Republicans are in a funk. Contrary to expectations, they lost the Presidency. They also failed to expand their caucus in the House of Representatives. Republicans had only 10 Senate seats to defend against 23 for the Democrats, but three Republican senators stepped down or lost their election battles, and the Democrats grew their majority.
As far as the federal government is concerned, the Republicans fumbled big time.
To dispute moaning of party operatives and the groaning of registered Republican voters, the Republican party is anything but dead. George Orwell may have written about “Shooting an Elephant,” but more likely the Democratic party will shoot itself in the foot should they continue in their drift leftward. National Republicans have to retool their outreach, not compromise their principles.
Forget the Graveyard
Notwithstanding these failures, the Republican party willnot be joining the graveyard of American political history strewn with deceased political parties. Their predicted demise has overcome far worse circumstances than the GOP currently faces. While the Republicans failed to take the federal government, their strong and stunning show in states and statehouses across the country will foster a persuasive salience of their essential values and win back support in elections to come.
In the early years of the Republic, the Federalists held on for 20 years before collapsing, yet the opposing Democratic-Republicans adopted their central tenets. The Whig party meditated on one mantra: “We hate Andrew Jackson.” Incidentally, their caucus supported the “American system” of federally subsidized internal improvements. In many respects, they were the “Big Government” party of their day, and they dwindled into oblivion. Later on, “third” parties like the Populists, the Greenbacks and the Progressives all disappeared while attempting to steer the country in a more radical direction. The majority of these coalitions rested on expanding the role of government in labor relations, the economy, or in every other walk of life. Like the demise of the Whigs, today’s Republicans can survey the legacy of previous parties and relax: “Big Government” advocates usually do not last long.
What Paralysis?
The Republicans are not beset with the inherent and internal conflicts that paralyzed then put down the Populists or the Progressives. The Republican party was born in 1854, with John C. Fremont, the leader of the “Bear Flag Revolt,” which wrested California from Mexican hands before President James K. Polk declared war over the Rio Grande. GOP views transformed from federalized Lincolnism to Taft-Eisenhower concern about the military-industrial complex. Limited government, as a core value, emerged and remained.
When the federal government falls into the hands of one party, the other party can look for prominence and dominance in several states. We are “The United States of America,” not “The United Country of America.” While vibrant GOP dynamics are limited on the national front, the Republicans can boast of sweeping victories throughout the states.
How About Those Statehouses?
Following the 2012 election, the Republican party now controls 30 governorships, including the recent arrival of Patrick McCrory in North Carolina. Republicans hold a supermajority in fifteen states, including swing states Ohio and Pennsylvania. Alabama and Arkansas, once dominated by the Democrats, now have Republicans with a strong two-thirds advantage, a massive repudiation for the liberal party. After a recall that cost them the state Senate, Republicans once again control Wisconsin. For the first time since the 1920s, Republicans can promote their effective domestic policies unimpeded.
Within a few years, voters will recognize the soundness of Republican/conservative policies of less spending, limited government and lower taxes compared to the Blue State capitals, which are addicted to deficit spending, tax increases, and benefits expansion. Liberal states – California, Massachusetts and Illinois – have Democratic supermajorities. Yet for the first time, California received no new House seats, Massachusetts lost another, and Illinois is turning into a debt-ridden miniature of Greece.
In contrast, Indiana under Gov. Mitch Daniels boasted of budget surpluses while Washington was wallowing in the Great Recession. Privatization of the roadways saved Hoosier tax dollars. The new GOP supermajority (under fiscal hawk Gov.-elect Mike Pence) is proposing “right to work” legislation and broadening the state school voucher program. Wisconsin is championing lower taxes and increased mining rights, which means more business, more jobs, more tax revenue. Pennsylvania’s GOP supermajority will opt out of the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion, along with Red State Texas and Florida, defying the dubious ruling of the Supreme Court.
Conservatives may feel blue in Blue States. Still, California Democrats already retracted a measure to triple the car tax. Colorado Democrats may shelve another same-sex marriage bill. In other words, liberal majorities are pursuing the agendas with caution. Conservatives’ short-term pain may become long-term gain as Republican states provide a record of success and discredit the Democrats’ tax-and-spend extravagance nation-wide for the next decade.
Hardly done for, the Republican party will survive and thrive in the states with ideas that work, attracting voters and restoring GOP dominance.
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
