DeMint’s move and the growing frustration inside the GOP
That’s the frustration again. Facing defeat after defeat in a situation in which the most he could do was stop some bad things from happening, DeMint didn’t see much conservative vigor among his colleagues. “I just believed that Republicans have not been reliable partners of the conservative cause,” he said. “I think there is a lack of vision and boldness that we need at the national level. I’m not pointing to anyone in particular, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a conservative conference where someone stood up and just inspired people with a message of what we really stand for and what America needs at this point.”
The result of that continuing Republican weakness has been — no surprise — Democratic victories. The 2012 results convinced DeMint that those victories weren’t flukes and might go on for quite a while if Republicans don’t change. “After the election it was clear that a majority of Americans believe the Democratic Party can do more for them than Republicans,” DeMint said. “Yet I know, factually, provably, that conservative ideas are working at the state level all around the country. Right-to-work states are attracting businesses. School choice is working for minorities and the poor. And we can prove that Obama’s policies, liberal, progressive policies, in California, Illinois, New York — you can see where they’re going. We are going to continue to lose elections at the national level if we don’t convince Americans that our ideas are better.”
Blowback
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If I were a betting man, I’d wager that DeMint is doing this in the short term to run Heritage, but in the long term to lay the foundation for a viable third party.
Good. The GOP is dead to me.
Rixon on December 10, 2012 at 6:08 PM
speeches < action
Talk is cheap. Nobody has governed fiscally conservatively in 30 years.
portlandon on December 10, 2012 at 6:10 PM
Even if Gov. Romney had won, Sen. DeMint would have horrified the likes of our Republican punditry.
Cindy Munford on December 10, 2012 at 6:12 PM
Either a third party, or reshape the GOP. My bet is he’ll take a shot at reforming the GOP first, then failing that, a third party. Demint has been very effective at what he does, and I have big hopes for his success.
I imagine he’ll work closely with our best, such as Rubio, Jindal, Paul, Bachmann, Haley and such.
petefrt on December 10, 2012 at 6:19 PM
I’m not as convinced this will happen, but if so I’m in. There aren’t very many figures I’d follow into a third party, but he’s one of them.
To me it sounds more like he’s writing everybody off as a generation of dingbats and weaksauce non-leaders and setting a philosophical stage for his successors 30 years or so in the future. I hope free thought isn’t regulated or prohibited by then…
Gingotts on December 10, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Palin and Ron Paul both inspire a lot of people. Ron Paul still does, but I’m unsure if Palin still pulls as much weight as she used to, but regardless I think she still inspires a lot of people. If Palin still has her Mojo then I still think that, if she’s up to the task, Palin/Paul would be unbeatable. In order to make it work she’s going to have to forget about liberal Bush neo-con foreign policy and have a more conservative foreign policy like Reagan did. In fact, we are bankrupt, she would have to be strong on defense but more conservative than Reagan, and I think that will allow the tea party to coalesce.
Also, I think a federalist approach (or whatever you want to call it), as advocated by Mitch Daniels today, is the direction the conservative movement needs to go. Let the regions and states govern themselves more locally so that metropolitan areas aren’t always trying to shove their way of life down the lives of country folks, and vice versa. Same goes for regional differences. Decentralization, or federalism or whatever is the lubrication that can help smooth over differences in the tea party movement. If the factions can agree to take a more federalist approach then we can make it work, but if some factions demands all or nothing, then it can’t work and Obama and the Democrats have won.
FloatingRock on December 10, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Hear, hear! Federalism is the only way I see of avoiding Balkanization.
Some say DeMint’s first order of business will be pulling together all the Tea Party movements into a unified force.
petefrt on December 10, 2012 at 6:31 PM
The genius of Madison’s Constitution was that the Framers recognized this over 200 years ago. The Progressive Movement is an attempt to upend that wisdom, with baleful results.
This won’t end well, precisely because Progressives don’t understand why Madison did what he did, and to the extent that they do understand it, they disagree with it.
Progressivism, because it depends on centralization, top-down command and control, and bale fulls of Other People’s Money, will eventually go the way of the Dodo, but not before enormous damage has been done to the nation, indeed, probably the Splittism and Balkanization you speak of.
victor82 on December 10, 2012 at 6:38 PM
Hear, hear! I’m done with the GOP. 2012 was the last chance for them.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on December 10, 2012 at 6:40 PM
There is no such thing as a viable third party. The American voting system, where each general election race features one candidate per party, is known as “first-past-the-post” and naturally lends itself to participation by the fewest possible number of parties (two) because that is the most efficient way to oppose whoever is in there. The dynamic result of many parties is still 2 candidates, where each candidate represents several parties at the same time.
