George Will (today’s Washington Post) has apparently concluded that a Romney or Santorum presidency is unlikely. Fear not: the field of candidates for 2016 is deep and impressive. In the interim, he makes an argument for pragmatism:
conservatives this year should have as their primary goal making sure Republicans wield all the gavels in Congress in 2013.
While a lack of a supermajority in the Senate and Obama’s veto pen will prevent conservative legislation from passing, a GOP majority in each chamber could limit the damages:
Beginning next January, 51 or more Republican senators, served by the canny Mitch McConnell’s legislative talents, could put sand in the gears of an overbearing and overreaching executive branch. This could restore something resembling the rule of law, as distinct from government by fiats issuing from unaccountable administrative agencies exercising excessive discretion.
Perhaps. But one would have to go back to the 1990s to discover a GOP that would act as Will hopes and serve as a genuine barrier to the expansion of executive power and state power more generally. The track record since 2001 has not been very encouraging (think No Child Left Behind, the Patriot Act, the Medicare Modernization Act, preemptive war, and the embrace of seemingly endless deficits).
A question to ponder: Is it too early for conservatives to abandon all hope for the 2012 presidential election?
A second question: Is there any reason to believe that a GOP victory would produce results that were altogether different from what occurred the last time it held unified control?
My two ‘senses’:
Barring a sudden economic plunge in the next nine months (and this could very well happen) there is no chance that Obama will lose the upcoming election. The conservatives have a stacked bench for 2016 and after they get over their identity crisis they will probably be taken seriously again.
Which ‘results’ are you referring to exactly? Wars, financial crisis, and wealthy tax breaks galore? The renewed party will likely look something more akin to what libertarians are attracted to (just look at the support for Paul amongst young people), that is to say the party will have to take a isolationist, small-government, low-tax position along with a heavy judicial hand.
Worse, preventive war!
The best summary of the contemporary GOP I heard goes something like Clinton taught Newt that he could enjoy the fruits of big government too. The modern GOP knows that the American people have been sold a bill of good; but sadly, as the people do not realize this, anyone who attempts to remove said “good” faces banishment to the electoral wilderness. There is no getting around it anymore. American’s like big government..fact! Time and time again they give lip service to the idea of cutting program and when asked which programs, only the ones they do not benefit from. Americans like big government!
Question 1: you don’t quit a baseball game in the 5th inning, or, at least, I don’t. It ain’t over till it’s over.
Question 2: they are all statists that believe government, and anything does, is a force for good in the nation.
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