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July 7, 2009
Exclusive: 6 Strategies to Revitalize the Republican Brand (Part One of Two)
The Republican Party has run into hard times. It lost the presidency, it has lost a painful amount of authority in both houses of Congress, and one more appointment to the Supreme Court by President Obama could set the conservative movement back years or even decades. Since November, Republicans, Democrats, and media pundits alike have discussed one particular topic at great length: how the Republican Party (and by extension, the conservative movement) can make a comeback. As we as a nation come off the patriotic high of celebrating the 233rd anniversary of our Independence, here are a few suggestions on how the Republican Party can even the odds against the Democrats in 2010 and 2012.
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Effective Communication
Whether the issue at hand pertains to social or economic issues, foreign or domestic policy, national security or energy topics, the Democrats have enjoyed an advantage over Republicans in terms of communication for several years. Let's look at a couple of examples.
With respect to energy policy, Republicans are frequently bested by Democrats in communicating responsible, viable policies on energy security to the American public. If one were to listen only to Democrats, one would suspect that there are a host of viable "green" alternative energies that have been stifled by Republicans in Congress and by big oil in the corporate world. For example, during the 2008 election, Sen. McCain frequently championed nuclear energy, while then-Sen. Obama just as frequently got away with claiming that he supported nuclear energy "if it could be demonstrated to be safe" – despite the fact that modern nuclear reactor designs have been proven beyond question to be essentially meltdown-proof. Sen. Obama won, and while Sen. McCain would have undoubtedly followed through on this promise to usher in a nuclear renaissance, President Obama seems to be far more interested in assisting the United Arab Emirates with their civil nuclear ambitions than facilitating a nuclear rebirth in the United States.
The truth is that the "green alternatives" that President Obama frequently cites – mainly solar and wind – are so technologically inefficient in their current forms that they require substantial underwriting by the government, in addition to their other drawbacks – wind turbines, for example, have been shown to threaten the lives of birds, bats, and possibly even goats. As they stand, wind and solar energy production are not economically viable to the point of securing funding through the private sector (which tends to be a much better determinant of economic viability than any government program). And yet, despite their economic and technological non-viability and questionable ecological sustainability in their present incarnations, Democrats have successfully championed these alternatives while simultaneously out-talking Republicans on the viability of clean, safe, efficient nuclear energy. To date, Republicans seem to have been completely incapable of explaining why the word "Chernobyl" should not be a legitimate one-word filibuster when discussing nuclear safety with Democrats. This is to say nothing of the failure by Republicans to convince the American public why the United States should open a whole host of domestic venues for fossil fuel exploration and drilling.
Another topic that has proven to be one of consternation for Republicans is the topic of abortion. When Republicans attempt to explain why the abortion should be a federalist issue (left up to the individual states to decide for themselves), or why Roe v. Wade is irresponsible case law and representative of judicial activism, or why there should be reasonable government restrictions on abortion, Democrats will frequently fire back with tired, obnoxious rhetoric about back-alley abortions with coat hangers, or about sexism and restrictions on the rights of women. President Obama, for example, made a political career of voting in favor of truly barbaric allowances on abortion practices, all the while claiming that his sole concern was allowing for the health of the mother.
The truth is that the vast majority of Republicans favor the allowance of abortion for the sake of the mother's health, or for cases of rape and incest. With advances in modern medicine, health complications that would necessitate abortion are increasingly rare. Instead, Republicans have allowed Democrats to frame and dominate the debate on the abortion issue, and to turn it into a losing issue for Republicans for decades. This is an issue that Republicans should be able to win, but due to years of poor communication on the substance of the issue, Republicans falter at their attempts to counter Democrats.
At the very least, these and a host of other topics should be competitive issues for Republicans, if not winning issues in many cases. With respect to energy policy in particular, the fact that Republicans have allowed a handful of hardline environmentalists to make a winning Democrat position out of stifling nuclear energy, relying on non-viable solar and wind energy, and sending billions of dollars abroad every year to foreign oil producers is truly mind-boggling, and truly pathetic. It is long past time that Republicans took a cue from the late President Ronald Reagan, and started communicating to the American public in a more substantial and effective manner. Conservative talk radio, select newspapers, and a handful of television news outlets provide excellent venues for disseminating the message, but Republicans must have a coherent, unified message to send. The makings of that message are there, and the time has come for Republican leaders and statesmen to refine it, and to start spreading it wherever possible.
