A conservative’s view of the Republicans’ problems
This article appeared in the November 7 issue of The Lone Star Report. It was written by Will Lutz, who has covered state government for ten years. It is addressed, though not explicitly, to Republicans who are in denial about why they are losing ground in Texas and why they will continue to do so under the current leadership. It is reprinted with Mr. Lutz’s permission.
Since most Republican lawmakers go to church, they’ve probably sung the refrain, “On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.” It’s a hymn that kept going though my head as I watched the election results come in. The GOP has built its foundation on quicksand, and Tuesday, the voters told the GOP — nationally and in Texas — that they’ve had enough. The voters sent the same message in 2006 and it didn’t register with the GOP leadership. Perhaps the second time is the charm. The quicksand here is the Austin lobby, a handful of purely self-interested major campaign contributors, and large corporate bureaucracies.
They’re fair weather friends, many of whom backed the Democrats throughout the 1990s. Look at how much money business gave to the 20/20PAC—which is basically a conduit that allows elements within the business community to give money to moderate Democrats while having the outward appearance of being pro-GOP. And this cycle Texans for Lawsuit Reform also gave crucial support for Rep. Chuck Hopson (D-Jacksonville) in his 102-vote victory. In short, big money isn’t principled; it’s self-interested. And it will turn on Republicans whenever the political winds change. Pandering to big money is building a foundation on quicksand.
By contrast, conservative principles have stood the test of time. Low taxes, individual freedom, property rights, pro-life, pro-family, and personal responsibility combined with effective grassroots mobilizing is a solid foundation that will win every time.
Here are a few examples of quicksand:
* Talking about cutting spending, and then passing earmark-laden federal appropriations bills that benefit vendors with lobbyists, not average citizens.
* Making fighting illegal immigration a campaign issue,then having leadership scuttle any meaningful action on the topic because it means a few major donors might actually have to hire U.S. citizens and do things like pay them benefits so they aren’t a burden to taxpayer funded county hospital districts.
* Not doing anything meaningful to put the lid on local government property tax increases and pandering to the trade associations that represent cities and counties.
* Talking about personal responsibility for the poor on welfare all while passing bills that basically exempt big donors like homebuilder Bob Perry from paying fair compensation to homeowners who a jury finds were treated unreasonably by their builder.
* Pursuing higher education policies that prioritize the spending desires of liberal university bureaucrats and the donors that back them, all the while making a college education unaffordable and letting university administrators go on a massive, unjustified spending spree while asking for little or no meaningful accountability in return.
* Letting the same Wall Street crowd that have driven the economy into the ground run our transportation system. Texas transportation policy needs to benefit Texans, not merely a pretext for paying off Wall Street campaign contributors with big-government boondoggles like the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Yes, most Republicans would argue they’ve been treated unfairly by the Capitol press, and that their accomplishments have not been given the treatment they deserve. Yes, the GOP deserves some credit for balancing the 2003 budget without raising taxes and sweeping welfare reform as well as a solid-record on prolife, pro-family issues. But just because one has done some things right, doesn’t mean the press corps will or should let the GOP off the hook when Republicans misbehave.
Plus, a lot of the big accomplishments of the GOP came from 2003. Passing an eminent domain bill and real taxpayer protections would give GOP voters something to crow about again and generate more excitement for the party.
It’s also true that national trends affected the outcome of many of these urban races, and there may be some issues with the mechanics of how and where the GOP spent its money this cycle. That said, voters still respond to winning issues, convincingly stated, and that has been largely absent from both the state and federal GOP the last two cycles. Yes, the mischief at the national level played a role, but some of the problems the Texas GOP brought on itself.
Notice that there are no names of sitting legislators in this essay. That is deliberate. This isn’t personal.This is about enacting policies and running the House in a manner that is good for Texas. In my 10 years covering the Capitol, I have seen many lawmakers whom I used to write off grow and change into effective voices for their constituents.
In a decade of covering campaigns, I’ve heard a lot of GOP primary candidates talk about bringing Christian values to politics. Sure, all have sinned. But one shouldn’t champion bringing Christian values in politics and then condone legislation and actions that would make even the Money Changers in theTemple blush. Integrity and fair-play are as much Christian values as pro-life and pro-family.[bold face added]
In the next few days,Texas lawmakers will choose a leadership team for the 2009 session. The Republicans need to learn the lesson of the last two election cycles and ensure that, whatever leaders are chosen, the House will be run in a manner that makes Texas Republicans proud of the party once again.
Traditional values, individual freedom, politics run from the grassroots up. That’s a rock-solid foundation that really is truly of the party of Ronald Reagan.
