Thoughts on the passing of Jack Kemp

My guess is that many of you reading this blog have not liked what has been happening in our country since last fall—to our economy, to our government, or to our foreign policy. It has been an especially dark time for the Republican Party and our conservative principles. But I didn’t think anything could surpass the low of the last week—the defection of Arlen Specter, the bankruptcy of Chrysler and the take-over of both Chrysler and GM by the government and the UAW, and the reminder of the tragic waste that was the Souter appointment. Then, I awoke on Sunday to the worst news yet—the death of Jack Kemp.

To those of us of a certain age, Jack Kemp embodied both the promise and the future of an energetic conservatism. Although he had been a Hall of Fame pro quarterback and a Congressman for several terms, Kemp burst on the national political scene in the late 1970s with new ideas about economic and tax policy, and the application of conservative principles to the problems of urban America. He appeared to be the leader who would take the Reagan Revolution to the next level and the next generation.

But that never happened.

Although Kemp would never be far away from the leadership of the Republican Party and conservative politics, and would even serve as a Cabinet Secretary and Bob Dole’s Vice-Presidential candidate, Kemp never sought or seized the mantle of leadership that many of us expected—and kept awaiting, year after year. Had he stepped forward, would this “happy warrior” have been able to keep the factions of the GOP together to help convert the Contract of America into a lasting majority? Would he have expanded the party into minority neighborhoods—a goal about which he often spoke and wrote. These are questions that now will never have answers.

However, we do know that many of Kemp’s ideas worked—and worked well. His ideas about economic and tax policy, which were implemented by the Reagan Administration started the unprecedented era of economic growth that lasted for a quarter century. His ideas for urban policies, including public housing policies, enterprise zones, welfare reform, and school vouchers were found to be successful when implemented by the first Bush Administration, Giuliani’s Administration in New York City, Tommy Thompson’s Administration in Wisconsin, and many other state and local governments (and even the Clinton Administration). Unfortunately, the GOP never developed a comprehensive strategy to aggressively pursue these goals as part of a coherent policy agenda.

I have to admit that many of the objectives and action items contained in the proposed strategic plan for the HCRP posted on this website are derived from the ideas that Jack Kemp originally championed. In honor of Jack Kemp, let’s take his dreams and show that they can be molded into a coherent policy agenda. I still share his cockeyed optimism that if we do pursue this agenda, we will rise above the cynical calculations of men like Specter, the perversion of our economy and government by the current administration, and the mistakes we Republicans have made in the past, to create a brighter day for our party, our county, our state, and our country.

posted by Ed Hubbard 5-5-09

The Plan: Urban Policy

Republicans are losing the metropolitan voter (urban and suburban voters)—in Texas and across the country. We can not win elections in Harris County by just relying on policies that address the concerns of rural voters.

As we noted in an earlier post, a recent PowerPoint presentation from the state party shows that Republicans are losing ground where most Texans now live. Of the 254 counties in Texas, Republicans gained votes in 140 counties with 2,438,604 registered voters, while Democrats gained votes in 114 counties with 11,136,458 registered voters. The 50 fastest growing Republican counties in Texas have a total of 637,694 registered voters, while the 50 fastest growing Democratic counties have a total of 8,959,881 registered voters. Indeed, we lost the straight-ticket vote in Harris County to the Democrats in both 2006 and 2008.

This trend also is consistent with the following graph produced by Nate Silver and recently published in Esquire magazine (http://www.esquire.com/print-this/how-obama-won-0209#):

In his new Esquire column, The Data, statistical analysis guru Nate Silver reveals for the first time the secret behind November 4, 2008.



You do the math—if this trend continues, we will not elect Republicans in Harris County and will soon lose our statewide offices.

We need to face reality: too many metropolitan voters do not understand how our principles of individual empowerment, which promote a smaller role for the federal government (federalism), and a limited, yet effective, role for local government, make their lives better.

We need to begin to look at the issues they care about: keeping children in school through high-school graduation; providing children with the knowledge they will need to succeed in college and in the economy; making college affordable; making neighborhoods safe for children and families; keeping men in families and neighborhoods; addressing the cost and availability of health care; making sure housing remains affordable; maintaining a modern infrastructure; maximizing workers’ take-home pay; making sure retirement savings are safe; and making sure good-paying jobs are available.

These are not Democratic issues, it just sounds like they are because we rarely talk about them, except to focus on processes and costs. We need to develop actual policies that address these issues by implementing our principles. We also need to recruit, train and support candidates who will press our agenda on city councils and school boards, as well as legislatures and county boards.

What we are saying is not a pipe-dream. It’s been done by Republican mayors in New York and Los Angeles in the last two decades. It’s being done in young, growing cities, like Boise and Reno. Houston, with its established neighborhoods and business community, and with its growth, has elements of both the old and young cities, and has something they don’t—a natural conservative political base. If we can’t develop an urban policy here, Republicans have little chance of succeeding anywhere else.