Llewellyn
King
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September 29, 2008
Newt Gingrich and the
End of Ideology
Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House and espouser of big ideas,
has discovered two old political verities – our education system is
broken and the nation's infrastructure needs an overhaul. Both have been
true for decades. They were true when Gingrich was forcing his tribal
doctrines on Congress and when, later, he described George W. Bush as a
“transformational” president.
For Gingrich, the trouble is he did nothing for education when he had
power and he was opposed to funding infrastructural repair. While
Gingrich was trumpeting Bush's ability to change the nation, the
president was bringing about change at home through neglect and change
abroad through an interventionist war.
Now, the price is to be paid – the astronomically high price. Get out
your wallets, your children's wallets and your grandchildren's wallets.
Gingrich's Republican Revolution is a tattered thing now. His “Contract
with America” is never mentioned. His term limits idea is no more viable
than Esperanto. The man who believes that private enterprise and the
free market are the balm of hurt countries is observing the
nationalization of a large chunk of the finance sector. It is hardly the
kind of transformation Gingrich expected from the Bush Administration.
Despite this litany of events that has turned Gingrich's dreams to
nightmares, we need thinkers more than ever. If Gingrich had been less
wedded to the Republican orthodoxies (now crumbling) and given his ideas
free rein, he might have had more enduring successes. Real ideas are
more enduring than party fealty expressed though party-speak.
Whoever wins in November – now hard upon us – has to approach the
business of government in the immediate future as a new paradigm:
Pragmatism first and ideology second.
The problem with ideology is that it inhibits ideas and produces
rigidities that inhibit the natural immune systems of countries from
functioning. If the Democrats had not been so ideologically wedded to
the purposes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they would have sided with
conservatives to control these monsters before things went hopelessly
wrong. Likewise, if conservatives had not developed a
pathological hatred of regulation (oversight, really), some alarms over
the house of cards on Wall Street may have been avoided. As a
prophylactic, regulation can only be measured in its absence. There are
no bonuses for good regulation.
It
is up to creative people, like Gingrich, to introduce House Republicans
and the party's base to this big idea: Things have changed. All of those
robust slogans of the 1990s are obsolete. So is the idea that good
results in government will axiomatically flow from personal rectitude,
including faith, family, patriotism, a love of small government and a
belief that our institutions of government are irresistible to the rest
of the world.
In
many ways, Republicans are better equipped to prepare themselves for the
future than Democrats. Republicans do have leaders, like Gingrich and
Rep. Roy Blunt, who are equipped to mold a new party philosophy. They
also have a corps of literate thinkers on the op-ed pages, including
George Will, David Brooks, Bill Kristol, Kathleen Parker and Charles
Krauthammer.
These days the Democrats have no living heroes. The Clintons are
contentious and Jimmy Carter is a liability. In both the House and the
Senate, Democratic leadership is weak. Neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry
Reid can stir the emotions.
Most of the print liberals lag their conservative counterparts. Harold
Meyerson is the most articulate; but outside of the liberal circle, he
is unknown. Maureen Dowd writes well but is too shrill to be taken
seriously. And Richard Cohen is read for pleasure, not ideology. Hence,
the ridiculous expectations Democrats have for Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC
talk maven.
But one commentator cannot turn back the dominance of broadcast
commentary enjoyed by conservatives. Gingrich had a lot to do with that,
too. He welcomed right-wing radio-talkers into Congress and gave them
workspace.
They will not like what, I believe, they will hear from Newt and others
next year. The page is turned.
© 2008 North Star
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