The Republicans are coming!
For Democrats in Tampa Bay, home turf is being turned over to the rival team. And for many Watermark readers, the invasion will feel downright hostile. Let’s face it: the GOP has consistently obstructed every step toward full LGBT equality. Access to open military service and same-sex marriage rights are just the most notable recent examples.
Political conventions bring out the most extreme, obnoxious partisans. The Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum will be no exception. Unless you enjoy spiking your blood pressure (I have friends who flip between MSNBC and FOX throughout the day to maintain a constant adrenaline rush), tune out television coverage and avoid the Channelside District through the end of the month.
But judging the GOP based on their convention is like judging Florida Gators based on the frat section at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during the last quarter of a Florida State game.
They’re not all like that.
And in important ways the current presidential ticket marks a refreshing change. With the addition of vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan, we are closer to engaging the key political issue of these dark economic times the role and size of government than in past election cycles.
At their core, Republicans believe in limited government. They believe that if productive people are unencumbered by taxes and regulations they will create abundance. Government, on the other hand, lacks accountability and market constraints and is thus wasteful and de-motivating.
Most Americans believe these things to at least some degree. They lie at the heart of our capitalist economy.
While wholeheartedly endorsing free enterprise, Democrats emphasize the importance of government to provide essentials schools, infrastructure, health care, retirement benefits that create opportunity and security for all. And they note that government must monitor and regulate greed and other selfish human behaviors that ultimately penalize everyone.
Most Americans believe these things to at least some degree. They lie at the heart of our federalist system.
It’s easy to forget that elections are supposed to be the means by which we debate and determine the balance between these competing philosophical impulses. The common goal is finding the best solutions to our nation’s challenges is all but lost in the land of 24-hour cable news, special interest super-PACs and negative advertising.
In this environment, two different types of Republicans have risen to prominence. Both will be on display in Tampa later this month. One is evil, the other worthy of consideration and even respect.
Power-based Republicans want control of government to benefit a few influential constituencies, mostly wealthy corporations. They tend to cultivate figurehead candidates Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush that they elect with fear-based campaigns and then manipulate toward selfish ends. Compromise is counter-productive. The overall well-being of the nation is secondary at best.
The best expression of this power-based focus was made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). With high-unemployment, crushing deficits, precarious economic circumstances and two ongoing wars, he was asked to list his priorities if Republicans gained the majority in the Senate in 2010.
The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president, he responded.
Policy-based Tea Party Republicans, on the other hand, sincerely believe that small government is the key to our nation’s future well-being and productivity. Their evangelical certainty is off-putting, and their recent unwillingness to compromise is arrogant. They often work hand-in-hand with the power-based members of their party, but their transparency illuminates debate and elective choice.
A champion of big business, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney nonetheless shed light on his perspective with his choice of a running mate. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is certainly a policy-based Republican.
Ryan’s proposed federal budget plan would fundamentally reshape government by lowering taxes, mostly for middle and upper class Americans, and diminishing the existing social safety net comprised of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. It is nave, philosophically limited and unsupported by fact or history; the product of a privileged white Roman Catholic male who discovered individualist Ayn Rand in the bedroom of his family’s stately Janesville, Wisconsin home.
But it is pure, and will force President Barack Obama to similarly focus his vision for addressing unemployment, economic investment, the deficit and looming unsustainable entitlements. Voters will likely have their clearest choice since Johnson/Goldwater in 1964 and Nixon/McGovern in 1972. The upcoming candidate debates should be riveting.
Of course, the choice for LGBT voters is stark. President Obama has advanced LGBT equality in significant ways, and would continue to do so during a second term. Romney and Ryan both support a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. But they prefer to sidestep issues of LGBT equality, perhaps in a nod to the inevitable future. Since 2004, the percentage of Republicans under 30 who favor marriage equality has grown from 28 percent to 37 percent. It could be more than half by the next election.
In the future, perhaps concurrence on that issue will serve as a reminder that we’re all in this together.
