Ebonics for Republicans: “The New Conservative Paradigm”

The New Conservative Paradigmby Thomas G. Del BeccaroTMK BooksISBN: 978-0-9801142-0-1Some fuss has been made recently concerning the appearance of “The New Conservative Paradigm,” by Thomas G Del Beccaro. DelBeccaro is the Vice Chair of the California Republican Party, andChairman of the Contra Costa County Republican Central Committee.Tempting fate, just like the current batch of Republican presidentialcandidates, Del Beccaro claims to be the new delphic oracle of Reaganism. In fact, New Paradigm does nothing more thanrepackage the “three legs of the stool” analogy commonly used todescribe the erstwhile Reagan Coalition: fiscal conservatives; pro-defense/military; andsocial conservatives.In this version of the Reagan mythology, Del Beccaro offers the stunningly unoriginal“Three Pillars” of electoral wisdom: Pro-Growth/Tax-cuts; defense of America, and“respect” for American values and traditions. Del Beccaro’s conclusions that include:zero-based budgeting; cost-analysis of government programs; 2-yr budgeting cycles,etc., also break no new ground, as we’ve been hearing such bromides from scolds likeNewt Gingrich and former Democratic Congressman, Tim Penny, since 1995.Yet, New Paradigm offers a window into the current state of accepted, uncriticalRepublican thinking, and deserves a closer look.In his “rock-paper-scissors” scheme of presidential politics, Del Beccaro suggests thatcandidates and parties that best champion tax-cuts, defense of America, and respect for its values, are more likely to win national elections.In obeisance to Reagan, Del Beccaro wears out the “Optimism” of the Gipper’s belief that Americans have the power to begin again and “remake the world,” to prove “we thepeople” can do better good than government. New Paradigm, in turn, offers thisoptimism: Three Pillars that are the rational basis for action toward achieving the goal of electoral glory.First, pro-growth tax cuts. Del Beccaro describes JFK’s well-known tax-cutting bonafides, and then recounts how Reagan insisted tax cuts stimulate economies and freepeople from reliance upon government. Furthermore, in tandem with pro-growth taxpolicies, “reforms” that get government out of the way and frees corporate America fromover-reaching regulatory pain,cannot help but insure electoral victory.

Del Beccaro then introduces two additional pillars of the New Paradigm. Those Pro-growth candidates and parties that convince American voters that they will best protectAmerica and its interests abroad; and who best respect so-called American values andtraditions—like school prayer, public display of nativity scenes, and prohibitions againstflag-burning—are certain to regain ascendancy in national politics. New Paradigm thenoffers numerous charts showing congressional representation and presidential electionresults over time to prove success comes from honoring the New Paradigm’s ThreePillars.The author’s approach to the role of government and king-of-the-hill manipulation of election slogans betrays its own internal dilemmas. Del Beccaro’s grand edifice starts toteeter when he fails to account honestly for recent economic history. For as much asNew Paradigm touts Tax Cuts and Regulatory Reform as the end all and be all of winning electoral policy, it fails to seriously consider the government spending side of the equation.According to Del Beccaro, if Republicans want to “take the lead,” they must convincevoters they will cut taxes. The voters will love this, especially if the rhetoric lets themthink they can have pet programs, too. Politics becomes a game where candidates andparties subjugate debate of critical ideas to the technique of outwitting the opposition ina rhetorical game of capture the tax-cut flag while pulling the wool over the electorate.For Del Beccaro, perception, not substance, is everything.

Eventually, voters begin to see they were fooled and the economists among them beginto complain that tax cutting without reduced spending is “voodoo economics.” For as thegrowth and growth rate of government spending has increased rapidly under bothRepublican and Democratic leaders, it becomes plain that these solemn electoralseason promises to “starve the beast” through tax cuts alone, simply do not work.

Reduced taxes, without reduced spending and real reduction of government to the relief of civil society in general has created a wasteland of fiscal, tax, and social policy.New Paradigm’s house of cards completely collapses when Del Beccaro frankly admitsthat pro-growth tax cuts are more important than the other two foundational pillarswhich, may not even be needed to win after all!

Some paradigm! So much for the three-legged stool and the blessed Three Pillars wewere told Conservatism requires to flourish in the 21st Century. What kind of whittleddown Paradigm does this bargaining get us?

e.g. pp. 179, 185, 193, 197, anon

See analysis from USA Today at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-02-federal-spending-inside_x.htm; See also: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750

p.198

It is telling that the whole reason for this book is to help Republicans regain ascendancy,to take back “the lead” from Democrats. For good or ill, playing the game and “winning”seems to be the only payoff. Couldn’t the goals be a more just society? Improvement of lives, and healthier institutions? No, the enrichment of citizens, communities, andsocietal structures are not as important as Republicans winning national elections and“staying ahead” of Democrats.What is left is politics for politics sake; where Reagan’s optimism and appeal to a“higher purpose” are reduced to pragmatic tools in a game of “who wins” for competinginterest groups, power brokers, political insiders, and a media invested in keeping therules of the game the same. It is the same-old manipulation of big government by theLeft or the Right—depending on who most recently fooled the electorate—to produceeconomic growth to benefit special interests through various brands of conservative or liberal tax policy and so-called regulatory reform.By championing JFK the “Tax-Cutter” and the spirit of Clinton’s nuanced finesse of “middle-class” tax cuts, New Paradigm makes plain that the primacy of gamesmanshipand the mantra of “economic growth” knows no party line. In this manner, rather thanlaying a foundation for a new Conservatism Paradigm, Del Beccaro proves instead thatthere is really no difference between Republicans and Democrats on this point.Push come to shove, Conservatism is merely the “revolution-lite” luxury-class, slow-boatto the laissez-faire good life prophesied by Classical Liberalism, where government’srole is to safeguard prosperity with the promise of absolute security. In contrast,Democrats and the radicals in steerage itch to rev the titanic engines of government-driven economic prosperity, scientific achievement, and the promise of escape or protection from traditions and institutions that stand in the way of the ideology of absolutized individual freedom.In the end, despite their election-year claims about God and Country, both poles of thesame ideology bow down to a “Better World Through Westinghouse.”New Paradigm’s shallow thinking is also expressed in its vapid conclusions andsuggestions for hope that are limited to accounting procedures and legislativehousekeeping aimed at fine-tuning economic performance.For presenting a glorious New Paradigm, Del Beccaro offers no real thinking about therole of government. This is something Conservatives ought to be better at thanDemocrats; simply because even moderate Republicans preternaturally understand thatlimited government is better than the California Assembly’s notion that governmentknows no bounds or purpose other than the whim of a feckless mob.Is government just a means to other ends: such as human freedom, or economicprosperity, or the enhancement of the nation’s strength? Or is its purpose to uphold a