From "Party of No" to No Party At All

A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll reveals that only slightly more than 20% of Americans now consider themselves Republicans. This is not only a bad thing for the Grand Old Party; it is a bad thing for this country. At a time when fiscal profligacy and recklessness have cost us so much, we need a credible conservative voice. At a time when so many have been alienated or left out of the rapid changes in our country, we need a credible conservative voice. And at a time when the diversity of political opinion represented in our government may soon span only the factions within a single party, we need a credible conservative voice.

It's important that we not imagine that, since the Republican Party has lost credibility, conservative values have shared a similar fate. Indeed, the same survey finds that, as few people as self-identify as "Republican," only very few more identify as "Liberal." It's not so much that Americans are becoming less conservative; it's that the party that purportedly represents conservatives has abandoned, even scorned, the American mainstream and lost, at least temporarily, its creative energies.

A case in point: as this country suffers through the worst economic downturn in a generation, the luminaries of the political Right seem to believe that the best response would be no response at all. Carry on, everyone; there's nothing to see here. And of course, there's always a backup plan: if indeed there is anything at all wrong with our economy, it's likely that we Americans, payers of some of the lowest taxes in the developed world, are in fact smothering under an unbearable tax burden. Some cuts for the usual suspects should do the trick.

Our national health care situation evokes a similar lack of interest. When our "system" costs the most of any in the world, yet covers the fewest people, how is it that the party of economic efficiency has nothing to say? When our auto companies bear costs of almost $1500 per vehicle that foreign manufacturers do not, how can the party of global competitiveness stay silent? And when men and women are blocked from pursuing their career aspirations because, if they leave their jobs, they will lose their health care, why is the only proposal from the party of entrepreneurial self-empowerment to dismantle the only source of health insurance most working people have and substitute nothing in its place? The Right should be all over this problem! Instead, they seem to imply that to even discuss it, let alone implement any proposal, is un-American.

Instead of actively debating the issues facing our country, and vigorously demanding tough compromises, the Republican leadership has apparently decided to stonewall for four years and wait for the policies that they consider dangerous to fail. If that future comes to pass, we'll all be worse off, but at least we'll know who to blame, and it won't be them. I salute you, gentlemen, for your courage and hard work.

We deserve more than a smug "I told you so" from a gaggle of bitter, ossified old men. We face real problems, and we deserve leaders -- in power and in opposition -- who will stand up to them with creativity, civility, and resolve.