More Republican Recriminations

The Republicans lost because:

a. We wanted to throw the bums out over corruption and Iraq.

b. We abandoned conservative principles.

c. We were corrupt.

d. We became the party of big government.

e. We created a culture of corruption in government.

f. We didn't cut taxes enough and spent too much.

g. Jon Stewart hates us.

h. We were very corrupt.

i. We lost married people.

j. Our leadership was lacking.

I think a and j are certainly key factors.

But let's also consider that most Americans don't really give a fig about political ideology. It happens to be a fact.

The luxury of being American is being able to spend much of your life unconcerned with what Washington politicians do.

Americans tend to care about politicians only when:

a) There's a war to fight

and b) They're promising to pass out freebies.

You'd think Bush would have done better given there's a war on and he's passing out lots of freebies like Medicare prescription coverage.

The fact is, Bush doesn't really say all that much about the war. The media says even less, only reporting on the atrocities we allegedly commit and how many troops come home in a bag or on a stretcher.

And when it comes to passing out freebies, you simply cannot out-free lunch the Democrats.

Thus minimum wage becomes a big turnout issue. Free money? Sure!

The war hardly redounds to Republicans' favor because we're not winning it. If FDR had still been getting his butt kicked by the Nazis in 1944, Americans may well have kicked him and the Democrat congress to the curb.

Americans are not political geniuses. They tend to vote for stability and status quo unless things are going poorly.

Thus when Clinton and the Dem congress tried to turn hospitals into the DMV, they elected Republicans. By 1996, things were looking much better, so they voted GOP for Congress and Dem for president.

Let's not parse things too finely here. We lost because things aren't going very well in important areas. Americans aren't stupid---Harry Reid and William Jefferson are obviously corrupt pols. Most don't care about what political principles are in play as long as things get done and life goes on.

It is vitally important that conservatives prevail within the GOP not because most Americans are Burkean conservatives, but because it is important that the party be unified and speak clearly to the electorate so as to provide a distinct choice.

Nobody's so stupid outside the Beltway as to lionize politicians or think they're the epitome of virtue. All that's smoke and noise.

Focus instead on a coherent program and enact it. That's what voters respond to, and that's why the Contract with America netted 54 House seats for Newt Gingrich and his merry band.

I imagine that you won't hear that anywhere among the punditocracy as they vie for influence within the new minority.