One item that has seemed to gain traction over the past view days has been Peter Berkowitz’s recent Wall Street Journal article – Conservatives Can Unite Around the Constitution.
This article is fascinating in-and-of-itself. In it Berkowitz admits to many of the same shortcomings the Democrats had to admit back in 1994. Democrats then and Republicans now are bloated, unable to create a cohesive message, and hate to admit the fact that they have made numerous mistakes in the run-up to this election.
What is interesting is that Berkowitz’s proposals seem to still be somewhat behind the political curve. Here are a few examples:
*“A foreign policy that recognizes America’s vital national security interest in advancing liberty abroad but realistically calibrates undertakings to the nation’s limited knowledge and restricted resources.” Haven’t Democrats been touting this for years?
*“A commitment to homeland security that is as passionate about security as it is about law, and which is prepared to responsibly fashion the inevitable, painful trade-offs.” Again, Democrats have been touting this since the creation of the Patriot Act back in 2001; yes we need security, but we must also maintain liberty.
*“Measures to combat illegal immigration that are emphatically pro-border security and pro-immigrant.” Liberals of all stripes have stated that we need to have greater compassion in regards to the border situation.
Then there are the ones that are politically questionable, but I understand that it is possible for conservatives to swing people back to their ideological point of view:
*“A demand that public universities abolish speech codes and vigorously protect liberty of thought and discussion on campus.” I suspect that this is a response to the idea that colleges are “liberal bastions” where students are pumped of “far-left doctrine.”
*“Efforts to keep the question of same-sex marriage out of the federal courts and subject to consideration by each state’s democratic process.” Though I see why conservatives wish to halt the advance of gay marriage, it is still unrealistic to think that a national law will not, at some point, make gay marriage a reality. Though I do think that it is some progress to at least concede that states have the right to decide this issue, rather than just blanket oppose it.
*“The appointment of judges who understand that their function is to interpret the Constitution and not make policy, and, therefore, where the Constitution is most vague, recognize the strongest obligation to defer to the results of the democratic process.” Sounds like the same old song and dance of “activist judges.”
There are a few more issues that Berkowitz addresses, however I think two things have become blatantly obvious: one, Republicans know they need to retool and two, the only thing they can come up with is either repackaging their message or move further left in their opinions.
I will agree with Berkowitz that Republicans will have to incorporate the ideas of the Libertarian Party and Independents with right-leaning tendencies in order to have future success.
And so, my fellow liberals, your homework is to read this article, and the other right leaning blogs, so that we can all start to formulate arguments now so that we are not surprised a few years down the road.
