They're just not that into you!

Commentary By Ron Beasley

If you are a middle class American the Republican party has been taking you for a really unpleasant ride for the last 29 years.  The American people started getting it in 2006 and had pretty well figured it out by 2008.  The Republicans have not figured out that middle class Americans have figured it out which is why they will probably find themselves even deeper in the wilderness for the foreseeable future.  Libertarian Daniel Larison does get it however.

It seems to me that conservatives and Republicans have assumed the GOP is the natural governing party, at least regarding the Presidency and to some extent as it relates to Congress since ‘94, which is why so many have continued to insist that America is a “center-right nation” in face of mounting evidence that it is not and hasn’t been for a while. Symbolic gimmickry does stem in part from a lack of confidence, but it is more the product of a movement and party that have ceased to understand, much less address, most of the pressing concerns of working- and middle-class Americans. The party assumes that all it needs to do is show up, push the right pseudo-populist buttons and reap the rewards, and for the most part the movement cheers. See Palin, Sarah.

The GOP settles for offering “symbolic, substance-free BS” because enough conservatives are already persuaded that Republican policies obviously benefit the middle class, so there is no pressure to make Republican policy actually serve the interests of Republican constituents. It is taken for granted that this is already happening, but voters have been showing for several cycles that many of them do not believe this.

So what is it the real average American who has quit listening to Rush - the vast majority - have figured out.  They are a lot worse off since the Reagan Revolution.  Larison explains:

As we all know, income stagnation is something that most conservatives and Republicans have spent years pretending was not happening, because it did not fit in with the assumption that working- and middle-class Americans were thriving as part of the “greatest story never told.” It is the failure to acknowledge and address all of these things along with the preference for using symbolic gimmickry that begin to account for the lamentable states of conservatism and the GOP. There is also the war, but movement and party have become so invested in it that I have my doubts whether they can ever recognize its role in discrediting both with the public.

The majority of Republicans are still in denial and think that all they have is a marketing problem. (Attendees See a New Sales Pitch, Not Change in Values, as Key to Success)  The best marketing in the world won't sell a car with a pile of dog shit on the front seat.  The only base the republicans have left are the very rich and the lowest common denominator.  About 70% short of winning an election.

Comments

[Kat]

"... income stagnation is something that most conservatives and Republicans have spent years pretending was not happening, because it did not fit in with the assumption that working- and middle-class Americans were thriving..."

Fixxored:
"... income stagnation is something that most conservatives and Republicans have spent years pretending was not happening, because it did not fit in with the baldfaced lie that working- and middle-class Americans were thriving..."

[Mark]

I'm one of Larison's many fans, but as much as I would love for Larison to be a fellow libertarian, I'm pretty sure he would object to that label. He's a conservative, and proudly so.