He closes with a reference to the groundbreaking insight from Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, which i have mentioned a few times. Soon to be a book, it started with an article called the Party of Sam's Club.
Here's a good excerpt from the Brooks column...
The political situation has changed, too. Republicans used to appeal to the investor class with economic policies and the working class with values, crime and welfare policies. But that formula has broken down. The workers are walking away from the G.O.P., and the only way to win them back is by listening to their economic concerns.
As a result, smart Republicans are groping for a new economic model, and as they do, Republican economic policies are shifting. The entrepreneur is no longer king. The wage-earner is king. As the presidential campaign rolls into Michigan, it’s clear that Republicans are adjusting their priorities to win back the anxious middle class.
The Republicans who are reaching toward this new model still sound very different from Democrats. They never describe American workers as victims. They never describe globalization as a remorselessly punishing process. They argue that individuals can still control their own destinies, provided they work hard and get educated. They believe it would be a catastrophe if the U.S. abandoned free trade or adopted a European-style safety net and suffered European tax rates. But they envision a different role for government than the 1980s Republicans.
Brooks outlines 4 "spheres of policy innovation" that Republicans must address to be successful.
- Human capital agenda
- Health care reform
- Resiliency agenda
- Fiscal rectitude
I had this epiphany more than a year ago after reading that Sam's Club article, and it's one of the things about the Huckabee campaign that appeals to me. If the GOP wants to build a new winning coalition, it must figure this out. Then perhaps, perhaps, the chattering class will get on board, too.
2 comments:
When I linked to this Brooks article on an e-mail list about Christian Culture, the comeback was "what do you expect from a liberal populist columnist.
I detest RINOs as much as the next good Conservative Republican, but when we start calling Conservatives Liberals, we've taken it too far.
The guy who attacked Brooks (and indirectly Huckabee) is supporting Giuliani.
I don't follow politics all that much (i really don't, typically), and i really don't follow the punditry, so i don't know David Brooks' politics. And i really don't care. What i do know is when he's talking sense.
Post a Comment