Good Behavior
Political leaders of all parties have a reputation for doing exceptionally stupid things. Whether the charge is corruption, sexual impropriety, incompetence, or any of a number of other inappropriate behaviors, one political leader or another seems to get in trouble for something on a weekly or monthly basis. These figures do the same things that get normal folks in trouble, but because they represent their constituents and often claim to be paragons of judgment and virtue, the stakes are much higher. Unfortunately, Republicans have allowed themselves to become the rule, rather than the exception, when it comes to political scandals.
A review of the last few years of political scandals seem to feature a disproportionate number of Republicans: Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley, Larry Craig, Mark Sanford, just to name a few. As Sen. McCain frequently noted on the campaign trail, Republicans did not lose the House and Senate in 2006 over the Iraq War – they lost because of corruption, fiscal irresponsibility, and scandals.
The time has come for Republican leaders to read elected officials the proverbial riot act on this sort of behavior. During the election, Sen. McCain promised to veto earmark-laden legislation if elected. Since McCain was not elected, Republican legislators in both state and federal government must instead follow Sen. McCain's long example of refusing irresponsible and costly earmarks for their constituencies. In short, they must cut this destructive pork out of their legislative diet, and use the ensuing political capital (and gratuitous mentions of high profile Democrat earmarks, like the Woodstock Concert Museum?) to regain the trust of the American electorate – particularly in an era in which President Obama and his allies in Congress seem poised to spend record amounts of money on an unprecedented range of bloated government programs. The stakes are too high to allow for the "business as usual" attitude that even Republican legislators have gotten used to.
Republicans must also clean up their act when it comes to personal impropriety. Because mainstream press outlets lean to the left, it has become increasingly clear that the same improprieties that Democrats can get away with will do disproportionate political harm to Republicans. The time has come for Republican leaders to take party members behind the proverbial wood shed for any sexual or personal improprieties. As stated previously, the stakes are too high at present for Republican officials to continue allowing this kind of indiscretion without addressing and preventing future instances. As a party, Republicans can no longer afford these lapses in accountability.
Reaching Out
In recent elections, there have been a handful of key groups that Republicans have made little effort to woo, or have written off completely. Two examples are African-Americans and Hispanics.
During the primary season, the only Republican candidate who appeared to make any effort to reach out and campaign amongst the African-American community was Gov. Mike Huckabee. In fact, Huckabee was the only Republican candidate who bothered to show up for a debate at Morgan State University, a historically black school. Where were Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, or even John McCain? With the election of Michael Steele as Republican Party chairman, Republicans may finally be poised to at least attempt to woo African-American voters. There is are no inherent philosophical or historical reasons why African Americans should vote so consistently for Democrats, and if Republicans are serious about winning in 2010 and 2012, the time has come to start campaigning amongst voters that Democrats have taken for granted for too long.
Another such group is Hispanic voters. An emerging key voting bloc, this group voted decisively for President Bush in 2004. However, a concerted effort by a handful of ignorant and boisterous partisans to paint comprehensive immigration reform as an "amnesty bill" resulted in Democrats picking up Hispanic votes in 2006 and 2008. Many Hispanic voters already lean to the right on social and economic issues, and Hispanics are well represented in the military – they have good reasons to vote for Republican candidates. Unfortunately, without reforming immigration and calling out shock jocks who stir up ignorance and discontent amongst the Republican base, Hispanics will continue to worry about the condition of their families under Republican leadership, and continue voting for Democrats as a result. Republican leaders, as well as rank-and-file Republican voters, must learn to treat legal Hispanic immigrants as potential allies, or else resign themselves to continue losing elections.
This is not to say that Republicans should water down their message, or compromise their values in order to win votes. What it does mean is that Republican candidates must show their faces to a wider audience, even when many in that audience are likely to differ with them on key issues. Republicans share common ground with nearly every major interest group in America, even those that are traditionally loyal Democrat voters. The only way for Republicans to regain political momentum is to forge alliances and friendships based upon that common ground, and this means reaching out to those groups to whom they have recently given too little attention to.
* * *
In my follow-up, I'll address three additional strategies that Republican leaders should embrace in order to make a competitive attempt at regaining momentum in 2010 and retaking the presidency in 2012.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Tom Ordeman, Jr. is a technical writer for a major defense contractor in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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