by Ray Keating
When it comes to Republican politics, it’s hard to figure
out whom the establishment is. Indeed, with Fox bringing back The X-Files, perhaps it’s a job for
Mulder and Scully to unearth the true “establishment” conspiracy.
During this presidential election season, the word
“establishment” seems to be on the tips of everyone’s tongue, including the
media, many conservatives and even liberals.
Today, the establishment seems to be a vague, mysterious
group that controls elections and the government in our country. The far Left doesn’t
like this establishment as it is viewed as some kind of big business cabal. And
when looking at Republican candidates, the media, such as CNN, talk a great
deal about who is favored and not favored by this establishment.
But it’s particularly hard to pin down exactly who this
establishment is, and what it stands for – especially when looking at
“establishment” charges being hurled at Republican presidential candidates. But
then again, the best conspiracies are shadowy and hard to pin down, right?
A true establishment once flourished in the GOP. It was the
party’s liberal Eastern Establishment, led by, for example, the New York crowd
of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Senator Jacob Javits, and Senator Kenneth
Keating (no relation, thank God). There, of course, were many others, such as
Lowell Weicker, former senator and governor from Connecticut, and assorted non-Northeasterners
like President Gerald Ford.
The key here is that each of these Republicans was
unabashedly and unashamedly liberal on a host of issues. For example,
Rockefeller loved big government and high taxes, with New York still paying the
price for his misguided, costly policies more than three-and-a-half decades
after his death. And Weicker was pro-abortion.
To a significant extent, this establishment held great sway
over the party, that is, until conservatives took it on, starting really with
Barry Goldwater’s nomination in 1964 as the party’s candidate for president. In
1980, of course, Ronald Reagan, distinctly conservative and non-establishment,
won the White House, and at that point, the liberal Eastern Establishment in
the GOP was in retreat.
Today, other than an oddball elected official here and
there, the Republican liberal establishment is dead as a formidable political
force. So, what then is all of this talk about a Republican establishment
today?
Looking at the basis for “establishment” accusations, it’s
not about conservatives taking on liberals. Rather, it’s about a populism that
tries to present itself as part of conservatism. But populism feeds on people’s
fears, especially these days by making the bad economy about big business,
international trade, and immigration. Conservatives understand process of
economic growth, while populists view the economy more or less as a zero-sum
game, such as, for example, the mistaken notion that there are only so many
jobs to go around, and therefore international trade and immigration is about
losing jobs and income.
How else can one explain “establishment” accusations being
hurled at Senator Marco Rubio, for example? After all, Rubio is pro-life,
favors pro-growth tax and regulatory reforms, stands for religious freedom,
understands and is strong on foreign policy and national security matters, is
unashamed in his Christianity, and wants to kill ObamaCare and replace it with
consumer, market-based reforms. Does that sound in any way like an
establishment Republican? Of course not, that is, unless one opposes his free
trade stance, and argues that he is insufficiently anti-immigration.
To be realistic, there is no all-powerful Republican liberal
establishment today. Indeed, the only way to believe that is if one were a
populist masquerading as a conservative. Rather, the case can be made that,
while far from being consistently principled, conservatives have become the
Republican establishment.
______________
Mr. Keating is an
economist and novelist who writes on a wide range of topics. His Pastor Stephen
Grant novels have received considerable acclaim, including The River: A Pastor
Stephen Grant Novel being a finalist for KFUO radio’s Book of the Year 2014,
and Murderer’s Row: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel winning for Book of the Year
2015.
The Pastor Stephen
Grant Novels are available at Amazon…
