FIFTY SHADES OF REPUBLICAN

The Republican Party is coming apart at the seams.

The fratricidal chaos that reigned during the government shut down is the culmination of years of factional strife, internal contradictions, and huge egos.

The Republicans' elephant symbol should be replaced with a more accurate rendering of its current woes: Sybil.

“Sybil” was the main character in a 1973 best selling book about multiple personality disorder. Sybil manifested sixteen personalities, each dissociated from her central personality. That is today’s Republican Party and conservative movement in a nut shell.

Each Republican manifestation is based upon a separate reality. Within each reality there are leaders, acolytes, and rabid supporters. Those residing within each reality dwell in an echo chamber of self-affirmation that constantly asserts they are the only ones capable of saving America and their movement from the forces of darkness. Each reality opposes the others assuming any alternative reality to their own at best diminishes their ability to prevail, and at worst, poses a clear and present danger to their existence and that of our nation.

Political parties are coalitions of like minded interests, coalesced around a core of fundamental beliefs, clustered together in order to benefit from an overarching organization focused on electoral success. The Republican Party of 2013 is none of these.

The Republican ship no longer has a rudder – a credible universally acceptable leader. Worse, this Republican ship no longer has a keel – a philosophical grounding that prevents it from being capsized by even the smallest ripple on the political seas.

Today’s Republican Party is being torn asunder by contradictory forces at war with each other and with the broader populace. Libertarians who want virtually no government are at war with Fundamentalist TheoCons who want a huge government to patrol neighborhoods enforcing biblical imperatives relating to sex and belief. Isolationists who want to pull back from the world and construct a literal as well as figurative wall around America are at war with NeoCons who are in denial about America’s failures in Afghanistan and Iraq while seeking other places to intervene. Fiscal hawks who have spent decades seeking ways to rein-in Washington’s spending binge are at war with the Tea Party who want to shut the government down no matter what the results. Wall Street and Main Street Republicans, who hate regulation but work within the system to lessen its effects, are fighting Tea Party activists, who echo “Occupy Wall Street” conspiracies about crony capitalism.

What happens next? Is the GOP of 2013 becoming the Whig Party of the 1850s? Will the Tea Party fizzle out or prevail over a crumbling Republican establishment? While doctrinaire liberals are dancing a Conga Line hoping for an end of Reaganism that will usher in a new era of rampant government growth and spending, other Americans are legitimately worried about not having a viable opposition voice.

More rational voices within the conservative and Republican movements need to unite around core principles that are relevant and compelling for the 21st Century. Start with the rule of law, holding government accountable at all levels, demanding transparency in all public processes, and consistent adherence to ethics and integrity by all officials and public sector functions. Upon this foundation, add that government should be the solution of last resort, after personal actions and collective efforts of the private sector and local community fail to address challenges and societal ills. When a government role is warranted, it must be designed and implemented to successfully meet tangible and measurable objectives using public resources in the most cost effective ways possible.

Within this framework Republicans should rationally engage in a civil discourse on where the Party’s center of gravity should reside on strategic issues. Embedded in this discourse should be a new toleration of differences among reasonable people. No one agrees 100 percent with another person, not even spouses and siblings - so why demand purity and mindless adherence?

The strategic issues that will frame a new Republic Party and potentially form a winning coalition movement include, but may not be limited to:

[1] The role of government. There will always be a public sector in America. Republicans traditionally buy into the 300+ year old concept of a social contract whereby individuals freely give up some freedoms and delegate some decisions to live and prosper in an ordered world. This is as basic as stopping at a stop sign, paying for trash collection, agreeing to litigate disputes in courts of law, and electing representatives to address policy issues. How much government, where it should reside (local, state, federal), the role of public input and accountability, the appropriate structure for public action (regulation, tax policy, public program), and its costs are areas where reasonable disagreements will occur and where there is no one right answer to apply to every locale or issue.

