Michael Tanner‘s latest column at National Review Online chides Republicans for straying from the issues that helped them win such huge victories just two years ago.
The 2010 Republican victories, and the tea-party movement that drove them, were based on a few critical issues: the crushing burden of our national debt; opposition to wasteful government spending, including bailouts and the stimulus; and a desire for limited constitutional government. It stood in opposition to the big-government nostrums of both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
These were issues that had broad support, not just from the Republican base, but from independents as well, including crucial suburban moderates. But Republicans have spent the last several months ignoring these issues.
Take Obamacare, for example. A new study by scholars at the University of Denver suggests that the health-care law cost Democrats as many as 25 seats in 2010. On average, Democrats who voted for the health-care law ran six percentage points behind those who didn’t. And Obamacare is as unpopular as ever, with polls showing that large majorities favor its repeal. Yet Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has announced that he will not bring any repeal efforts to the floor until after the election.
Republicans appear to be abandoning other winning issues as well. They so mishandled the debate over the payroll-tax cut last December that they ended up agreeing to a compromise that added billions to the national debt. And speaking of debt, the Republican leadership is trying to push through a transportation bill that would add still more debt. Meanwhile, House Republicans are reportedly split over whether their new budget should include spending cuts that go beyond last year’s debt-ceiling agreement. That agreement would allow the national debt to increase by more than $7 trillion over next ten years, and Republicans can’t decide whether spending should be cut further?
