Sunday, September 2, 2007

Republicans have more to worry about than Larry Craig's bathroom escapades.

If you think about the domestic issues Americans say they care about most, Republicans -- and, in particular, Republican presidential candidates -- are at the fringes of the conversation, or nowhere at all.

Global warming? Let's hear it for biofuels.

Health care? New tax breaks.

Global competitiveness? Negotiate more trade treaties and cut corporate taxes.

Immigration? Build a wall and send the illegals back home.

Widening gap between rich and poor? What gap?

It's been more than a decade since anyone wrote that all the interesting new ideas are coming out of the conservative think tanks or the Republican policy shops.

Some, like welfare reform, charter schools, tort reform and capital gains tax cuts, have been adopted to some degree. Others, like privatizing Social Security and wiping out the inheritance tax, have been soundly rejected.

But in terms of coming up with fresh approaches to old issues or responsive solutions to urgent new challenges, the Republican supply chain is empty. And as Americans are becoming dissatisfied with market outcomes and lax regulation, Republicans find themselves hamstrung by anti-government and anti-tax ideologies.

Overly harsh? Perhaps. But answer me this: Why is everyone looking over their shoulders at Fred Thompson and Michael Bloomberg?