Grover Norquist: The GOP Really Is Reagan's Party

Grover Norquist, in the WSJ (Oct. 13, 2004):

We must wait three more weeks to learn who will serve as President from January 2005 to January 2009. But one question asked in 2000 can now be answered: Will the Reagan coalition continue to define the nature and structure of the modern Republican Party?

In 2000, Texas governor George W. Bush ran as the heir to Ronald Reagan's coalition, dedicated to cutting taxes, limiting government, maintaining a strong national defense and keeping the secular state from trampling the rights of believers and parents. This "leave us alone" coalition doesn't demand validation. Gun owners oppose gun control; they don't demand "gun stamps" or that public school children read "Heather Has Two Barrels."

This coalition was challenged by Pat Buchanan, who suggested the GOP be transformed into an anti-immigration party of protectionism and isolationism. It was a reasonable proposal: The Republican Party of the early 20th century looked a lot like this. But in 2000, Pat Buchanan dropped out of the GOP primary and won only 450,000 votes, or 0.42%, as the Reform Party candidate, dwarfed by Ralph Nader's three million votes.

Others suggested different alternatives. Arizona's Sen. John McCain offered something approaching an American Gaullism--not a vision, but his own persona. Some favored "national greatness conservatism," arguing that Americans could find meaning through the state rather than individual pursuits like faith or work. At various times, this philosophy was attributed to McCain or Steve Forbes, both of whom flirted with the appellation.

The 2004 Republican primaries were the testing ground for these different visions, and the Reagan-Bush vision was the clear victor. First off, no protectionist or anti-immigrant candidate presented himself in the GOP primary, even for a symbolic run. (In 1972, 1976 and 1992, sitting Republican Presidents faced primary opponents.) And in the primary campaigns for the House and Senate in 2004, Republicans recommitted themselves to the small-government, low-tax consensus.

On taxes, every single Republican to win an open primary seat has signed the Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge. In Nebraska, the heir apparent to retiring Rep. Doug Bereuter, state senator Curt Bramm, was defeated solely because he backed a state tax hike. The obvious GOP candidate to run in Oregon's Fifth district, the African-American Jackie Winters, was defeated in her primary because she voted for a Democratic tax hike in 2003. In Kansas, all four congressional primaries and the Senate primary were won by candidates opposing tax hikes. Even the son of former Kansas senator Nancy Kassebaum, a tax hiker, was defeated by the antitax candidate in the primary contest for his state representative seat. The effort by some in the media to create a "pro-tax increase" wing of the Republican Party was revealed as a liberal media fantasy....