The GOP’s Future: Less Jeb Bush, More Tony Stark.
Guest post by Tho Bishop on May 1, 2014
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The nation is $17 trillion in debt. The Federal Reserve has loaded its balance sheet with questionable investments and has maliciously abused the dollar’s position as a reserve currency. We face an economy that is failing to create jobs while simultaneously inflating treacherous debt bubbles in industries like auto and student loans. Overseas, a combination of misguided military efforts and US surveillance has destroyed American credibility to the point that even our closest allies in Europe are refusing to follow our lead against Vladimir Putin. Not since the Carter Administration has faith in this country been so low.
But in spite of all of this, I remain optimistic about this country.
My hope is grounded in my belief in the potential of my generation – the Millennial generation. Though young Americans are often dismissed by conservatives for their naivety, often a product of the historic enthusiasm my peers had for President Obama’s 2008 campaign, the first generation of voters who have grown up in the internet age are better informed than average voters. While Democratic strategists believed 2008 would forge a life-long alliance between Millenials and the left, this generation has shown to be less moved by sterile political talking points and blind party affiliation.
Though liberals may have not yet realized it, the reality is that the indefensible ineptitude of the Obama Administration has backfired on the Democratic Party. Instead of a generation that fully embraces progressivism, Obama has done more to breed cynicism of government than any political figure since Ronald Reagan.
Another surprising catalyst for anti-government sentiment? Hollywood.
Any progressive who has come to realize that Emperor Obama has no clothes has to be longing for the 90’s, when the White House was occupied by the most articulate spokesmen for a benign government since JFK. I speak, of course, of Aaron Sorkin’s Jed Bartlett Administration. The West Wing was NBC’s hour long infomercial to the potential of big government policy. It portrayed a White House devoted to the public good, an administration beyond personal scandal. If we were forced to sign up for Bartlettcare, there would have been no broken websites. If you liked your health insurance – you really would be able to keep it!
But fictional White House policy is no longer written by Lawrence O’Donnell. Instead, pop culture has given us two very different visions of Washington politics. The vicious, amoral capital depicted in Netflix’s House of Cards and the comedic ineptitude (and in this author’s experience, more accurate) depiction of HBO’s Veep. Though the two shows give very different takes on the state of American politics, both are extremely effective at undermining the central tenant of progressivism – the ability of government to improve the lives of its people.
This cultural attack on government is not isolated to Washington-based shows. While do-gooder Leslie Knope brings a certain Bartlett-esque quality back to NBC in Parks and Recreation, it is the bacon loving-libertarian Ron Swanson that is the fan favorite. Meanwhile, though its crass language and desire to offend may make it utterly unpalatable to many traditional Republican voters; no vehicle has done more to highlight the absurdity of big government policy than Comedy Central’s South Park. If we turn our attention to “tween” targeted television I could write a whole article on how Disney Channel’s Phineas & Ferb really is a love letter to Ayn Rand’s Objectivism.
But the small government message is not isolated to the small screen. This year’s smash hit, Captain America 2, was a deliberate critique of the Obama Administration. This is not the first time Ron Paul-esque libertarianism has been highlighted in Marvel’s ultra-successful film series. In Iron Man 2, Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark defiantly tells an obtuse Congressional committee “I have successfully privatized world peace!”
George Washington is credited with having said, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” A generation that understands the inherit truth of that statement is a generation that can change the growing tide of statism in this country. This explains why Senator Rand Paul, the most consistent critic of government in national politics today, is the most attractive Republican candidate amongst young voters.
While the problems we face as a nation are too big for even the Avengers to defeat singlehandedly – for us to restore an America that is truly exceptional, we must value every small victory we can get. Ronald Reagan’s greatest gift to the conservative movement was his sense of optimism for the future. These cultural trends should be cause to restore some degree of hope amongst the political right.
The GOP is perfectly positioned to “win the future”. All the party must do is reject the technocratic “conservatism” of leaders like Paul Ryan, and instead embrace the libertarian roots of conservatism embodied by Senator Paul.
We need a Republican Party that looks less like Jeb Bush and more like Tony Stark.
Tho Bishop is an economic analyst for Bishop & Associates, a political consulting firm. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Communications Director for the House Financial Services Committee, where he worked closely with Rep. Ron Paul’s staff during the 112th Congress. He has been published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, the Financial Services Committee blog, the News Herald and has appeared as a guest on multiple radio programs.
He is currently a Republican candidate for the Florida State House, District 6.
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