Tarnished Brand
GOP must return to core principles
Among the many problems confronting the national Republican Party is how to restore some sort of brand image among voters. After reclaiming control of Congress in 1994 on a reform platform, Republicans managed to squander their mandate by essentially acting like the Democrats whom they had replaced.
A series of scandals coupled with out-of-control Congressional spending turned voters off on the GOP Congress. As for the Bush Administration, even the architect of the 1994 revolution, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, has become critical of its failure to run the government effectively. Discontent has seeped all the way down to the grassroots. The Republican National Committee had to shut down its telephone fundraising operations recently because small donors, aggravated by the President’s stand on illegal immigration, are literally refusing to give.
House Republican Leader John Boehner, among others, is looking for ways to rebuild the GOP brand. The difficult they face was illustrated by a recent vote on a proposal by House Democrats to pander to voter anger over the rising price of gasoline. The bill, introduced by Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) would – as the American Conservative Union (ACU) put it place – “socialist style price controls” on oil and gasoline,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has worked herself into a liberal lather over the high cost of gasoline. Never mind, as George Will observed in a recent column that in inflation-adjusted dollars the cost of a gallon of gasoline is less now than it was in 1981. Pelosi and her fellow travelers feel something has to be done to collar what they claim are excessive profits being made by the oil companies. Pelosi conveniently forgets the fact, pointed out by the ACU, that oil companies make about 13 cents profit per gallon of gasoline while the federal government reaps a “windfall” of 18.4 cents per gallon in taxes – and that does not include state gasoline taxes.
So Pelosi and company are attempting to legislate a more equitable marketplace, passed by a one-vote margin what is essentially a price control bill and have sent it along to the Senate, where hopefully cooler heads will prevail.
Most disconcerting about passage of the House price control bill is that 56 Republicans joined with Democrats to approve the measure. They violated a core Republican principle of belief in the free market. Four Pennsylvania Republicans joined in the apostasy: Charlie Dent of the Lehigh Valley, Phil English of Erie, Jim Gerlach from suburban Philadelphia, and Todd Platts from York County. Unfortunately, on a number of issues, they have run roughshod over Republican Party orthodoxy, thus contributing mightily to voter confusion over exactly what makes Republicans different from Democrats.
Having paid over $55.00 the last time I filled my truck with gasoline I agree the recent spike in prices puts a dent in the family budget. But, I also know that government efforts to regulate the free market economy will make the problem worse, and not better. Congressmen Dent, English, Gerlach, and Platts are all intelligent, thoughtful men and they know that as well. It is disappointing they chose to stoop to a vote which was essentially a political stunt that has short term PR benefits, but will harm the U.S. economy in the long run.
Rather than passing more laws to try and regulate the cost of gasoline, Congress might try repealing a few. Specifically, it should repeal or loosen those laws which have prevented the construction of any new refinery capacity in this country since Hector was a pup. Pelosi and her ilk claim they want America to achieve energy self-sufficiency. If that is true, then open up the Alaskan National Wildlife Preserve (ANWAR) to exploration and production. America lacks energy self-sufficiency, and prices are spiking at the pump not because oil companies are making too much money, but because of government policies that prevent the opposite from occurring.
If Congressman Boehner and his fellow Republicans in Congress truly want to return to majority status they must return to the core free market principles that most Americans believe in and have in the past elected Republicans to office to implement. The GOP votes cast for price control make it crystal clear that lesson has not yet been learned.
