The Winning Agenda by Richard W. Rahn
The Bear on May 31 2008 at 8:29 am | Filed under: Election 08’
If you knew that a recent Zogby International survey found 59 percent of the respondents described themselves as “fiscally conservative and socially liberal,” and if you were a head of a political party wanting to put together a winning platform, what would you do?
The question is not all that tough, but both Republican and Democrat leaders have yet to get it right. The Republicans, after losing three straight, off-year special congressional elections, are in a panic about what to do to renew their “brand.” The Democrats naively think they are in great shape, even though they only have an 11 percent congressional approval rating.
The Republicans destroyed their “brand” after they gained control of Congress in 1995 by moving from limiting government spending to becoming big spenders from 2000 on. The Bush administration further damaged the “brand” by incompetently managing the aftermath of the initial war in Iraq, promoting new entitlements (the prescription drug benefit) and such bad ideas as setting up an office in the White House to promote religion (which unnecessarily antagonized those traditional religious conservatives who firmly believe in separation of church and state as well as the Republican Party’s libertarian wing).
At the same time, Democrats cannot seem to get it through their heads that most Americans do not want higher taxes and more nitpicking government regulations on how to run their lives. They are confusing voter disgust with Republican mismanagement as support for their left-wing agenda.
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