Where To Now, Republicans?

I've been spending a fair amount of time over at Central Sanity which has several Republican/Conservative contributors because I seem to have become some sort of voice for the left as a contributor. It's a peculiar sort of mission for me, a whole lot of the left thinks I'm something odd. But as reading goes it's a pretty good place, the standards are pretty high and it's not just a regurgitation of Rightwingery. So, a question occurred, who is going to lead the Republicans? Not in a Presidential run, the Party, which will essentially be the make up of the Congressional Delegation.

There are those who vie for the lead on Party principles, Newt, DeLay, Viguerie, Boehner, Flake, Rove, and Norquist are some of the primary contenders. The Newt has a lot of ideas, I've thrown rocks at some, and some like "modernizing big government," don't seem to have much meaning to me. I don't like him, I haven't liked most of the ideas he's publicized, and I also think he's harmed himself with the Party "leaders" with his Clinton federal shut-down collision.

DeLay says so much Christian Right stuff that much of the socially moderate wing of the R's isn't going to buy in, and the corruption scandals get laid pretty much at his doorstep. His K Street project and earmarking for political gain propensities offend many fiscal conservatives. What DeLay means by rebuilding the conservative movement seems pretty unclear beyond God stuff. I've tried to read his blog, but I really can't stand that kind of abuse of my intellect.

Viguerie is a champion of civil liberties and small government with small taxes, he has a new book, "Conservatism Betrayed : How George W..." which lays out his discontent. He may be one of the more credible conservatives, but his agendas gore some pretty popular items.

Flake (AZ) and Pence (IN) are low tax small government crusaders, No Child..., prescription drug program and even Medicare are poison to them. Economic freedom, limited government, and individual responsibility are their mantra, and are nearer Goldwater than most. Whether the R's have the stomach for that battle is questionable, and selling the public - particularly the center - on the idea would entail not positioning the corporate world as the benefactor at the average citizen's expense. It'll play in sound bites, but as a policy agenda there are some real politically unattractive hits on programs.

Boehner seems to be drawn to the politics of opposition, at this point he is a BushCo creature, but national security seems to be his biggest thing.

I leave Rove out of any analysis, what he actually believes is a mystery beyond the acquisition of power. He seems to believe that co-opting government into the private sector is a method of reforming government into something market driven - whatever that is supposed to mean. Currently it means government subsidy of corporate incompetence and corruption, even Republicans are starting to find that a little difficult to swallow.