Big Government Plan Fails
by Marc Rotterman

Back in the day when George W. Bush’s poll numbers were through the roof there was much talk of a Republican realignment. President Bush was being compared to Ronald Reagan as a new leader for the conservative movement and the Republican Party. But he and his political strategists had a very different plan. The Bush Administration would outflank the Democrats by outspending them on education for the young, prescription drugs for the elderly and domestic programs generally to leave the other party no political issues left to gain political support.

The big government expansion spree began by siding with Sen. Ted Kennedy on “No Child Left Behind,” ending up increasing federal spending on education by 99 percent. But that was small potatoes compared to the arm twisting that went on by Republican House Leader Tom Delay resulting in the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug bill, the largest expansion of government since the New Deal.

Seeing a mandate with a mere 51 percent of the vote in 2004, President Bush rolled the dice and spent his political capital by making reform of Social Security his “signature issue” for the start of the second term. At the time many conservatives questioned the sequencing of the president’s legislative agenda and would have preferred that the Bush administration lead with making the tax cuts permanent. After all, Republicans were in the majority and making the tax cuts permanent seemed much more doable to many of us than taking on social security, the third rail of American politics, and a program that is near and dear to the true believers in the Democratic Party and many others besides.

Before one could bat an eye, less than a year into Bush's second term, the President's approval rating was down near 40 percent. To recover, many thought that earmarks and even more government largesse were key to political recovery. But coupled with an unpopular and mismanaged war, the inability to secure the southern border, the ineptness of the response to Hurricane Katrina, the Jack Abramoff and the Mark Foley scandals, the stage was set for a disastrous 2006 election.

The result was predictable.

Republicans lost both the House and the Senate.

“Spend, spend, elect, elect” may work for the Democrats but it clearly did not for the Republicans. In fact, it has not worked for the Democrats in recent years either. The new Republican strategy was proved a disaster, not only against its conservative principles but in strict political terms too.

Now in July 2007 President Bush’s approval rating hovers in the low 30’s and the party is torn apart by the disconnect between the Washington elites and the grassroots, especially how President Bush collaborated with the Democrats on a proposed new immigration bill. The president even accused conservatives of “not wanting to do what’s right for America" when it comes to illegal immigration. That went down to defeat also, resulting in further political weakness.

What is clear is that the conservative movement and the Republican Party are in a rebuilding phase. Ironically, despite the fact that most of the administration’s domestic policies are anything but conservative, George W. Bush has replaced Ronald Reagan as the face of conservatism to many, especially younger voters.

The "Center Right" Republican majority forged by Reagan has been squandered by the pipe dream that big government programs solely for the sake of power rather than based on principle could forge a permanent Republican majority.

The damage to the country, the conservative movement and the Republican Party may take years if not decades to repair.

Marc Rotterman is a Republican Consultant, worked on the national campaign of Reagan for President in 1980, served on the presidential transition team in 1980, worked in the Reagan Administration from 1981-1984, is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, NC and a former member of the board of the American Conservative Union.