As a counterpoint to my last post, “Republican Realignment in the Post-Chichester Era,” it’s worth reading a column penned by Zachary D. Moore, an aide to Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke, and director of his PAC, in the Manassas Journal-Messenger.
Moore argues that the Republicans defeated themselves in the last election through a series of damaging primary challenges to moderate legislators. Not only did conservative challengers cause GOP candidates to burn through $2 million in cash, they defeated Sen. Marty Williams, R-Newport News, who would have gone unopposed in the general election. Democrats wound up winning the seat from conservative Tricia Stall.
The result of the GOP defeat is as damaging to conservatives as it is to moderates. Writes Moore:
I want to highlight what this loss means for the Republican social agenda. Bills relating to everything from abortion to school choice to gay rights come before the Senate Education and Health Committee. Historically, many socially conservative bills have died on an 8-7 vote. With the retirement of committee Chairman Russ Potts, many observers thought the committee was on the verge of moving in a more conservative direction. I can virtually guarantee that won’t happen now. Republican Senators Bell and Rerras, both of whom were consistent conservative votes on the committee, will now be replaced with Democrats.
It’s interesting how Moore plays this as a loss for social conservatives. If Republicans react to electoral defeat by re-defining themselves as a socially conservative party, they are dooming themselves to minority status.
I wouldn’t define Virginia as a socially “liberal” state. I would describe the philosophical center of gravity as more of “social libertarian” state. Most people have a live-and-let-live attitude. Everybody be cool. Tolerate minority values and lifestyles, but show some respect for mainstream values. Let people do their own thing — keep the state out of it. Adapt the law to changes in social mores in incremental steps that doesn’t get anybody’s nose too bent out of shape.
Conversely, if Republicans redefine themselves as a fiscally conservative party with innovative solutions to the problems we all share — taxes, education, transportation, the environment — while permitting a range of views on the culture-war issues, it can emerge from defeat much stronger. If the GOP fails to reinvent itself along these lines, a large chunk of the electorate will feel perfectly comfortable in the socially moderate/fiscally moderate wing of the Democratic party.