Is Senator Jim DeMint the Next Reagan?

I know, I know, we’re supposed to move beyond Reagan, and we’ll never have another Reagan. But come on, someone can carry on his legacy. And wouldn’t it be something to have a man like Jim DeMint do so, and in a few decades republicans can ask “Who will be the next Jim DeMint?” If all Americans are looking for is socialism and a huge nanny state government why even have a Republican Party? Senator DeMint understands that freedom and big government don’t mix! That more republicans can’t articulate this message is mind boggling.

Despite notable successes at both ends of Pennsylvania Ave., it seems to me that Republicans in Congress and in the Bush administration forgot a simple truth. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, if you aim for principled reform, you win elections in the bargain; if you just aim for elections, you get neither.

No Child Left Behind didn’t win us “soccer moms,” but it did cost us our credibility on locally controlled education. Medicare prescription drugs didn’t win us a “permanent majority,” but it cost us our credibility on entitlement reform. Every year, another Republican quality was tainted: managerial competence, fiscal discipline and personal ethics.

To win back the trust of the American people, we must be a “big tent” party. But big tents need strong poles, and the strongest pole of our party — the organizing principle and the crucial alternative to the Democrats — must be freedom. The federal government is too big, takes too much of our money, and makes too many of our decisions. If Republicans can’t agree on that, elections are the least of our problems.

If the American people want a European-style social democracy, the Democratic Party will give it to them. We can’t win a bidding war with Democrats.

Freedom will mean different things to different Republicans, but it can tether a diverse coalition to inalienable principles. Republicans can welcome a vigorous debate about legalized abortion or same-sex marriage; but we should be able to agree that social policies should be set through a democratic process, not by unelected judges. Our party benefits from national-security debates; but Republicans can start from the premise that the U.S. is an exceptional nation and force for good in history. We can argue about how to rein in the federal Leviathan; but we should agree that centralized government infringes on individual liberty and that problems are best solved by the people or the government closest to them.

Here’s a little hint for the National Council for a New America: invite Jim DeMint! He gets it. You’ve finally invited Sarah Palin, but please, include Senator DeMint. Average working Americans like myself will appreciate it.

Many thanks to Ed Morrisey for bringing my attention to Jim DeMint’s Saturday op-ed. I normally read the WSJ first thing every Saturday morning but my son’s first communion had to come before the news.