June 13, 2005
What Republicans Need
Matthew Yglesias nails something that's until now been a scattered cluster of notions in my head:
But one new idea liberals should consider adopting is to stop conceding that Republicans have tons of nifty new ideas. Artur "When Republicans were out of power, they sat around thinking of ideas" Davis, I'm looking at you.The Republicans have no ideas. That should be one of the main takeaway points from the Social Security debate.
[...]
On at least one issue -- health care -- the progressive policy community is overflowing with ideas. On the budget, the moderate Republican Ripon Institute had to turn to the DLC's Paul Weinstein (PDF) to find someone with ideas, Liberals and Democrats are also united in believing that these things should be priorities. Republicans have, on those fronts, nothing to offer.
Precisely. For all the revolutions in rhetoric, Republican foreign policy hasn't appreciably changed since the Eisenhower Administration. On the questions of Social Security and Healthcare, the party pretty much doesn't think there should be a government answer. And the budget... well, if the Republicans had any ideas other than endless, massive debt they've had 5 years to trot them out. The Left is at least willing to talk about raising taxes.
Posted by ben at June 13, 2005 09:34 PM