On last Sunday’s edition of NBC-4’s News Conference, the futurist Joel Kotkin of Chapman University gave sobering assessments of the Republican Party, post-election.
“The Republicans had a bad candidate for the 2012 election,” he said. “Romney was a plutocrat. Republicans have strength with middle class and working class voters.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or South Carolina's Nikki Haley would hit the spot. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has the up-from-the-bootstraps credentials. Florida’s Marco Rubio, as well. Many have prospered without a silver spoon. They represent the truth that men and women can ascend from poverty to prosperity without a handout from the state.
A Legitimate Claim
The Republican Party's values reflect the interests of the middle class. No one will care, though, as long as financial or government elites dominate the national party conference.
Kotkin discussed the racial bifurcation of the state of California. Whites and Asians congregate more along the coast, blacks and Hispanics inland. The state has lost so much employment that California has both the highest rate of poverty with the greatest concentration of wealth. The exaggerated wealth gap dominates in one of the bluest, most Democratic states in the union. Ironically, one of the frequent talking points for liberals and Democrats hinges on advancing policies that will “close” the wealth gap. California is ground zero for the zero credibility of their redistributive policies.
“Political leadership has ignored infrastructure,” Kotkin continued. “Stop running against government. Invest the state's money in infrastructure. We are the party of Lincoln, of public works. Government has a different role.”
Get Out of the Way
Government’s role is to make the private sector do all that it can with minimal interference. One of the Left's hollow talking points has centered on a fabled “anarchy” spirit among Republicans and the Tea Party movement. Liberal Congresswoman Janice Hahn claimed in two local newspaper interviews that Tea Party conservatives do not want government to do anything. The charge is patently untrue.
Would that government simply did what it was supposed to do, as outlined in the Constitution. However, all the promises, perks, and pork almost have prevented government from doing what it is required to do.
Still, public works is not a bad word. We do have government for a reason. Protecting our rights and securing our borders is part of it. How to pay for it has not been answered. The roads, the rails and the waterways deserve the best support our country can offer. A well-laid infrastructure based on federal block grants is the way to go.
“Gay marriage is a stupid fight, wins us nothing. Younger conservatives are more in favor of gay marriage than elderly liberal people.”
In the South Bay 66th Assembly District, older Democrats favored Republican Craig Huey because of the social issues and their fear of losing Prop. 13. Republican newcomers like millennial Chris David, who placed third in the 33rd Congressional District’s June primary, advanced a libertarian platform that even soon-to-depart old-school Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina favors.
The Meaning of Tolerance
Columnist George Will argues that Republicans can tolerate gay marriage without endorsing it, as gay Massachusetts Republican Richard Tisei advised in his very close campaign against incumbent Congressman John Tierney. Party leaders can stick to their principles, while allowing other Republicans to believe otherwise.
“People are moving to the coasts, looking for apartments, waiting for the housing market to improve.” Prof. Kotkin explains further: “People cannot buy a house, raise a family, get a decent job” presently in California.
The housing market in California is not improving because the business climate has grown worse. A Democratic supermajority hardly inspires confidence. State Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) praises his and his colleagues' efforts for “closing” the budget deficit, with “only” one billion dollars still lacking, a set of claims based on rosy projections.
Businesses depend on hard facts. If more people are not moving to the coasts, they are leaving the state altogether, fleeing to Nevada, Arizona or Texas. More people are going to Oklahoma than vice versa for the first time in the state's history. Only L.A. County has received net migration from New York City and Chicago. The Golden State is a great place to live because of weather, but people who cannot weather the poor business climate are storming out in droves.
Kotkin studied the potential effects of Congress letting the country fall off the fiscal cliff. The regions to be hardest hit by the tax increases all lie along the coasts, the liberal metropoli. The Democrats will be hurting their own base more than anyone else.
Kotkin's demographic projections, neither good nor grim, outlined lessons for the GOP along with the stringent consequences of liberalism. Hopefully, Republican Party leaders will act like their pachyderm mascot, never forgetting the disastrous outcomes of ignoring the latent, blatant changes redefining this country.
Adapting to become more populist, more public works-oriented, respecting the diverse demographics of the country, with more outreach to youth and minorities, and then the Republicans can spring off the failures of liberalism unchecked into a roaring resurgence in 2014 and 2016.
Mr. Schaper of Torrance, a teacher turned writer “on all topics timely and timeless,” may be contacted at arthurschaper@hotmail.com, aschaper1.blogspot.com and at asheisministries.blogspot.com Also see waxmanwatch.blogspot.com