[2] The role of America in the world. America is part of an increasingly complex and linked global community. Since World War II, America has been its leader – economically, politically, and militarily. Since the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the rise of the information age, the world has evolved into many centers of economic and civic vitality. Some countries, like the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), are willing to challenge America’s hegemony. In some industries and some regions, America is no longer the leader or even competitive. Internally, these variables harm economic opportunity and job creation. Externally, it is about free and fair trade as well as about who becomes the first responder to tyranny or disaster should America reduce its global reach. These are reasonable areas for discussion. America needs a competitive strategy for the 21st Century and it needs realistic “rules of thumb” that guide split second decisions when terrorism or other unforeseen events suddenly disrupt our existence.

[3] Healthcare. It is truly unfortunate that the debate over healthcare started in the partisan sphere. Providing health services to a work force that is increasingly without employer provided benefits is important, but the discussion should have first centered on standards of care and caregiving. Americans are aging. This means that health issues are shifting from shock/trauma acute care to long term care of chronic conditions (like diabetes, congestive heart failure, and Alzheimer’s). How to support the role of families in care giving? How to allow for using successful treatments that are traditional in many parts of the world, but viewed as alternative or nontraditional in an American healthcare system dominated by pharmaceutical and insurance companies? How to promote technology-enabled remote care and wellness to supplement or supplant office and hospital visits? Baby boomers are confronting these issues every day as their parents live into their 80s and 90s. Facilitating a sincere nonpartisan dialogue on this multitude of heartfelt issues would be a most positive addition to public policy.

In addition to Republicans returning to sane and productive input on strategic policy issues, they must begin holding their leaders, and leader wannabes, to established standards of leadership. Everyone has an ego, especially leaders, but true leaders rise above and think beyond themselves. Can anyone imagine Ronald Reagan doing a reality television show? Can anyone imagine Barry Goldwater making every speech and media appearance about himself? Would William F. Buckley have ignored facts to win a rhetorical point? Republicans lack anyone even remotely approaching these giants of modern conservatism – and that is the problem. It is time for Republicans to shun cults of personality and demand leaders who think first about what is best for America, and promote the 300+ year philosophical foundations of conservatism, over their personal fundraising and campaigning.

The Republicans’ multiple personality disorder will not be cured overnight. These suggestions form a good course of treatment. The first step must be for the warring factions to realize what they are doing to themselves, their movement, and their country.

RIGHTING THE SHIP OF STATE

Congress and the White House are stumbling toward a temporary deal to reopen the Federal Government and raise the national debt.

This temporary fix does not solve any of the fundamental problems with government spending, fiscal management, or health policy. All it does is pull everyone back from the brink and give them limited time to find common ground.

Washington’s spiral into chaos and crisis began years ago. It accelerated after the 2010 elections. The debris field includes not just both political parties. The faith Americans and the rest of the world have in the functionality of the Federal Government is severely damaged. It is going to take more than a “grand bargain” on the budget to repair that damage.

During the descent into madness, all combatants displayed their willingness to destroy the fundamental fabric of America’s civic culture in order to win rhetorical points during ever smaller news cycles. Politicians and pundits acted as though America was a parliamentary democracy, where a legislative defeat would bring down the government, force the resignation of public officials, and trigger new elections.

Our Founding Fathers intentionally designed America’s rules of engagement to avoid the “all or nothing” confrontations that shape British legislation. Fixed terms of office were supposed to force opponents to work together and govern instead of remain in a constant campaign. The U.S. Constitution’s brilliance and resilience stems from practicality, not idealism. That said, it is going to take an historic effort on everyone’s part to repair the damage and restore trust in our institutions of government.

Unfortunately, many involved in these recent political battles seem to want to permanently undermine these institutions of government. "We are looking for an Egyptian moment here! Enough tyranny...” trumpeted an organizer for the truckers’ protest that ended up being more bluster than reality. Other political voices are advocating continued unrest and chaos. Some now champion nullification (ignoring the rules) or a constitutional convention to completely change the rules.

