On the Republican Reputation Problem
It is probably not news to you that the Republican Party has a severe reputation problem. The sooner we confront and fix it, the better.
The major components of this reputation problem are unfaithfulness and ineffectiveness. You've heard it all before - the two major parties being a "uniparty" that cooperates on enacting and preserving policies that don't have the support of the American people. Democrats move the ball to the far left and Republicans fail to stop them; or worse, cooperate with them, fund these damaging policies, and fail to reverse them when empowered with a mandate to do so.
The situation is particularly bad at the national level. The Biden administration has enacted one dangerous policy after the next, while we watch a nominally GOP-controlled House of Representatives sign off on appropriations to fund all these policies, surrendering all the leverage available to fulfill their mandate to stop this regime's double-time march towards tyranny.
This problem is not new; it was a Republican vote that prevented the repeal of Obamacare; it was Republicans who, in Virginia, authorized the expansion of Medicaid. Democrats hike taxes, Republicans fail to repeal them. Democrats enact infringements of the Second Amendment, Republicans authorize enforcement. Democrats stuff DEI into every institution and Republicans fund the enactment. This list could be pages long and still left incomplete.
The problem is so bad that major GOP organizations delete the word "Republican" from their fundraising pitches.
Democrats don't have this branding problem - you know what you're going to get when they take power: socialism, gun bans, budget blowouts, open borders - every wish list item of the far left.
The downstream effects of this phenomenon are numerous and widespread, and all inure to the detriment of Republican candidates and campaigns, and to the detriment of the American people as a whole.
Every Democrat candidate enjoys the benefits of consistent Democrat Party messaging. Just the word "Democrat" lets you know they're going to promote and fund higher taxes, unlimited abortion, gun control, uncontrolled immigration, DEI, LGBT, and a wide array of political activism paid for by the public treasury. Just one word, "Democrat" has the power to communicate all these things to voters.
In contrast, the word "Republican" communicates almost nothing. What exactly do you know for sure when a candidate sports the GOP label? That the person will promote fiscal responsibility, free markets, Constitutional rights? It should, but it doesn't, because when Republicans get elected Americans don't see those results. At best, we see a pause in the advance of the far-left Democrat agenda. At worst, we see Republicans going right along with it.
The situation is unsustainable and untenable. It continuously alienates what should be reliable GOP constituencies, causing countless voters to stay home. It forces every Republican candidate to start from zero in their messaging, while their opponent gets a massive head start for free.
These facts compel the Republican Party to define itself if it wishes to be victorious at the ballot box. While excessive orthodoxy is incompatible with forging a winning majority coalition, having no hard-and-fast principles at all doesn't help us get there, either.
In short, the GOP needs an identity; in the here-and-now it doesn't have one. I propose that the endeavor to define what a Republican is start here and now, and here are a few items I'll put on the table, items which have clear majority support among the electorate and are consistent with what the party has historically been.
The Republican Party was founded for a specific purpose: to oppose slavery. In other words, as a force for human liberty and the protection thereof. Consistent with this purpose, there is a compelling modern-day need to preserve and protect Constitutional rights. The collection of current liberty issues all Republicans should be able to support include protection of religious freedom; opposition to censorship; elimination of infringements against the Second Amendment; Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches; and protection of due process. All of these fundamental Constitutional rights are under immense threat by Democrat-led forces of tyranny.
The next set of Republican identity issues concern preservation of the Constitution itself. The need to enforce the integrity of America's borders is a fundamental duty of the federal government and should not be controversial among us. Preserving the guarantee of a "republican form of government" compels strong protection of the integrity and legitimacy of elections, which are being gamed unethically and unlawfully along every vector that can be exploited. Again consistent with the GOP's founding purpose, uncompromising opposition to DEI programs, utterly offensive to the 14th Amendment, should be baked in with the Republican label.
Finally, the GOP must take seriously once again a key "blessing of liberty", which is the prosperity of the people. This means protecting the value of the dollar through fiscal responsibility, as well as minimizing taxation and curbing excessive regulation. In the modern era, it also means goal-seeking cheap energy, as energy costs are reflected in the price of every good and service in the economy. It also means protecting American industries against the rapacious mercantilism of foreign competitors which has hollowed out our economic base. It means the promotion of the production of real goods, which are the main source of true wealth, and opposing anti-competitive practices that destroy free markets.
The above is by no means the entire set of worthy policies that Republicans can pursue, but none of it should be objectionable to any Republican. The value to the GOP brand in embracing this policy platform is immeasurable. Not only is it the right thing to do, building a consistent positive reputation along these lines will provide accruing benefits to every Republican candidate and campaign well into the future.
Democrats have been wholly overtaken by the forces of tyranny; the role that will keep the Republican Party relevant is to once again take up the mantle as a guardian of liberty. By starting here, we can make the GOP brand a real asset to a successful winning party over the long term, and make America a better place for all of us and our posterity.
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