David Brooks's triumphant Saturday NYT column declares Republican victory:
It was only this week that we can truly say the exodus story is over, with the success of the Medicare reform bill. This week the G.O.P. behaved as a majority party in full. The Republicans used the powers of government to entrench their own dominance. They used their control of the federal budget to create a new entitlement, to woo new allies and service a key constituency group, the elderly.
The column, which deserves reading in full, leaves unanswered a rather important question: What's the point of Republican political power? Nothing more than job security for a different clique?
The New Deal coalition played hardball politics. But they didn't stay in power for decades without some general principles and policy goals. (The Republicans just achieved one of the latter, further socializing medical care.) They were for the "little guy," for a "fairer society," for "equal opportunity." Their platform wasn't coherent, but you could recognize a Democratic stand when you saw it. What do Frist Republicans stand for? Anything at all? |
