GOP in the wilderness

Richard Nixon might have been a disgraced President, but he was an excellent observer and analyst of politics. In his nook In the Arena, Nixon wrote about the political wilderness that politicians are excommunicated to. Nixon suffered his on wilderness in 1962 when he lost the California Gubernatorial election, only to be elected six years later. Nixon suffered a second trip to the political wilderness in 1974 when he resigned in disgrace, only to end his life as a relatively respected elder statesman. Winston Churchill achieved great early success in his political career only to be banished to the wilderness. Indeed, during his time in the wilderness, Churchill was actually lampooned for his fear of the Nazi menace in his writings and public speeches. Churchill went on to become one of the few prime ministers ever given a state funeral by the United Kingdom.

The Republican Party in the United States has been in the wilderness several times before. The first was in 1936. Republican nominee Alf Landon was crushed by then President Franklin Roosevelt. Congress became overwhelming controlled by the Democrats. Ten years later, the Republicans would take back control of the House temporarily and see Dwight Eisenhower elected to two terms.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson crushed Barry Goldwater and the Democrats won Congressional seats widely. Two years later Republicans would gain seats. In 1968, the once embarrassed Nixon would be elected President.

Nixon’s resignation in 1974 started another period in the wilderness for the Republican Party. The Congressional elections of 1974 had pundits calling for a death watch of the Republican Party. Jimmy Carter seemed to put a nail in the GOP coffin with his election in 1976.

However, four short years later, Ronald Reagan, created out of the debacle of 1964, was elected President and the Republicans took control of the United States Senate.

In 1992, when Bill Clinton soundly defeated President George H.W. Bush, again the pundits predicted dire consequences for the GOP. However, just two short years later, the Republican Party gained control of both the House and the Senate and forced Bill Clinton to run his re-election campaign on Republicans ideas at the time such as welfare reform. Democrat Clinton even pronounced, “The era of big government is over.”

Now, it is 2009, and the Democrats have solid majorities again in both houses of Congress and a very popular Democratic President is about to be inaugurated. Pundits are again talking about the weakness of the Republican Party and how it faces potential disaster. There is discussion of divisions and leadership vacuums.

The Republican Party has been in the wilderness before. A good many politicians who ended up rising to the highest levels have been there individually. The common threads in the return to power by parties and by individuals has been tenacity, being for ideals instead of merely opposing the other side, and having a clarity of message and purpose that hits the people.

There is no doubt that the Republican Party is in the political wilderness right now on the national level. It can be a time of needed reflection. We must find a way to communicate those ideals our party has that connect with the majority of the American people. In the current political climate, we do not have the luxury of communicating first those ideals that are narrow to specific groups, however well funded that they might be. Those groups can be thrown a political bone or two, but the central message must be one about our ideals that hit the people as a whole.

The Republican Party not only needs to distance its message from narrow agendas, it must make the case to average Americans how its agenda will work for them. I believe issues like at least holding the line on taxes, if not outright tax cuts, being watchdogs over pork barrel Congressional spending, standing for national defense and real immigration reform, and providing real alternative solutions to average folks on health care, education, and social security safety are needed. If our party’s message moves more libertarian, it will be soundly defeated again by the Democrats and our country will move more towards socialism. If our party’s message does not offer real reforms, we will be seen little different than the Democrats, and chances are the people will vote for “the devil that they know.”

Make no mistake, the current GOP banishment to the wilderness was of its own doing. When Republicans ran Congress and the White House, they spent money like drunken sailors on shore leave and lined up deals and money for their contributors. Our party never truly offered a limited and reformed government. Thus, the perception was created that the Republicans would still have big government, but it would be for the fatcats. That allowed Democrats to claim that their big government would be for the little guy. Historically, in such a conflict, Americans always go with the little guy.

If we Republicans want to get out the national political wilderness we are in, we have to show that we will be for a limited federal government that will help the little guy by getting government off his back. We have to be for less pork barrel spending, less unnecessary regulation, less taxes, and stronger accountability for the acts of our elected officials.

In the Book of Proverbs, there is a passage, in Chapter 20, Verse 30 that speaks of how blows that wound clean the soul. In 2008, the Republican Party got one of those blows. Let’s hope the leadership and activists of the party know the wisdom to gain from it.