Right Back Atcha

The National Review's editors argue that Republicans should stop complaining about the Democrats' "do-nothing Congress":

Democrats have already responded to the charge by saying that they would have passed a lot of bills if not for Republican obstruction. The solution, they will say, is for voters to remove enough Republican senators that no more filibusters will be possible, and to take the veto out of Republican hands. This advice will fall on receptive ears.

Instead, our editor friends say, Congressional Republicans should try a bit of ju-jistu:

Republicans should shift their focus from the Democratic pass/fail record to the underlying reason for it. Democratic bills are failing because they are too far left to win strong bipartisan support. This Congress has tried to raise taxes, to force taxpayers to finance the killing of human embryos, to micromanage the war, and to move toward nationalized health care. It is a Congress that wants to do much too much: in short, a liberal Congress. Maybe that’s what Republicans should call it.

The problem for conservatives is that all of these Democratic positions (no matter how the right caricatures them) are majoritarian ones. The reason the bills aren't getting bipartisan support is because the Republicans aren't a majoritarian party; they're increasingly a fringe party.

It's nice to have the courage of your convictions, but there's a fine line between courage and self-destructiveness.

Labels: Congress, National review, Republicans

  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 3:01 PM