◼ Reducing our debt can’t be the only Republican agenda. - Rich Lowry/National Review
The national party is leaderless and nearly issueless, but besides that, is thriving and in fine fighting trim.
It used to be that the Republicans were nasty people because they exploited “wedge issues,” which was the pejorative way to describe issues that were popular with the public but made Democrats uncomfortable. The phrase has been retired. Even if it hadn’t been, it’s not clear what Republican issue it would apply to anymore.
Once, taxes and national security were the party’s pillars, supplemented by domestic issues like welfare reform and crime and by symbolic issues like the Pledge of Allegiance and flag burning. Now, the pillars are in disrepair....
This won’t change soon. It is too early to have a presidential candidate or even a presidential field, so the GOP lacks a head and therefore a unified voice.
Of course, it wasn’t long ago that Democrats seemed to be in dire straits. The party agonized over appealing to “values voters” after 2004. Little did they know that, eight years later, they would run a successful reelection campaign on limitless abortion and free contraception. The Bush-era Democrats benefited from serial Republican debacles, from Jack Abramoff to the financial crisis.
Events will again take a hand, as they always do. And since last fall’s election, top Republicans from Bobby Jindal to Marco Rubio have been talking about a more bread-and-butter economic agenda. Fleshing that out, though, is a longer-term proposition. In the meantime, Republicans should prepare themselves for more discontent.
