The Other Side

Things may look bad for the Republicans, but don't rush to the situation that "things" will necessarily reward the Democrats. Vodkapundit linked to this Howard Fineman article on some of the donkey's blues. It's pre-Miers, but some of the problems are structural and philosophical. However poorly the Republican party has served as a vehicle for conservative ideas, those ideas are now a great deal more in the mainstream than formerly, and Democrats haven't adjusted their ideas accordingly.

I suspect the Democrats are now going through what the Republicans when through from the Goldwater-to-Reagan years: years in the wilderness philosophically, with nothing but furious opposition to offer voters. They haven't decided what they're going to be about. I submit that a Democrat who ran on fiscal restraint and a vigorous war on Islamic terrorism would win significant crossover votes, and might not alienate his own party too much if he/she could put in some good rhetoric against "theocrats" or, better yet, be a minority (Watch Bill Richardson).

But lacking that, I think it's time we had a third party, one that took something from both and offered a comprehensive package. I don't mean splitting the difference, mind you, I mean taking some good Republican ideas (Fixing Social Security, simplifying the tax code, sticking it to terrorists and their helpers abroad no matter how loud the international bureaucracy cries about it), and some good Democratic ideas (someone fill this in for me), and made a path around the culture-war trenches we've been slogging through.

Any takers?


UPDATE: Instapundit has this Michael Barone take on a similar theme. Like Fineman, he uses Democratic, not Republican sources. He also uses the phrase "de-nationalized elites" which I find very interesting indeed.


AND FURTHERMORE: Boxing Alcibiades offers a similar take, saying that Miers won't matter much by the time November '06 rolls around, and that the Democrats still haven't lost enough Mooreonity to appeal to enough of the center to win. Could be.