José says:
How does Mr. Lutz reconcile protecting individual freedom with legislating traditional values? It makes a great bumper sticker but it just ain’t possible.
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Jim says:
Thanks, José. Republicans favor no freedoms whatsoever unless they are economic, like the ability to build a defective house with no fear of a lawsuit.
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Mr. Deez says:
Paul, thanks for publishing this, and thanks to Will Lutz for writing it.
“Big money isn’t principled; it’s self-interested.” It’s about time Republican voters and politicians figured this out. The money crowd is not conservative.
It subscribes to whatever ideology benefits them at a given time. (That’s why the favor federal government bailouts.) In recent years, the GOP has pandered to the money crowd rather than to basic conservative principles, and that drives a wedge between those politicians(see Tom Craddick and Rick Perry) and real Texans, most of whom are still conservative leaning.
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JUICE says:
it applies more to other parts of the country than Texas, but a lot of people are uncomfortable with governing in the name of religion. Trying to impose one’s religous beliefs through legislation often isn’t compatible with individual liberties. This tension is costing the Republicans in the Mountain West (the region, not the conference, as BYU or Utah is gonna win), as the libertarian inclination prevails.
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slick says:
To Mr. Lutz,
With all due respect, it’s kinda scary that you even have to point out to the Republican leadership that controls this state that the lobby has an agenda that supercedes ideology. The current leadership has run the House like a gaggle of high schoolers throwing a drunken bash while the parents are out of town, but their poison is easy lobby and PAC money (some extra-legal) to fund the next cycle of elections. Its just sad — the House has never been a beacon of enlightenment, but it has become sophomoric, an embarrassment, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum.
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Phillip Martin says:
This post could be titled, “a Democrat’s view of Republicans’ problem” and the ideas would be the same.
Democrats have spoken out against the TTC.
Democrats have tried to hold Bob Perry accountable.
Democrats have tried to hold businesses responsible for hiring undocumented workers.
Democrats fought against tuition deregulation.
Democrats fought for increased protection through eminent domain.
Democrats tried to pass responsible tax relief, and we were succeeding until one of our own (John Sharp) sold us down the river.
Everyone assumes TX Democrats are super-liberal. We’re not. We’re winning in Republican districts by running on common-sense ideas. Until the Republicans have any common sense, we’ll keep winning — and now that (1) Republicans have thrown away the Hispanic community, and (2) we’ve got control in Washington, if we do well, we may keep wining anyway.
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John Johnson says:
Paul … do returning legislators think that deregulated electricity rates is a dead issue? Will there be discussions this session in light of recent studies which show Texas rates have escalated at a much more rapid rate than in any state in the country? I truly think that this was one of the reasons Brimer was defeated. With cold months coming on, and with price of natural gas down, the natives have settled down, but if gas prices rise about the time warm weather hits, I think there is going to be all sorts of wailing.
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Julie says:
“Low taxes, individual freedom, property rights, pro-life, pro-family, and personal responsibility combined with effective grassroots mobilizing is a solid foundation that will win every time.”
WRONG. WRONG.
How many times must it be repeated? The majority of Americans are for keeping abortion LEGAL and SAFE.
Additionally, “low taxes” combined with “let’s star a war” is now recognized to be foolish beyond belief–and destructive to boot.
I hope Will keeps singin’ this tune, and I hope the Repubs listen to him. That way we Dems will pick up Texas, to go with the other formerly-Republican states we picked up on Nov. 4.
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Anonymous says:
Julie, Julie, Julie. The majority of Americans have shown in poll after poll after poll (Gallup, Zogby, you name it) that by large margins they support vastly more restrictions on abortion than we have. The want abortion to be RARE. You are
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
In many cases, the media blocked attempts to point out radical Obama is on abortion. ABC refused ads from National Right to Life exposing Obama’s attempts to deny medical treatment to babies who survived abortions–even after the assertions in the ad were proven to their satisfaction. In other cases, he abandoned past positions and moved much more center right (can you say I was for partial birth abortion before I was against it? and more).
Chris Turner took no abortion $$ and never talked about it in the campaign. If he had, he would have lost.
Annie’s List candidates may have won a # of races, but they did it by running center right, and targeting few candidates.
Americans by large #’s (California and a very few states excepted) support informed consent, parental involvement laws, bans after viability and a majority support abortion bans for anything other than rape, incest and life of the mother.
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texun says:
Anon. The only polls that I have seen that support your argument indicate that a majority of the respondents oppose late term abortion. In some instances, polls indicate that respondents oppose abortion but support the right of the pregnant woman to make that decision. They do express a preference for having abortions be rare at the same time that they affirm family planning and contraception. If I remember correctly, that’s essentially what Obama said during the campaigns.
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