Opinion|Our View | Paul Ryan
Ryan's hope: a new, and smarter, Republican Party
The Wisconsin congressman is working on an extreme makeover. But we wonder what policies will emerge.
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan: "If you believe in the core idea of this country, equality of opportunity, liberty and freedom, self-determination, free enterprise, then rally around that tallest pole in this big tent." Credit: John Klein
Congressman Paul Ryan talks to the Journal Sentinel editorial board about his thoughts on the gun control, immigration reform, health care and the election.
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Jan. 29, 2013 0
Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders are busy scratching out the old image of the Republican Party and rapidly trying to create a new one.
After a disappointing loss in November to President Barack Obama and the Democrats, Ryan, the congressman from Janesville and the GOP's vice presidential candidate, is emphasizing "prudence."
In so many words, Ryan is saying: Let's stop being so dumb.
Or, as Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, put it so well the other day: "We must stop being the stupid party. It's time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults."
We quite agree. For too long, Republicans have talked down to their own voters (something, by the way, that Democrats are sometimes inclined to do as well).
Now, in speeches around the country - and in a meeting with the Editorial Board on Monday - Ryan sketched out a new version of the Republican message that on its face sounds more reasonable.
As he has in other recent interviews, Ryan talked about big tents and showing voters that "we have better solutions for fixing the real anxieties that people have in their lives."
Of course, the real test is whether the ideas advanced by the GOP are any better at really offering those solutions. Or is this simply a version of extreme makeover?
In either case, we wish Ryan and the GOP well. We've had our differences with him, but he remains one of the most thoughtful leaders in either party. And he has ideas. As he has so often said, "Here are my ideas. Let me see yours."
The nation is better served when the two parties both are offering reasonable alternatives. Too often in the recent past, both have instead been guilty of naked pandering and ignoring the real concerns of voters.
After losing the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections, the Republican brand needs some work. The GOP continues to do poorly with people of color and the young. Despite alienating voter groups that might listen to thoughtful conservative economic arguments, some Republicans still cling to the old strategy of divide-and-conquer with social issues.
In a speech at the Jack Kemp Leadership Award dinner in December, Ryan insisted: "We have a compassionate vision based on ideas that work, but sometimes we don't do a good job laying out that vision." (Kemp, a New York congressman who helped make tax cuts a centerpiece of Republican thought, was one of Ryan's mentors.)
Ryan told us this week:
"We don't have a 19-point litmus test you have to satisfy before we let you in this party. If you believe in the core idea of this country, equality of opportunity, liberty and freedom, self-determination, free enterprise, then rally around that tallest pole in this big tent, and we'll agree to disagree on those other issues."
We'll see if that really is the case. The party was deeply divided by the rise of the tea party and, at times, didn't appear to know what it wanted to be. Can youthful politicians such as Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker, Jindal, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia really redraw the Republican image? And will there be substantive policies behind it that are reasonable, thoughtful and, most of all, work?
We're about to find out.
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