A Republican Six-Pack

So my previous policy blogpost got some interesting responses.

On one hand, some folk felt I was a little hard on older politicians, and they hadn’t heard about some of the geriatric shenanigans going on in DC—Dianne Feinstein not understanding how to vote or where she was, Kay Grander going missing for 6 months and turning up in a nursing home, or both Senators McConnell and Kennedy having strange “glitching” episodes.

On the other hand, there are folks who want a 6 pack for the other side of the aisle; what should the Republicans be running on these days? What might post-Trump policy priorities look like for the GOP? It was sort of like when caricature artists on the board walk get a crowd and everyone starts saying, “Ohhh! Do me next!”

As a caveat, I’ve sort of lost the thread on Republican policymaking since they dismissed my concerns about the Iraq War, and those of millions of Americans, as “focus group problems” only to see those concerns play out upon the battered flesh of my generation… but I do have a vested interest in both political parties developing policies that help America instead of hurt it—after all I live here. So, I’ll give it a whirl.

I believe former president Obama was right, we don’t live in Red or Blue America, we live in the United States of America… and as such I figure many of the problems identified by Democrats are also problems for Republicans, so some of the policies I’ll offer with have overlap with those I offered to Democrats.

 

The Howard Roark Award for Affordable and Innovative Architecture:

              In order to alleviate the housing crisis, encourage innovations in affordable housing and create some buzz about new builds, create local public-private entities that will host affordable architecture contests in every county in the USA. Imagine it, 3,200 some new ideas for making housing affordable. Architects competing for bragging rights in their home towns, and bringing a national conversation to birth, not on twitter or from talking heads, but in person, considering on the ground realities and a bunch of regional and local contexts. Would that build the 2 million new houses that America is short? Would it lower prices on housing? It might set up a sustainable pipeline of affordable houses not dependent on the whims of Washington.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform:

              Since second grade, when we came back to the United States after my family served our stint as front line defenders against the Soviet Hordes, I’ve been hearing presidential candidates talking about comprehensive immigration reform. As I understand it, the idea is that the rules around immigration put in place in the 1960s are out of date, and laws about both bringing people in to the country and enforcing conditions for them staying out of the country should be updated to reflect current realities. The stickiness around passing this sort of thing is that it requires Republicans to allow for more immigration and probably will require some sort of amnesty or fast-tracking of people who have immigrated here illegally, and requires Democrats to state clearly the level and types of immigration that we are comfortable with, likely deport some people we don’t want to deport, and be the face of enforcement in a way that will dampen some immigrant families’ American Dreams. For that matter, this issue messes with political coalitions—big business and xenophobes don’t see eye to eye on immigration, and multiculturalists and organize labor could find themselves on different sides of the table.

Bubba nearly passed comprehensive immigration reform in the late 90s, Dubya in 2006, and Barack-star in 2013. What a coup, if Donald Trump and the Republicans were able to use this issue as their pivot toward the center. “Look, we made all this chaos to set the stage for order. I know it was hard, but I’ve created such a crisis that we have to do major reform—some people are saying it is the biggest reform! My predecessors failed, but I alone can make this happen. I encourage every representative and senator to vote their conscience, but Republicans need to know their conscience will be to vote for the final bill, or be primaried by my chosen MAGA candidate.” And there you have it, some updated version of the Gang of Eight/Gang of Six bill gets over the finish line.

The Arsenal of Democracy Bill:

              Traditionally the Republican Party is seen as the party of defense contractors and big business, and also the party of cutting government waste. So, this would be another pivot point. “Look, we sent Hegseth in, not because he knew what he was doing, but to shake everything up. Now that the armed services are properly shook, we can move forward for a defense plan for a multipolar world. China spent a decade creating weapons, logistics, and tactics with the sole focus of countering US strategy in the Pacific, and as a consequence our currently strategy and armaments wouldn’t defeat China if they tried to invade Taiwan. On top of that, currently we’re creating armaments for thousands of dollars, that cost hundreds when Ukraine makes ‘em. Let’s focus on those two things.”

So, we’re going to make a generational investment in two areas: 1. Weapons that take into account things learned about modern warfare in Ukraine. 2. Weapons that make China’s plan to invade Taiwan so costly that they are deterred, or if they go ahead with their plan, defeated.

Bring Back Cap and Trade

              Climate change is something the Republican Party is going to have to grappled with sooner or later—or go extinct as a party. The young folk won’t vote for a political party that has done nothing while their future and the fate of the planet is mortgaged for short term goals. For all of the bill’s flaws, the Democratic party can point to the Inflation Reduction Act as their signature attempt to save the future. Republicans should dust off George H. W. Bush’s solution to problems with sulfur dioxide back in the day and reintroduced by John McCain and Joe Lieberman to tackle CO2 emissions. Instead of pretending climate change isn’t happening, offer cap and trade as the free market, business friendly, solution.

Ban Washington Stock Trades & Impose Term Limits:

              In some ways the anti-corruption stuff I talked about in the previous post fits better in the Republican camp. After all, they were the folks who brought us the contract with America and GOP Representatives like Nancy Mace have been trying to pass bans on insider trading for public servants since they came to Washington.

              So, if the whole GOP ran on requiring anyone working in a branch of government, so Senators, Congresspeople, Presidents, Cabinet Secretaries, and Supreme Court Justices, to put all their stocks in a blind trust, like Mitt Romney did in 2012, they would find support.

              Back in ‘94 the GOP encouraged term limits. It leads to a churn in leadership and ideas, fresh blood and limits to “corrupt congress critters” as I’ve heard them called. So, let’s go there. Run on amending the constitution so that it limits House members to 4 terms, the Senate to 2 terms, and the Supreme Court to one 14 year term.

Spelling the whole thing out, the president maxes out at 8 years, Representatives at 10 years, Senators at 12, and Justices to 14 years. That seems like it offers more dynamic federal leadership, and would open up spaces for advancement more frequently.

A Cold War Style AI Summit:

              I have to admit I have a hard time thinking about how the GOP can tackle the serious dangers of AI. We just had an executive order nullifying all state laws about AI, so a grassroots/federalist development of these rules seems out of the picture. So, the other model would be Reagan in the Cold War. Trust, but verify. Come together with the other AI superpowers, namely China, and put together a GALT (Global AI Limitation Talks) treaty akin to SALT and SALT2. Agree on the point at which AI needs to be throttled, and have a mechanism for keeping tabs on all the signatory states.

 

              So, all in all, a kind of mixed bag from me; sorry GOP readers. The best conservative oriented policies I can come up with are: inspire innovative local architects, finally pass meaningful immigration reform, re-think defense investment, address climate change through cap and trade, tackle corruption in Washington, and create a GALT treaty to address the longer term dangers of AI. Those sorts of policies might be a healthy post-Trump turn for the Republican Party.