You can't spend five minutes listening to conservatives talk without hearing someone invoke the word elite. Rush Limbaugh rails against the Washington elite while Newt Gingrich has received remarkable electoral traction with his attacks on the elite media. Meanwhile Mitt Romney has used his status as a Washington, DC outsider as a selling point against Messrs Santorum and Gingrich who are of course Washington insiders, and by extension elite.
Digging deeper it is difficult not to notice a chasm of discourse between bombastic populists like Mr. Limbaugh and the conservative punditry who write columns and appear on news shows. I have been particularly struck at the reaction received by attention to social issues. Not even a decade ago it was the top Republican operatives in Washington who used gay marriage as a rallying cry to turn out voters for George Bush's reelection. Today none of the Washington crowd--including former Bush aides--want anything to do with Rick Santorum's firebrand stances on social conservatism. Running against sex and college--as Mr. Santorum has--is not a message most Republican commentators and Washington insiders want anything to do with. Naturally this makes them elitists.
I have written before about the problems with the permanent political establishment. This entire discussion about the elite is part of the same argument, and it is clearly a timely one. Congress is wildly unpopular, economic times are tough, voters are frustrated if not outright angry. It should be a good time to be anti-elite. Which is why I think it is time for the entire Republican apparatus to disestablish itself. I don't mean dissolving the party, I mean disassociating itself from anything elite.
Here are a few modest proposals:
1) The House should not be in session
Speaker Boehner should announce a collective action on the part of all Republican members of the House of Representatives. First, he should keep the House in session for the most minimal amount of time. President Obama is itching to run against a "do nothing Congress." Since the election and the partisanship in DC will inevitably make that true, the House should take the initiate back by simply not spending any time in Washington.
2) Congressmen should go to work
The second group effort is for each Republican Congressman to announce that they are returning to their districts to work as an unpaid intern for a local business. If they are unable to find suitable partners, they should work as substitute teachers, train as volunteer firemen, or clean ditches in a state park. This should be meaningful work done 40 hours per week for a couple of months between now and the election.
3) Congressmen should go to help
In the meantime, each should announce that they will help file tax returns for a dozen middle class families in their district. They will sit down at the dining room table with receipts, a 1040, and a calculator and actually file a tax return for a working family.
At the same time, their paid staffers should spend the summer doing volunteer work at public parks and attractions--outside of Washington, DC.
4) Republican pundits should go on strike
From now until the election all elected Republicans, former aides, and paid commentators should refuse to appear on television news programs. Instead, television shows should be provided a list of governors, state legislative leaders, and local party chairs to feature for conservative viewpoints. There are plenty of Republicans on the front lines of local government, and they would offer a refreshing view from the outside.
At the same time, columnists like David Brooks and George Will should offer their space to guest writers from the real world at least once a month.
On balance these simple actions would draw the starkest of lines between the two parties. While Nancy Pelosi is left to whine the Republicans should "get back to work," and President Obama huffs about a do nothing Congress, Republicans can point to their valuable time spent in the private sector with real people doing real work that moves the real economy. When discussion about tax reform are raised, Republicans can talk effectively about the enormously time-consuming tax code and the real burden of compliance for real people.
No political party founded in liberty and personal responsibility can have a permanent establishment loyal to the ways and wiles of Washington, DC. The country has a party of DC, let's give it a party of the states and the people. And let it be very clear which is which.
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