Ripon Forum


Vol. 43, No. 2

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In This Edition

Over the past 30 years, conservatives have successfully branded anyone who supports raising taxes as being a liberal.

Q&A with Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Meredith Freed sits down with the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference to discuss politics, policy and the future of the GOP

THE REFORMER

At a time when some Republicans are being accused of wanting to dismantle government, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels gets behind an ambitious plan to make government in the Hoosier State smaller and smarter.

Making Government Work: Only Five?

To end the widespread decay within the Pentagon, what must first be eliminated are not bad programs, but bad habits

Fiscal Disorder

With the budget process in Washington broken, a national conversation on reforming it is long overdue.

The Promise of Bipartisanship and the Perils of Reconciliation

As President Obama pledges to work with Republicans, Democrats on the Hill consider a tactic that could sharpen the partisan tone.

An Appointment Made by the Public, Not in the Backroom

Americans want their voice to be hear in Congress. Yet four states haven’t elected their newest Senators.

From the Bully Pulpit: Meeting the Nation’s Challenges on Health Care

One of Congress’ leading experts on health care lays out principles for reform in an April 2nd speech before the Ripon Society.

A Holiday to Invest

The government is spending billions to jump start the economy. here is a no cost proposal that could so the same thing.

Congress by the Numbers

The Republican record and how Democrats drove the economy into the tank.

A Scalpel for President Obama

During his campaign for President, Barack Obama promised many things. One of his promises was to govern from the middle. Yet four months into his administration, it has become increasingly clear that he faces two main obstacles in fulfilling this promise and achieving this goal.

Lowi’s Intent and the Origin of Sunset

It received a good bit of attention in the 1970s, due particularly to Common Cause, a prominent reformist group. They improved on it and, innocently, stole the idea from me by giving it a new and more quotable name: “Sunset legislation.”

Ripon Profile of Lisa Murkowski

Youth suicide is a national crisis as well – especially in rural America and among our native populations.

In This Edition

Over the past 30 years, conservatives have successfully branded anyone who supports raising taxes as being a liberal.

Now, many on the right are trying to do the same with regard to government. In short, if a person supports a government program, that person is not just a liberal, but a socialist.

The result is that many Republicans have become hesitant to acknowledge one of the most basic obligations of elective office – mainly, that they are hired to run the government, not run away from it. It hasn’t always been this way, of course.

Lincoln created the Agriculture Department. Teddy Roosevelt regulated the railroads. Eisenhower poured 45,000 miles of concrete and built the nation’s interstate highway system. No one in his right mind would believe any of them were socialists. Then again, I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh, so I don’t know what he thinks.

What I do know is that the Republican Party has got to come to grips with the role of government, and figure out an approach that recognizes the role it plays in people’s lives. A good place to start is by looking toward Indiana, where Governor Mitch Daniels has undertaken an ambitious plan to remake the structure of local governments in the Hoosier State.

As John Krauss of Indiana University’s Public Policy Institute explains in our lead essay, in pushing to make government smaller and smarter, Daniels is not driven by some Al Gore utopian fantasy that an efficient bureaucracy can cure all the world’s ills. Rather, he is driven by the very Republican notion that a more efficient government can save taxpayers money – in this case, savings in the form of lower property taxes.

And so, Daniels pushes on with his plan. It is an uphill fight, as you will read. But it is also one any Republican can — and should — support.

No look at government efficiency would be complete without an examination of the fuel that keeps the wheels of government turning – the budget. And for this, we feature essays by two of the best: Jim Bates, writing on the urgency of budget reform, and Steve Bell, writing about the perils of reconciliation in this supposedly “post-partisan” year.

As part of a new feature on “Making Government Work,” we’ve asked defense expert Winslow Wheeler to take a look at the Pentagon and, in 800 words or less, tell us how to make the Department function better. He not only accomplished this feat, but he did so with one word to spare – a model of efficiency, himself.

We kick things off, though, with a Q&A with the top ranking Republican woman in the House of Representatives, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who shares her thoughts on the future of the GOP and the year ahead on Capitol Hill.

We hope you enjoy this edition, and encourage you to write us at editor@clu.ccw.mybluehost.me with any ideas or suggestions you may have.

Lou Zickar
Editor
The Ripon Forum