T.R. Fehrenbach: Democrats should learn from conservatives
San Antonio Express-News
11/30/2003
A long-term problem plaguing the Democratic Party, however it may do from day to day, is a lack of ideas. I don't mean election strategies but salable visions of how the country should operate decades or even generations from now.
Conversely, for many years Republicans have been brimming with notions ranging from intelligent to half-baked that have determined the agenda for political debate. Democrats and liberals have been reduced to arguing and opposing conservative ideas rather than pushing their own.
Democrats seemingly have had few new concepts beyond expanding Franklin Roosevelt's "brain trust's" New Deal. Even during the Clinton years they could never make up their minds whether to fight, delay or join the GOP chorus, and did some of all three.
Today, as Clinton's former chief of staff, John Podesta, says, Bush & Co. have basically set the political table and Democrats are mainly trying to frustrate appointments and move around the forks.
This approach may win temporary points, but it rarely expands political power, as many top Democrats realize. So they have created a new think-group, the Center for American Progress, funded by their biggest cats to formulate "new ideas." Good move: But it's going to be a Herculean labor to clean the Augean stables of the old ones.
The problem is not that intelligent Democrats can't think. (I omit the movie stars and others who believe their problem is Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and 1,500 talk show mouths.) Rather, it's that the party forces creative minds to think within certain boundaries.
When Demos set up a think tank, they tend to call upon funders, politicians and pulse takers, none of whom are noted as deep visionaries. Such folks know all about polls, survey groups, hot buttons, policies, propaganda, etc.
They don't want to think about reshaping the progressive cosmos into a salable product, because they are locked into core constituencies opposed to any real change. These constituencies force the leadership to think near-term and to try to tweak rather than reform the status quo in matters like education, torts, taxation and other dysfunctional aspects of modern America.
Democrats complain about the dominance of conservative think tanks, which outnumber theirs 50-1, but they ignore GOP history. Early "Republican" groups were created by young ideologues who were marginal in their own party. In fact, they didn't give a damn about the party; what they wanted was to shape American views on public policy.
Ideas confronted included: Is government good or a necessary evil? If taxes are the price of civilization, what is the real price? Is coercion moral to enforce good works? Should the United States play nice guy or get rough with bums abroad? Should we pray for peace or acquire more "peacemakers"? Out of this mix came basic conservative beliefs: less government, lower taxes and more defense.
Concurrently, liberalism was subjected to rational analysis, which, of course, no manmade doctrine can survive.
Finally — note the order — conservative think tanks brought in pols and activists to help hone actual proposals and sell them. Idea-issues like school vouchers, tax reform, privatization and welfare reform all stemmed from conservative think tanks. Pro or con, they've dominated public debate ever since.
Pioneer conservative intellectuals had no interest in the next election, nor the next. Nor in the party establishment after the Goldwater fiasco of '64. To the dismay of many elder politicians, they made their ideas mainstream over a course of years.
But this points up a difference between conservatives and Democrats beyond the issues. Conservatives don't care who runs government so long as it carries out their visions. They worry about the direction of the country, not who's holding which office. Many have no interest in office or power, preferring influence.
Conversely, Democrats long for office; government is their business. This makes every election a crisis. They must put together winning coalitions, not a generation from now, but today. This cuts long-range thinking off at the pass.
Public education not working? Can't touch that, teachers' unions. Legal system a drag? Don't go there, trial lawyers, the party's fattest funders, love the status quo. Create an energy policy? Forget it, if this means creating more energy to fuel Toyotas in Texas. Win white hearts and minds in the South? Wash out your mouth and abase yourself three times.
But without attacking such matters of substance, "resetting the table" may be like rearranging place settings on the Titanic, however the next battle turns out.
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