The zombie Reaganism trap

But even recognizing that Zombie Reaganite policy is unpopular is not, in itself, a solution. Whether among social conservatives, or Republican lobbyists, or Tea Partiers, Zombie Reaganism has formed the framework for thinking about politics for so many years that a comprehensive rethink of the party’s agenda and priorities seems unimaginable. The result is that even Republicans who recognize that Zombie Reaganism is insufficient end up adopting a strategy of Zombie Reaganism Plus. They take traditional Zombie Reaganism, add one or two things, and call it something new. But it isn’t new…

The answer to Zombie Reaganism can’t be just one or two things because the world has changed too much from the 1980s for even authentic Reaganism to have many of the answers. We have new problems: the collapse of family formation and fertility among Americans in their twenties and thirties; the ruinous costs of a college education; the declining employment prospects of those who don’t manage to graduate from college; the ability of a small number of tech companies to effectively lock out the opposition from public debate. These are our problems.

Rubio and Santorum deserve credit. Even if they didn’t go far enough, they recognized that the Republican agenda requires substantive revision. For a decade now, most Republican politicians have approached the unpopularity of their agenda like the proprietors of those scammy websites that would get people to click by promising to solve their problems with one weird trick. One weird trick to get out of debt. One weird trick to find a sex partner. One weird trick to lose weight. One weird trick to make people forget they don’t want Zombie Reaganism.