Ross Douthat writes about the decline of “the Catholic vision of the good society — more egalitarian than American conservatism and more moralistic than American liberalism.” Everything he says is true as far as I can tell, and yet I think there is plenty of room for a politics that is more socially conservative than Obama and more egalitarian than the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page.
One encouraging sign was the campaign of Rick Santorum. I’m not arguing from Santorum’s strengths but from his weaknesses. Santorum had little money, little organization (outside of Iowa), little support within the institutional Republican party and little message discipline when the spotlight was on. Santorum still won a plurality of the popular vote in about ten states with all his weaknesses and missteps. What Santorum had going for him was the reality of his pro-life convictions, his fairly articulate critique of government-run medicine and a pro-family economic agenda (even if it was deeply flawed and anachronistic.)
The Romney campaign stumbled into its “jobs creators who built that” economic message along with its dark side in Romney’s expressed contempt for the forty-seven percent. These Romney message choices were driven by short-sighted opportunism (responding to Obama’s Osawatomie speech in the first instance and flattering an audience of rich donors in the second), not destiny. A different Republican could have made different choices and Santorum’s campaign shows that there was a market for a more solidaristic message in the Republican primaries.
That doesn’t mean that Republicans should look to recreate the Santorum campaign without Santorum. They should look to create a more solidaristic politics with better ideas than the ones Santorum proposed. We shouldn’t be looking to tilt the tax code in order to favor manufacturing firms. We should be looking to move the tax code in a more pro-family, pro-work, and (yes WSJ) more investment-friendly direction. Republicans could be the party of the secure and affordable welfare state that protects the old while not crushing the young under taxation and for a health care system that makes catastrophic health insurance more affordable even as it encourages innovation in provision of routine care. Paul Ryan did some decent work on Medicare reform, but the Romney campaign, in its cynicism, chose to run a less issue driven campaign and hoped that bad economic times would put them over the top. Republicans should actually focus more on the abortion issue and seek to gain the initiative. Be clearly and forthrightly the party that is against late-term abortion on demand.
There is a hole in our politics where a center-right politics of limited government solidarity should be. That isn’t because of a lack of policy proposals or the lack of a (latent) public desire for such a center-right politics. This lack in our politics exists because of mistakes by key political elites who keep getting suckered by Obama’s statism into a radical-sounding rhetorical anti-statism that doesn’t even reflect Republican policy. Better options are available. We just need to stop charging furiously every time Obama waves his red flag and build our own positive message. We might find that a prudent and relevant Catholic-influenced Republican politics is more popular than the Republican politics of job creators + tax cuts for high earners + nothing.
February 17th, 2013 | 9:43 pm
Santorum also carried the burden of G.W.Bush’s disastrous foreign policy, which Santorum vigorously supported.
The American people — even Republican primary voters — are unlikely to entrust power to anyone who celebrates military intervention in the Middle East or nation-building exercises anywhere. That Santorum got as far as he did in spite of his alarming hawkishness is a testament to the power of social conservatism.
February 17th, 2013 | 9:57 pm
Simon, there might well be foreign policy differences between Romney, Gingrich and Santorum (the three candidates who won pluralities of the popular vote in states – I don’t mean delegate selection where Ron Paul did better in some places), but I don’t remember what those might have been. Santorum’s foreign policy views (and his tone) might well have been a problem in the general election, but I don’t think they hurt him in the primaries. He, Gingrich, and Romney were all fishing from the same pool of voters here.
February 18th, 2013 | 12:50 am
“There is a hole in our politics where a center-right politics of limited government solidarity should be. That isn’t because of a lack of policy proposals or the lack of a (latent) public desire for such a center-right politics. This lack in our politics exists because of mistakes by key political elites who keep getting suckered by Obama’s statism into a radical-sounding rhetorical anti-statism that doesn’t even reflect Republican policy.”
Pete, I think Republican politicians’ use of “radical-sounding rhetorical anti-statism” began long before Obama. This sort of self-defeating rhetorical overkill was certainly around in 1994. You could even argue that it goes back to the late 70s.
February 18th, 2013 | 1:09 am
djf, yes to some extent it sure does, but so do other themes. Douthat mentions compassionate conservatism (which was itself a reaction to some more flamboyant kinds of anti-statist rhetoric.) I don’t think that is the model we should follow. For instance the Republican approach to welfare reform was deeply solidaristic in its rhetoric and intentions (reintegrating people into mainstream life and – to a lesser degree – reestablishing family structures.)
February 18th, 2013 | 2:01 am
[...] Ross Douthat writes about the decline of “the Catholic vision of the good society — more egalitarian than American conservatism and more moralistic than American liberalism.” Everything he says is true as far as I can tell, and yet I think there is plenty of room for a politics that Source: Postmodern Conservative [...]
February 18th, 2013 | 5:56 am
[...] Thoughts On A Solidaristic Center-RightFirst Things (blog)These Romney message choices were driven by short-sighted opportunism (responding to Obama's Osawatomie speech in the first instance and flattering an audience of rich donors in the second), not destiny. A different … Republicans could be the party … [...]
February 18th, 2013 | 9:24 am
Yeah, the GOP will become conservative populist, since that’s where its base is–anti-TARP, anti-TBTF, etc., etc. They’ll find a way to go that way without going too far towards the Randian caricature. The DC establishment will go the way of the dinosaur, although it will do so fairly smoothly as all modern establishments do. Of course, their biggest ally is the insane overreach of the Dems from 2008-2010, as Obamacare is already imploding on itself before its even off the ground.
February 21st, 2013 | 8:52 am
[...] On A Solidaristic Center-Right – Pete Spiliakos, First Things [...]
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