Sen. Mike Lee’s conservative reform agenda could bridge the differences between the establishment and Tea Party factions within the GOP, reports Jennifer Rubin.
Part of that agenda is removing government — lifting regulations that deter people from working and that pose a barrier to success, for example. But much of this is an affirmative, positive agenda including school choice, a larger child tax credit and improved access to technical training. This is not the language of “free markets lift all boats,” but of helping the poor grab a boat and enjoy “earned success.” (Although the panel did not touch on it, Brooks and others have stressed the earned income tax credit, which assures that anyone working will have a guaranteed level of income.)
Reform conservatism does a few things for the GOP. It provides an alternative to the failed liberal welfare state (the poverty rate is nearly identical to what it was in 1964) so that Republicans are not merely critics, but policymakers. It focuses on middle-class and working-poor voters, of which there are many more than the entrepreneurs who have drawn so much of the GOP’s attention in recent years. And it serves as a bridge between conservative insurgents (of which Lee certainly is) and more traditional conservatives.
