(My morning post on Indieconservative)
Welcome to the first big primary day of the 2018 cycle! True to form, in contests across Indiana, West Virginia and Ohio, Republicans have taken care to sight their feet clearly in their scopes, exhale slowly and smoothly pull the trigger. To be clear, vigorous competition and contentious debate in a primary is necessary and good. But that’s not what’s happening here. Nor has it been for several cycles.
Put bluntly, dysfunction and self-sabotage have been the defining characteristics of GOP primaries for the better part of a decade. Beginning around 2008, concurrent with the birth of the Tea Party, a dominant theory emerged that diagnosed the root of our political problems to be squishes like Christopher Shays and Lincoln Chafee. If only we could replace these RINOs with true conservatives, the theory went, we could finally achieve truly conservative policies. Channeling a highly energized electorate, the campaign industry on the right set about achieving this desired purity with the fervor of Paine’s French Revolution and the foresight of Bremmer’s de-baathification, to predictable results.
Let’s back up for a moment. In the heady days of George W. Bush’s Administration (a point of reference because it was the last functional Republican governing coalition), we accomplished fairly conservative objectives by overpaying. Nearly every substantial piece of legislation championed by conservatives was made more expensive to address the concerns and garner support of moderate Republicans in Congress.
This profligate spending, in spite of full control over the levers of federal power, led to understandable frustration amongst the conservative grassroots, particularly those concerned with the systemic growth of government and debt. Conveniently ignored in the equation was that, dependent on Democrats, every single one of those bills would’ve cost exponentially more.
Today, what was an understandable electoral impulse has been indulged to the point of creating a self-destructive conference and a nearly ungovernable legislative body. We were once able to broker deals with moderates in the conservative coalition. Now many of those seats are occupied by Democrats with little interest in any deal that furthers Republican objectives.
At some point, party officials and elected leaders are going to have to come to terms with the fact that our primary system is fundamentally broken. Since 2010, we’ve spotted Democrats five Senate seats (Angle, O’Donnell, Akin, Mourdock and Moore). By the end of today, it could very well be six (Blankenship). Jay Cost puts it mildly when he writes “party primaries are a problem, especially for Republicans.”
This is not to blame the Tea Party / HFC or suggest that Republicans are the only party catering to their extremes. But we should no longer ignore what our party’s appetite for fratricide has wrought. Today, the US Senate could be 56-44, with a cloture proof majority in sight. Consider the difference this would’ve made on ACA repeal, tax reform or any other major conservative priority.
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Published in Elections
I live in Indiana. Three good men, have ripped each other apart in an effort to be our next Senator. I’m not voting today. If any of them would have run a positive campaign, and talked about the issues, I would stand in line for hours to vote of him. Â
Left unsaid the the meddling that DC does in local elections.
Primaries are when we get to fight it out. There should be more opportunities for primary debates for low level office than what we have now and state GOP offices should focus more on those during primaries than endorsing on of their nominees.
Stump speeches and campaign ads mean diddly squat to knowing a politician. Old-fashioned, well-advertised local debates should be a foundation of our primary seasons.
I hesitate to point out the obvious, but, nonetheless…
The dogs aren’t eating the dog food. Much like those legendary dog food makers, the Republican Party insists the problem isn’t the candidates, it’s the Republican voters. This despite the greatest object lesson of the past 100 years sitting in the White House.
Give the people what they want. Maybe they will get it good and hard. But, maybe, just maybe, if the party can offer a choice, not an echo, voters will be inclined to consider a straightforward conservative candidate rather than a marginally qualified bomb thrower.
Republicans should avail themselves of some ancient wisdom, courtesy of Sun Tzu,
“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be put at risk even in a hundred battles.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.”
Maybe wait until after the november elections to decide if the primaries were or were not a disaster?
If the GOP just stopped lying it would have done better.
Steve, what is your justification during the Heady days of teh Bush admin that the judges were not confirmed as fast as they should have been? Don’t nuke em, that would be bad? What did the Dems do the first chance they got?
All I have heard from the GOP since those days is “Wait until we (control the house, control the senate, control the White House, have more votes in the Senate). We were promised “regular order” and did not get it. If the GOP, in control of the House cannot even pass a budget, what good are they?
You are blaming the voters because they are frustrated they have been lied too over and over and over and over and over and over.
This is the fault of the GOP for not following through. The leaders have lost the faith of the followers. And then have the temerity to blame the followers.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/april_2018/gop_voters_less_in_sync_with_their_leaders_than_democrats_are
The GOP got us here, not the voters. The Primary voters are tired of being lied too. They are tired of being told to eat crap and love it. They are tired of seeing the Progressives march from victory to victory, and the GOP do nothing to stop them.
Thus we get Trump, and instead of looking at what is going on, the powers that be, double down and blame the primary voters.