska should begin to make sense even to the myopic critics who said at the time that doing so meant that her career in politics was over. Perhaps Citizen Palin's greatest assets are her political instincts. She saw the storm clouds gathering across the land and her political forecast was spot on. It is no coincidence that she chose the conclusion of her address in Hong Kong -- that part of a speech where the speaker wishes to hammer home the most salient point -- with these remarks:

My country is definitely at a crossroad. Polling in the U.S. shows a majority of Americans no longer believe that their children will have a better future than they have had...that is a 1st.

When members of America’s greatest generation – the World War II generation – lose their homes and their life savings because their retirement funds were wiped after the financial collapse, people feel a great anger. There is suddenly a growing sentiment to just “throw the bums out” of Washington, D.C. – and by bums they mean the Republicans and the Democrats. Americans are suffering from pay cuts and job losses, and they want to know why their elected leaders are not tightening their belts. It’s not lost on people that Congress voted to exempt themselves from the health care plan they are thrusting on the rest of the nation. There is a growing sense of frustration on Main Street. But even in the midst of crisis and despair, we see signs of hope.

In fact, it’s a sea change in America, I believe. Recently, there have been protests by ordinary Americans who marched on Washington to demand their government stop spending away their future. Large numbers of ordinary, middle-class Democrats, Republicans, and Independents from all over the country marching on Washington?! You know something’s up!

These are the same people who flocked to the town halls this summer to face their elected officials who were home on hiatus from that distant capital and were now confronted with the people they represent. Big town hall meetings – video clips circulating coverage – people watching, feeling not so alone anymore.

The town halls and the Tea Party movement are both part of a growing grassroots consciousness among ordinary Americans who’ve decided that if they want real change, they must take the lead and not wait to be led. Real change – and, you know, you don’t need a title to do it.

The “Tea Party Movement” is aptly named to remind people of the American Revolution – of colonial patriots who shook off the yoke of a distant government and declared their freedom from indifferent – elitist – rulers who limited their progress and showed them no respect. Today, Main Street Americans see Washington in similar terms.

When my country again achieves financial stability and economic growth – when we roar back to life as we shall do – it will be thanks in large part to the hard work and common sense of these ordinary Americans who are demanding that government spend less and tax less and allow the private sector to grow and prosper.

We’re not interested in government fixes; we’re interested in freedom! Freedom! Our vision is forward looking. People may be frustrated now, but we’re very hopeful too.

And, after all, why shouldn’t we be? We’re Americans. We’re always hopeful.

Thank you for letting me share some of that hope, and a view from Main Street with you. God Bless You.

To us, those sound like the words of someone who is ready, able and willing to fill the leadership void Elvin Lin described. 

Another View: Meanwhile, The Reaganite Republican questions whether the GOP really needs to have a leader at this stage of the game.

- JP