Yes, the split between the “We can govern Big Government better than the Democrats” Republicans versus those that actually believe in “Smaller Government” and are willing to work for it. Jeffrey Lord at Conservative Review has some bon mots on who is in which camp and why the former is as deadly as the Democrats (loved the enumeration of all those moderate Republicans that won the Presidency; reformatted, emphasis mine):
Sayeth Ohio Governor John Kasich:
“Philosophy doesn’t work when you run something.”
Kasich’s assertion came in the middle of a discussion on bank bailouts, but coming as it did in the middle of the GOP Fox Business Debate, the moment crystallized exactly what has gone wrong with the Republican Party.
What Kasich was proposing, and this has been discussed (endlessly?) in this space, was yet another example of moderate Republicanism. The precise moderate Republicanism that has produced an endless string of election winners for the White House. You do recall those smashing electoral victories for Presidents Hoover (1932), Landon (1936),Wilkie (1940). Dewey (1944), Dewey again (1948), Nixon (1960), Ford (1976) Bush (1992), McCain (2008) and Romney (2008), yes?
Heh!
No. Time after time after time what is now the Kasich—and Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio—approach has lost the presidency. Forget the issue of illegal immigration. In fact, this has nothing to do with illegal immigration. This has to do with governing. With deciding whether to ape the Left’s governing philosophy of bigger and bigger government—a philosophy which has now produced almost $19 trillion in debt. Or deciding to lead the country away from the financial precipice on which it now teeters with an increasingly precarious balance.
…While it was Kasich who gave literal wording to the moderate idea of governing, on display on the debate stage was the moderate Republican idea. Bush was all for it. While Common Core and No Child Left Behind didn’t make it into Bush’s litany of promises last night, the last thing either he or Kasich were about to do was endorse Ted Cruz’s pledge to start eliminating various tentacles of the Washington Cartel, from the IRS to the Commerce and Energy Departments.
In fact, as I have said before, I could see little in his own words how Kasich would be different from what the Dems are promising. No, not in intensity (they truly are promising MUCH) but he’s not saying what he would cut. Instead, he’s quite comfortable in defending the status quo (and being fairly irritable and belligerent doing so). Sorry, last time I looked at the platform it said nothing about preserving said status. We all agree that what we have is not “limited” – few on the stage even intimated “yup, that’s where we’re gonna head” except for Ted Cruz (and Bobby Jindal in the earlier debate). Lord then quotes Brietbart:
Note well this account of Kasich’s performance as headlined over at Breitbart:
DEBATE AUDIENCE SOURS ON JOHN KASICH, BOOS HIM DURING BAILOUT DISCUSSION
…He appeared willing to interrupt any of the non-establishment candidates to remind them about what he saw as the “realities” of serving as an executive….” Got that? The “realities” of governing. This is the Dewey/moderate GOP philosophy on parade again. The formula is as simple as it is deadly. Take the Left’s view of any given issue, do a little less of it and smile. This is called being “practical”: a Bush mantra last night and a GOP moderate mantra always.
This is exactly what Ronald Reagan called “fraternal order” Republicanism. It is exactly what Margaret Thatcher disdained as the “socialist ratchet.” It is, Thatcher again, so-called conservatives “pitching camp” in the long march of the Left. The subject or issue doesn’t matter. It could be amnesty, it could be bank bailouts, education or taxes. The idea is always to start from the latest left-wing expansion of government and tinker with it rather than reject it outright. This is called, in the parlance of today’s GOP, “governing.” And as thus defined it has zero to do with conservatism. Zero.
Governor Kasich, a good man with a good soul, has nonetheless blurted out exactly what has gone wrong with the Republican Party. Too many Republicans, including original Tea Party darling Marco Rubio, have decided in their own fashion that Kasich has it right: “Philosophy doesn’t work when you run something.”
It goes back to what I have said for a while now: winning is a precursor; it is what you do afterwards that is most important. And philosophy DOES matter – it is your governing compass. Without it, you’re just flailing – and we have flailed our way to $19 Trillion in national debt. That’s no way to govern. There is a huge philosophical chasm between Socialist Democrats and we who wish to conserve and apply the original ideas of the Founders that in order to maximize individual Liberty, a government must be constrained not only in word (our Constitution) but in spirit by those serving in it.
“Fraternal order” Republicanism ain’t it. Lord closes with this, given the tenor of the electorate thus far:
Alas for all these people, the base of the Republican Party gets their point. Which, not to put too fine a point on it, is exactly why John Kasich will not be President of the United States. And ditto for Jeb Bush.
Indeed.
The Bigger The Government, the smaller the citizen