The GOP can be replaced, but it has to be 100% replaced. If there are GOPers who will never be convinced to change parties (and there are, and we need them to win), then there will never be a party to replace the GOP. Splitting the GOP constituents into 2 parties = permanent loss of power.
alwaysfiredup on December 10, 2012 at 6:41 PM
The Republicans are the new Whigs.
Joey24007 on December 10, 2012 at 6:54 PM
The federalist approach is a good one but it would require two amendments to be repealed: 17, the direct election of senators and 16, the income tax.
Joey24007 on December 10, 2012 at 7:02 PM
I never for a second thought Jim DeMint was “cashing out”. So it’s baffling that Mr. York spends so many words explaining that a million dollars per year from The Heritage Foundation is less than Mr. DeMint could make sitting on a board or being a lobbyist. Crass and unnecessary.
Ladysmith CulchaVulcha on December 10, 2012 at 7:06 PM
DeMint is dismayed the conservative movement in the party has no leaders and his solution is to resign?
I am a huge fan of DeMint, but he pulled a Palin here and simply cashed out. He could have had Rubio and Cruz on either side of him to lead the Conservative charge from within the party, but now he’s in a smoke filled backroom at the Heritage Foundation.
Daemonocracy on December 10, 2012 at 7:07 PM
petefrt: Are you high. Bachman is among our best best? You are embarrassing yourself. Why do you even litter such idiocy on Hot Gas?
SuperBunny on December 10, 2012 at 7:10 PM
Daemonocracy: it’s in smoked filled backgrounds where all the sh*t happens any way. Catch a clue.
SuperBunny on December 10, 2012 at 7:12 PM
The conservatives are being removed from positions in the GOP. There isn’t going to be a charge from within and i doubt Rubio would be in it if there were. The GOP is going in the opposite direction and they aren’t slowing down or reconsidering anything regardless of how many times they lose. It’s a dry well.
sharrukin on December 10, 2012 at 7:12 PM
I used to agree with that train of thought but we have to start somewhere. I have watched republicans get rolled time and time again by dems. Also, way too many of them are semi-statists. As Bozell said—paraphrase, “how is Boehner and McConell’s leadership a viable alternative to the left?”
arnold ziffel on December 10, 2012 at 7:16 PM
Palin did not cash out. If you don’t want a war, don’t casually denigrate a solid conservative. But you are correct that DeMint is following her footsteps, realizing that the true conservative battle is in pop culture messaging, not in elected office.
alwaysfiredup on December 10, 2012 at 7:16 PM
Daemonocracy: Palin resigned due to an intractable legal battle that she had no money to pay for. Ironic that you’d offer up such a misinformed theory, which originated with liberals.
SuperBunny on December 10, 2012 at 7:17 PM
Then replace them. Boehner and McConnell both. It is possible, and it works well. All you need is a halfway credible alternative or two, closed primaries and a runoff rule.
alwaysfiredup on December 10, 2012 at 7:18 PM
You are correct and we can only hope that happens.
arnold ziffel on December 10, 2012 at 7:26 PM
You said a mouthful there. I hope at least those two realize it, because until we do, we’re toast. It goes against the grain of most conservatives to play the pop culture game. We look down our noses at it. It’s “beneath us”, and we insist on taking the “high road” of logic. But until we play and until we win at messaging via the popular culture, elections are over for us.
petefrt on December 10, 2012 at 7:35 PM
Third party (begin now…not 2 months before the mid-terms) or secession. Either way is fine with me. The GOP “leadership” as it’s now constituted is a joke, and a very bad one at that.
mooseygoosey on December 10, 2012 at 7:35 PM
Sarah Palin brought down the house at CPAC this year, but the GOP at the top scuttle away from anyone who talks about conservatism. The Grand Old Party isn’t so much interested in winning or doing what’s best for the country as they are in keeping the status quo going. I can only guess at the kind of garbage DeMint had to put up with day in and day out.
INC on December 10, 2012 at 7:53 PM
Palin continues to rule …and the GOP continues to suck…mittens is Exhibit A!
Pragmatic on December 11, 2012 at 8:51 AM