Policy and Politics

We all know people -- actually, we have probably been those people at least at times -- who, when asked if we are Republicans, Democrats or independents, answer routinely that they are not so much party members as conservatives, or liberals, or "social conservatives" or some other non-party description.

Now way, way back almost 700 columns ago in 2014, the very first piece on this site discussed the assortment of opinions within an individual, as an explanation for why parties arise.  Please read it, at the link, but I wanted to hearken back to it as some fodder for this column.

As I watch the Republicans in the Senate show themselves to be politically incapable of doing what they were sent there to do, I was mentally exploring the options.  That's when I started to do the separation that is the title of this article.

The policy -- in this case repealing and replacing Obamacare -- is based on a fairly straightforward belief.  The topic is not health care but rather health insurance, and from a policy standpoint my baseline is that the Federal government has no business with its nose in health insurance, other than to ensure that insurance companies are behaving in a decent and non-exploitative manner in providing their service to the public.  Even that role should predominantly be the province of the States, as it is not given by the Constitution.  However, if you support companies offering plans across state lines, we are in interstate commerce-land and that is a Federal role.  So OK, that's fine. 

But Obamacare far overreaches that by mandating that citizens must be covered or pay a fine, and the rest of the law is an atrocious mishmash of things that Washington has no business being in and need to be removed from law.

Policy.  You see the point?  I agree with all the Republican senators who believe that fundamentally, Obamacare is a gross overstep by Washington and needs to be killed.  But they're not doing it.  Policy is being trumped by politics, in this case the fact that Obamacare so expanded the role of government in giveaways and subsidies that certain Republicans are afraid for their political future (i.e., don't have the integrity and courage to do what's right) and refuse to allow its complete repeal.

So what is a Republican?

Leftists are out there rioting in Berkeley, marching down streets calling for policemen to be murdered, and at the most benign, stepping far away from governing in favor of pursuing the rabbit-hole trip that is the Trump-Russia farce.  Their 2016 presidential candidate sold a quarter of USA uranium to the Russians in return for a fat paycheck to her husband for a speech.  If you are a liberal, can you say that you agree with all that and call yourself a Democrat?

I would have to say that if there ever was a "good old day" when the disagreements between liberals and conservatives were mostly limned in policy terms and carried out in politics, those days are long behind us.  The policies remain, but the politics have so separated from the policy as to leave us incapable of doing anything productive to advance the policy.  Get reelected; that's the purpose of being in Washington.

My policy support is clear.  I want low, low taxes to enable business growth and economic stability.  I want minimal regulation, enough to protect the public but not choke business.  I want our nation protected, and I want strong borders and managed immigration.  I want to advance the cause of domestic freedom.  And I want the Federal government to do only what the Constitution allows it to do and not charge the taxpayer one dime to do anything else.

That makes me a conservative, and has always prompted me to vote Republican.  But I have trouble identifying with the Republicans who are representing my values in the Senate anymore.  I feel sure we share the policy beliefs, I really do.  But I certainly have trouble being convinced that they have the courage or political will to act in accordance with those beliefs when it comes to the legislating and the politics of things.

Perhaps I am the Republican and they have left the party, much as the Democrat party long ago left the beliefs of 50 years back that characterized the party of JFK and LBJ.  Either way, though, we have a failure of politics advancing policy, and it is something that needs to be fixed now.

Because right now the one guy I can rely on to manage that difference properly is the one in the White House.

Copyright 2017 by Robert Sutton
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