The Republican Party is taking a strategically risky position this campaign by asserting it is the party of change.
The Democrats rode into their primaries and debates on a campaign of “change”, and immediately owned that position, making a compelling case that our government is broken, our national priorities deranged, and the greatest threats to our country (environment, healthcare, economy, and Bin Laden & Co.) ignored.
The Republicans responded by also claiming they were for change, even though they were the party of power for over six years and their propositions were generally anything but revelations. In effect, they were trying to steal share of mind in independent voters from the Democrats, a battle they seemed sure to lose, at least at first glance.
But during the debates, there were two distinct voices of reform in the Republican field, both of which were fresh, but doomed breaths of air:
Constitutional Primacy
Ron Paul made independents like me listen to the Republican debates because he spoke with a conviction bordering on zealotry about three things close to my heart: libertarian values, the defense of the Constitution at all costs, and the belief that war should be a last resort, not a first choice.
In some sense, part of his platform sounded classically Republican: Republicans have often claimed to be the party of small government and the party of individual freedoms. Neither could be farther from practice in the George W. Bush administration as no President since Nixon has spent this much, few in modern memory have built this much additional bureaucracy, and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution haven't been as overtly impeded on since the McCarthy era (Patriot Act, wiretapping program, etc.).
Ron Paul got the attention of Americans who like the old Republican values of fiscal conservatism and individual liberty, values which have been replaced today by puritanical guilt trips, faith-centric and faith-derivative policy, and inane references to “small town America” which engender a Luddite-esque love affair with olden times- the way it “should be”.
Ron Paul had many flawed positions in his campaign, including an appearance of grave inadequacy on the economy, not to mention lacking the podium polish needed to win a TV campaign. But in spite of his shortcomings- real and superficial- Ron Paul played a major role in resurrecting the Republican Party’s modern image- he blew the whistle on Iraq and the administration’s abuse of individual liberties from inside the party and placed Constitutional rights back where they belong: at the top.
Populism-ish
Several writers have described the modern Republican Party’s phenomenal marketing capability and opined upon its uncanny ability to convince voters to vote against their own self-interests. Republican policies have enabled tax breaks for wealthy Americans and corporations, protected oil subsidies, and protected companies from being subject to state-imposed regulations (CA vs. EPA), supposedly the very core of the old Republican agenda. Republicans seem as able as ever to brand themselves the party of “small town” America but make their policies instead about “corporate stakeholder” America.
But this election brought another brief wind of change to the Republican Party: a whisper of populism. I’ve grown accustomed to hearing about tax cuts from Republican candidates, but not healthcare, the wealth gap, and the economics affecting regular Americans. Gov. Mike Huckabee was selling a populist bill of goods, and convincingly so:
"The first thing we’ve got to do as a Republican party is quit being a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wall Street."
"We have to start addressing building this country, and not everybody else's."
"If you want to know how to fix it [healthcare], I've got a solution. Either give every American the same kind of health care that Congress has, or make Congress have the same kind of health care that every American has."
On paper, Huckabee’s positions on the issues didn’t differ much from his peer group, but for a few months, his comments during the debates seemed to hint at the potential for a new era of realistic Republicanism, one that was actually going to do something for working class Americans instead of lionize, then sabotage them.
Last week, the RNC tried to sell itself again as the real change agents- that Republicans would go to Washington (from Washington), and supposedly challenge what they helped their own administration to create.
But the reform rhetoric was unconvincing: “Drill baby drill” was the already obsolescent energy policy. Constitutional rights were addressed best by Gov. Palin’s ridicule of Sen. Obama: “Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.” Healthcare was given five minutes.
With Paul- uninvited- running his own convention down the street amid rumors that he will become a third party candidate, and Huckabee, shattering any myths that he might actually be a populist by singing the old anti-European-socialist-welfare-state fear classic, the RNC had successfully exorcised its actual momentum of change, leaving only the hollow brand Karl Rove had been hired to sell.