During 226 years living in a Constitutional Republic, Americans have weathered terrible, corrupt, and incompetent Presidents, tolerated dysfunctional and “do nothing” Congresses, and have had to retry and overturn ill-conceived Supreme Court rulings. No matter how bad things got, Americans and their civic culture persevered without risking collapse (save for our Civil War).

It is therefore dismaying that things got so far out of hand during this recent confrontation. The level of righteous ignorance about government functions and processes, the uncivil and abusive accusations about opposing agendas, and the shrill demagogy have created a hole in the fabric of our system that will take time and creativity to repair. Record low levels of support and trust in our elected leaders and record high levels of dissatisfaction must be addressed.

One possible way to rebuild rational discourse and productive engagement is to experiment with crowd sourcing and facilitated discussion. Go to http://onlinetownhalls.com/start/90 to join in an online conservation to test out a new community engagement tool.

Online Townhalls is used by professional and business groups to aggregate opinion and facilitate consensus. In 2012, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the U.S. State Department used Online Townhalls to engage citizens in 35 nations using four languages to support the Summit of the Americas.

Here is a 7-minute video that explains how to use Online Townhalls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW2OLEM-qeE

Another way to learn about Online Townhalls is to follow a sample conversation based on the famous movie “Twelve Angry Men”. This tracks the jury’s consideration of trial evidence. http://onlinetownhalls.com/read/6

One online tool is only a very small step toward re-establishing sanity and decorum in our public processes. Just like after a wind storm, you start the recovery process by picking up the first downed branches. While chainsaws and a tree removal service may become part of the clean-up process, you have to start somewhere.

The recovery from our most recent political storm will take more than a few months. It will probably take years. We all must start somewhere. Your ideas are welcome! We must all pitch in. Perhaps trying out http://onlinetownhalls.com/start/90 is a good first step.

MESSAGE DISCIPLINE

Republicans need a remedial communications course. They have flunked every test during the budget/shut down battle.

Republicans have also failed political strategy 101. They are fighting the wrong battle, in the wrong way, at the wrong time. A key element to any political struggle is advocating viable alternative actions and/or policies to those you oppose. Kicking the table over is not a policy.

The most embarrassing aspect of the government shutdown is how it is undoing Republican assertions. This shutdown was supposed to stop Obamacare in its tracks, when, in fact, Obamacare is being implemented. Signing-up on health exchanges opened the very day the government shut down to stop Obamacare. Worse, media coverage of the shut down drowned-out news stories on the wobbly start to Obamacare. Media 101 – you never step on your own headline. Obamacare’s glitches would have helped build the Republican case for strategic action toward a complete overhaul or repeal. That story is now lost to the ages.

The embarrassments continue hourly. Republicans rail against Public Broadcasting - voting to defund it every year. The government is shut down and PBS and National Public Radio are providing full programming. Such disconnects between rhetoric and reality makes the GOP look clueless on how government is actually funded. That is not the best place from which to launch a fiscal fight over the debt.

Republicans are also displaying their utter powerlessness to impact the Executive Branch. President Obama can pick and choose what to shut down with impunity. He knows it will be months before the House Oversight Committee or the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will second guess his actions. So what if they find he was arbitrary and capricious? There will be no consequences, political or legal. So America gets to watch as National Parks are shut down (a list of the more over the top closings may be found at: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/10/05/list-obama-closures-for-shutdown), while pro-Obama political rallies are allowed on the “closed” National Mall (immigration reform). Government websites that serve Americans are offline (even Pandacam), but the primary government website that serves the government – www.USAJobs.gov is still scooping up applications for currently unfunded federal jobs.

The current budget battle began in the summer of 2011. Republicans have always been on shaky ground because of their own 14-year binge of spending and earmarking (1997-2011). They have never done anything to counter their fundamental lapse in Republican fiscal orthodoxy. Shouting within the conservative media echo chamber is not winning the broader argument with all of America.

