Dog Days II: C’mon Republicans – show some guts

There’s a reason they call these the dog days of summer. Fortunately, there are many encouraging things out there to sustain us and push us onward. Matthew Continetti penned a darn good editorial for the Weekly Standard in the current issue titled “Go for Growth: An Agenda for Republicans.” In it, he writes:

[T]here are some conservatives and Republicans who believe an agenda isn’t necessary. Let the Democrats fall under their own weight, they say. Then we can clean up the mess. Alternative policies, in their view, would only give liberals and Democrats something to demagogue in the campaign. Better to remain cautious. Better to wait until the storm is over.

They’re wrong. Not only is such a strategy timid, it is also a false reading of the last two years in American politics. After all, the Democrats are a case study in the perils of victory by default. It was not a strong alternative agenda that netted the Democrats 55 House seats and 16 Senate seats between 2006 and 2008. The party made those gains by vigorously opposing an unpopular war, an unpopular president, a corrupt Republican majority, and an economy in recession. The Democrats won by being the other guy.

The same exact thing applies to our GOP candidates running for state level offices as well. Continetti closes with this:

The benefits associated with this agenda would not only be economic. The public would know where conservatives and Republicans stand. They would know what to expect in the years to come. And they would be able to hold the GOP accountable. The alternative is for Republicans to stand pat, benefit in the short term from Obama’s unpopularity in 2010-and reap the whirlwind in 2012.

In case you forgot – reaping the whirlwind is from the Old Testament book of Hosea – and it means “to have serious problems because you did something stupid in the past.”

This is from today’s Wall Street Journal editorial:

Democrats have been running Congress for nearly four years, and President Obama has been at the White House for 18 months, so it’s not too soon to ask: How’s that working out? One devastating scorecard came out Friday from the White House, in the form of its own semi-annual budget review.

The message: Tax revenues are smaller, spending is greater, and the deficits are thus larger than the White House has been saying. No wonder it dumped the news on the eve of a sweltering mid-July weekend.

Democrats have been in charge even longer here in Illinois – so come on Republicans – show some guts. Reap the support of a majority of the taxpaying public. You’ll have to endure whining from the liberal media and the progressive interest groups, but it still beats the whirlwind.