Offense or defense?

These groups don’t necessarily agree on their specific
issues. The Poker Players Alliance has a booth not that far from the Focus on
Family booth, for example.

And when Republicans run the government, CPAC can become
kind of mess. It is uncomfortable to blame your own friends for screwing up,
but confabs like CPAC really thrive on negative energy. It is far more fun and
amusing to stop things than it is to make the necessary compromises to get things
done.

CPAC is loving life right now. Not only do they have Barack
Obama, who is every right-wing talk show host’s most glorious dream, but the
Congress is also being run by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. If you get bored
beating up on Mr. Obama, you can always beat Pelosi (rhetorically) like a
piñata. Or, as a few younger conservatives have done, actually make a piñata in
Pelosi’s likeness and then beat that.

These conservative activists are having a lot of fun, because
the conservative movement has done a remarkable job in stopping the
Obama/Pelosi/Reid juggernaut. Despite having an overwhelming majority in House
and the highest vote toll in the Senate since the late 1970s, Democrats
couldn’t get anything done, except for a bloated stimulus package that they largely
constructed before the president was sworn in.

But isn’t it time for the conservative movement (and
Republicans in general) to come up with a plan to go on offense? Sen. Jim
DeMint (R-S.C.) has famously said that he would rather have 40 ideologically
pure colleagues than a majority that might include some who are more
ideologically suspect. That makes sense if all you care about is playing
defense and stopping things.

It makes no sense if you have an agenda that you want to
achieve and, more importantly, is achievable.

What are some of those things? How about a tax code that
doesn’t kill jobs? How about a legal system that is understandable to
non-lawyers? How about a social safety net that doesn’t bankrupt the country? How
about a healthcare system that doesn’t cost consumers an arm and a leg? How
about a government that is actually responsive and government employees who are
actually competent?

Are these dreams the impossible dream? I don’t think so. Not
only are they possible, they are necessary if we want to flourish as a society.

When you go to CPAC, you see a lot of booths that promote
silly things that are impractical in the political and policy arena. We are not
going back to the gold standard. We are not getting rid of the Federal Reserve.
We are wasting our time by pushing for prayer in public schools (it’s not
constitutional).  Intelligent
design? Come on, people.

Let’s go on offense on things that really matter. Let’s fix
the government so that we can move the country forward. And let’s come up with
a strategy that will get us the votes in the House and the Senate to do it.

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