The Great Ignored Agenda

Oh dear. I don’t know what to do about these people. Who am I referring to? The author of this article, and those who are the subject of his article. When are conservatives going to learn how to tie their political shoes? This isn’t the first “ignored agenda,” and the agendas are only ignored when our guys don’t fight the information war. What will get them to start doing so? If Trump wins, I think they might finally start learning how to reach beyond the choir and working as hard as the left does to win hearts and minds.

Here is Ian Tuttle:

Paul Ryan and House Republicans have a plan for a better way—but will anyone notice?

At a glance, it would seem a lousy time to be a politician with ideas. Republican voters tossed aside thoughtful conservative candidates in favor of an entertainer with no particular governing philosophy, whose campaign is pitching a range of policies that, when not flatly impossible, are inchoate. Democratic voters, meanwhile, opted for a candidate whose ideas — more-expansive social programs, mainly — were already collecting dust in the 1960s. (To their credit, Democrats rejected the openly socialist candidate peddling ideas that came of age with the radio altimeter and the Model T.)

For Paul Ryan, though, the desert of ideas in American politics is an opportunity. In early December 2015, Ryan, just weeks into his tenure as speaker of the House, gave a speech at the Library of Congress entitled, “Confident America.” “If we want to save the country,” he told an audience that included House and Senate GOP leaders, “then we need a mandate from the people. And if we want a mandate, then we need to offer ideas. And if we want to offer ideas, then we need to actually have ideas. And that’s where House Republicans come in.” “Our number-one goal for the next year,” he announced, “is to put together a complete alternative to the Left’s agenda.”

Read more: National Review

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