Paul Ryan’s Effort to Retrench the GOP

As turmoil, international challenges and ultra-violence whirl around the political scene, the new House Speaker is trying desperately to convert the cacophony of personality-cults that have so far dominated the GOP presidential nomination race to an issue-focused election. As over-the-top campaigning based on insults and outrageous and unsustainable statements without factual basis dominate the airways, mainstream Republicans are morbidly afraid that they will lose voters in droves.

While few believe that the GOP will lose its current control over both houses of Congress in the 2016 election, there is fear that the Republican message is losing not only minority voters but turning off a vast number of fiscal conservatives who are now beginning to believe that likely GOP foreign policy directives and social conservatism can cause more damage to their earning power than any tax or regulatory-cost savings they might otherwise enjoy. As the demographic shift to “a majority of minorities” redefines the American political landscape, the Republican Party is also acutely aware that even with gerrymandering, its grip on American political power is likely going to fade. Right now, the Speaker of the House of Representatives sees himself as saving the GOP from itself, a daunting challenge.

Handsome, bearded and confident Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) is the most powerful Republican in the land… unless or until a Republican wins the White House. Not only is House Speaker Ryan third in line for the presidency, but he is the most visible Republican able to speak as to what the GOP can and will do in the immediate future, particularly in the agenda for proposed legislation during the balance of Barak Obama’s lame duck term in office. He is currently the only really serious in-power voice of the GOP. What’s his game plan?

First, philosophically, Ryan constantly labels the entire Democratic Party – using this epithet routinely – as the “left.” By using that word, he is anxiously attempting to coopt the entire “middle” of the political spectrum with labels. However, no matter how much Ryan may use that seemingly pejorative (he hopes) “left,” at this juncture, Republican candidates are running very, very hard to the right, appealing to the Base, that Tea Party constituency without which no GOP candidate appears able to secure the presidential nomination. These is very little in this trend that really represents that very confused middle. Moderate GOP candidates, from John Kasich to Jeb Bush, are polling at the bottom of both the Party as a whole and most certainly with that right wing constituency.

Secondly, he is proposing a series of “issue votes” that will emanate from the House of Representatives (and pass a GOP-dominated Senate), purposely provoking a veto from a Democratic president. By creating a litany of votes based on what he perceives is the Republican platform, he believes he can define not just the presidential race but all of the congressional contests that are needed either to allow the GOP to continue its federal legislative control or perhaps even creating a veto-proof supermajority that will protect Republican values even if Hillary Clinton wins the White House. He is attempting to shift the conversation from the clash of personalities of outrage to a contest of genuine issues.

While Ryan is aware that right wing extremism is losing sympathy from moderates, even within his own party, he also knows he has to balance their ultra-conservative wishes as currently the most important and clearly defined philosophical segment of the GOP. Not easy, but the future of the GOP may well ride on the success of his stated mission.

“‘Our No. 1 goal for the next year is to put together a complete alternative to the left’s agenda,’ Mr. Ryan said, speaking in the Great Hall at the Library of Congress, a setting designed to highlight the importance he placed on the speech. ‘Only government that sends power back to the people can make America confident again.’

“With the speech’s sweeping oratory and careful stagecraft, it was clear Mr. Ryan was aiming to step decisively into the role of the Republican Party’s leader in Washington, and to set himself apart not just ideologically from Democrats but also in tone and substance from some of the recent coarse language of his own party’s presidential candidates…

“Standing before a backdrop of two American flags, Mr. Ryan said: ‘And we House Republicans will do all we can to give us that government — even if the president disagrees. Even if he won’t sign them into law, we will put out specific proposals and give the people a real choice.’

“‘And I don’t mean just undo what the president has done, as if we could time-travel back to 2009,’ Mr. Ryan continued. ‘I mean show what we would do, what our ideal policy would be — looking forward to 2017 and beyond.’

“Though he offered few specifics, Mr. Ryan, in his address, laid out plans to pursue a sweeping overhaul of the tax code — one of his goals for years, including his time as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

“He also said that he would lead Republican efforts to develop trade agreements that would benefit American manufacturers, and to strengthen the military, particularly given the rising threat from the Islamic State.” New York Times, December 3^rd. War is not pretty (even if ideological), and our political system seems to have moved from a popular representative form of government with a “loyal opposition” to a plutocracy with two uncompromising hardline opponents with irreconcilable differences.

I’m Peter Dekom, and this “win it all without compromises” trend, if not stopped, will eventually rip the United States to shreds.