One major Republican mistake was making reasonable fiscal management a partisan issue. In the 1970’s, Rep. John Ashbrook, one of the most conservative members of Congress, and Senator William Proxmire, one of the Senate’s most liberal members, coordinated their exposing of government waste. Ashbrook spoofed “goofy grants” while Proxmire issued monthly “Golden Fleece” awards. They both understood that “waste is waste” no matter which Party is responsible. Today only a handful of politicians and pundits transcend partisanship for true spending oversight and accountability, notably Senator Tom Coburn and journalist John Stossel. Unfortunately, neither receives the attention they deserve.

Many so-called conservative pundits and think tanks remained silently complicit during the Republican spending binge and the gross mismanagement of the executive branch under George W. Bush. The moment a Democratic President and Congress picked up where Bush and his GOP Congressional allies left off it was like Rip van Winkle awakening from a long slumber and wondering how things got so bad.

The Tea Party is filled with Rip van Winkles. They poured into Congressional town hall meetings in August 2009 screeching about a health program that was originally the Republican’s multi-payer alternative to Hillarycare’s single-payer system. Multi-payer healthcare was trumpeted by the Heritage Foundation and implemented by Governor Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. It was the preferred GOP way forward – until Obama’s name was attached to it. Even now, the “Affordable Care Act” polls better than “Obamacare” even though they are different names for the same program. One’s arguments lose all credibility and integrity when it is all about who proposes something, not what is being proposed.

So what can Republicans do?

First, they can get off their treadmill to oblivion. As proposed in [http://citizenoversight.blogspot.com/2013/09/kamikaze-congress.html], Speaker Boehner can allow a clean Continuing Resolution to be voted on in the House. He can hold his Republicans off the Floor and not have them vote on it. This means the Democrats “own” the CR and Obamacare funding. The focus shifts back to the flawed launch of the Affordable Care Act and making a reasonable case for reform or repeal.

Second, shift the focus to raising the debt ceiling. Cede the fact that the debt ceiling is driven by previous spending actions. America has to pay the bills it rang up. That said, there are ways to add reasonable and rational provisions to rein-in spending.

Three ideas come to mind.

- Control the fourth quarter spending binge. Put a 25% of fiscal year spending cap on the 4th quarter of each fiscal year. [http://citizenoversight.blogspot.com/2013/08/budget-bacchanal.html]
- Mandate a budget sweep of unspent and unobligated accounts. [http://citizenoversight.blogspot.com/2013/07/congressional-coinstar.html] Over $687 billion sits unused in accounts across the government. Put it to use.
- Start managing the federal workforce. [http://citizenoversight.blogspot.com/2013/02/fear-loathing-in-washington-dc.html ] As referenced earlier in the column, federal jobs are still being advertized and applications being collected. How many of these jobs are considered “non-essential”? Instead of furloughs, do hiring freezes, and job eliminations via the 60,000 retirements each year. Over $350 billion would be saved from these actions.

No thinking human being will be able to counter these prudent nonpartisan steps toward fiscal sanity. The only exception is Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who recently declared the cupboard bare of places to cut spending.

These simple and immediate acts would help Republicans reclaim the high ground of sound fiscal management, transcending partisanship. Whether you love a program or hate it, you should not want even one penny misspent. Accountability, transparency, and efficiency attract adherents across the entire political spectrum.

Finding and eradicating waste is just the first step. After recovering their footing, Republicans could revisit the Simpson Bowles debt reduction plan and Senator Coburn’s annual “Waste Book”. Some of these items are more partisan, but these vetted ideas can guide the foray into deeper political waters. Those who lead such a realistic and rational effort will find followers among the 230 million registered voters, not just the Tea Party and Fox News. Republicans – the choice is yours.

KAMIKAZE CONGRESS

Republicans in Congress are once again in a bind over how to fund the Federal Government while not acquiescing to policies and programs they dislike.

Many House Republicans want to sink Obamacare. They point to selective implementation delays, waivers, and the general erosion of public support for the program. However, House Republicans only control one of three components needed to make laws and pass a budget. Democrats hold the Senate and the White House. Any defunding of Obamacare dies in the Senate and on the President’s desk.

