How To Rebuild The Gop

My column in the current issue of The Week argues that you cannot rebuild a center-right coalition without the center. Conclusion:

I’ve never heard anyone derided as a “Republican In Name Only” for opposing the closing of redundant military bases, or for supporting Medicaid reimbursement formulas that favor the South and West at the expense of the Northeast and California, or for favoring lavish FEMA reconstruction projects after hurricanes and tornadoes. Why not apply equal latitude to other regional concerns?

Yes, regional concerns can be avenues to waste. We need budget hawks from every region. But there has to be some play in the system, a little more flexibility in determining which issues entail fundamental principle and which are open to normal politics.

That’s how we build national coalitions and national parties. Right now, I fear, the Republican mood is not conducive to party building. It’s a mandate for party shrinkage. Our current demand, to paraphrase P.G. Wodehouse, is for “fewer and better Republicans.” Better is always nice. But in democratic politics, quality is no substitute for quantity.