new ideas

Patrick and Matt, who I both respect and count as friends, get something completely wrong. Patrick wants to install an "Ideas Czar" and a "Republican National Policy Committee":

What we need is a policy arm independent of the existing policy infrastructure on the Hill that incorporates the best of what's happening in the states, on the Hill, and in the think tanks. A Republican National Policy Committee would be tasked with crafting a larger message that's bigger than just House Republicans or Senate Republicans, but that includes both and Governors as well. An RNPC would have de-facto last word on the elusive question of what the Republican Party is for, would appoint "shadow cabinet" spokespeople to directly respond to what's happening at the departments and agencies, and have point on crafting a Contract-like Republican platform for the midterm elections. Part think tank, part messaging engine, a Republican policy committee would keep the ideas flame alive until a Presidential nominee emerged.

I think that this gets exactly wrong what we need. Washington is where ideas come to die. They get strangled by interests groups warping them for their own ends. They get strangled by bureaucracies in the parties, in the interest groups, and in government interested in the status quo.

We don't need Washington to deputize someone with the authority to have ideas on behalf of the party. Anyone who has seen the platform process up close knows that it is, for the most part, a list of shibboleths rather than a serious policy debate. Subordinating our ideas to existing power structures is just going to destroy us.

We need more people with actual ideas speaking and competing in the marketplace. If we are going to take ideas seriously -- and I agree with Jon that our institutions are not yet ready to, there might be an alternative model that we could borrow from the European centre-right, the European Ideas Network (EIN) or improve on our existing models.

 Beyond some friends who know Louisiana politics intimately, a year ago not many people I came across knew much about the man from Baton Rouge.  Today his name seems to be on the tongue of every young conservative I meet.  It's been a fascinating phenomenon to watch unfold.

He represents a new breed of conservative.  A new commitment to the values we envision when we hope for America's future, and the personal qualities to reassure a weary public about the ability to deliver.

Jindall represents the beating heart of a movement quieted by 2 decades of being buried in its own success.  The need for reform, a hunger for free markets across the spectrum of american society, the desire to shine a light on the inner workings of government, to rebuild in the image of transparent self-government a system that so many feel has abandoned them.

Many will jump to the conclusion that I am shilling for Jindall as a VP pick for Sen. McCain.  I am not.  While I certainly consider Gov. Jindall capable and qualified, I do not pretend to know what Sen. McCain needs in a running mate, but I have every confidence that he does.  I know that the person he picks will represent our party well, and will fight diligently beside the Senator to protect us from all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

I write about Gov. Jindall because many within the party and pundits from all corners talk about us being lost, about "the fall of conservatism".  If conservatism has faltered it is only because at our core we are a movement of change, and we have become entrenched.  We are guarding the castle, not storming it.  Over the past decade we have not been as introspective as we should have, we have not been as active in creating new solutions as we were in the early '90s.  Today, we have a unique opportunity to renew that search within ourselves, and recommit to the perpetual challenge of making America better, stronger, freer and more prosperous.  It is an opportunity we should not neglect.

When I look for conservatives moving down that path, seizing this opportunity I see Bobby Jindall.  And every day I find more people my age who seem to be looking that direction.

Very sobering read. -Patrick

A new poll by widely respected Public Opinion Strategies pollster Glen Bolger has some very interesting data on an important question: What do voters think of the Republic message when it isn’t attached to the GOP label? His data is a perfect way to test whether voters…

A. Like what we have to say but simply don’t trust us after Bush, Iraq, Katrina, overspending, the bridge to nowhere, endless scandals (need I go on?).

Or

B. Don’t like us because they don’t agree with what we say we want to do for the country.