Threats to block continuing resolutions to fund the Federal Government revisits the sorry record of Republican led government shut downs. Except for the November 23, 1981 shutdown, ushered in by President Reagan vetoing a continuing resolution, none have ended well for Republicans.

The most infamous was the back to back shutdowns in November 1995 through January 1996. The newly resurgent Republicans wanted to flex their muscle against a President they assumed was a spent force. The GOP fully controlled the Legislative Branch for the first time since 1954. Speaker Gingrich thirsted for a budget show down that would reshape the budget battles. He failed miserably because he and House Republicans did not make their case for such brinksmanship. This flawed messaging took a bizarre turn when Gingrich went completely off topic to complain about having to sit in the rear of Air Force One on the return flight from the funeral of Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin. Republicans now confronted the perception that the budget meltdown was about personal grudges not real policy.

After the 1995-96 shutdowns, Clinton shifted to the center for his domestic agenda, a slight victory for Republicans. However, Clinton regained his pre-1994 election momentum while Republicans faltered. It would take until the summer of 2011 for budget “hawks” to once again dominate Republican fiscal policy. During the fifteen year hiatus, Republicans lost all credibility on spending as they outdid the Democrats on appropriation earmarks, government growth, and executive branch waste. Obama has certainly added to the deficit and the growth of government, but Republicans, both in Congress and the White House, gave him a running start.

Republicans now have a dilemma of their own making. Since the budget battles of mid-2011, they have done a terrible job at making the case for cutting the size of government. Except for Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), Republicans and their media allies have defended Defense Department spending (which is as wasteful as any domestic program), and proposed ideological cuts not management based cuts. The moment you select which sacred cows to slaughter, while protecting others, you slide onto ideological thin ice. The public’s wide spread cynicism of politics is currently hurting Republicans far more than Democrats.

The other dilemma is Republicans assailing Obamacare without proposing a viable alternative. America is the best country in the world if you need shock-trauma treatment or complex diagnostics. It falls to 30th or worse if you need chronic care or are uninsured. Demographics are driving chronic care. Americans are getting older and living longer. Medicare is already sailing over the fiscal cliff. The economy is driving the other crisis. The era of forty hour a week “W2” employment is giving way to part time “1099” jobs where benefits do not exist. A real mature discussion about standards of care, alternative treatments, and family caregiving should have occurred prior to debating the role of government. Unfortunately, the hyperpartisan environment poisoned that potential dialogue in the early 1990s. It has been a snake pit of snark and snipe ever since.

So where does this leave Republicans? Defunding Obamacare and forcing a government shut down is a “kamikaze” mission. It will only end with Republicans self-immolating. A better course of action is the following:

[1] Republicans in the House not do show up to vote on any fiscal legislation. Except for House leaders and a few other Republicans, let the Democrats casts all the votes. You establish a quorum and let the Democrats vote through the continuing resolution. That way the Democrats “own” Obamacare.

[2] If Obamacare is as dysfunctional as many now think, then it will fail on its own. President Obama, the Democrats in Congress, or their key constituencies will blink and seek ways to either fix or scrap Obamacare.

[3] Republicans spend their time and political capital developing a viable alternative to Obamacare. An aging America filled with “1099” part time workers is a reality and must be addressed. Looking for real solutions and building positive consensus around those solutions would re-energize the Republican brand as caring and rational.

[4] Republicans need to revisit Simpson-Bowles http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/ and the various reports developed by Senator Coburn. Putting forward a management based budget that addresses underlying fiscal issues would also help rebrand Republicans as caring, rational, and reasonable.

These four steps will be anathema to the “conservative” pundits and their audience of zealots. They will all rail against anything less than Republican Members crashing into public opinion. On the other hand, the rest of the 230 million voting Americans may take a second look at a rational Republican movement and reward it not only in 2014, but 2016 and beyond.