The Difficulty in Creating a Republican Policy Agenda for the Future

An ascendant Republican party has the opportunity to craft a republican agenda and minimize big government if only they can get out of their own way

Ed Note: The previous article promised a more coherent Republican policy agenda.  However before we get to that it’s important for the public to be aware of the main barrier to enacting a distinctly republican policy agenda.

With Republicans finally emerging competitive from a half century of Democrat congressional dominance from 1930-1990, the opportunity to craft a republican agenda now exists in ways it had not in decades past.

No longer do Republicans have to cave to Democrats' failed policies as they did with the creation of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the oppressive administrative state.

Instead Republicans can now act with confidence in the strength of their policy positions -- if only they choose to do so.  

The difficulty, however, is that Republicans may have forgotten, ignored, or overlooked the founders’ original political philosophy contained in The Federalist.

According to Justice Scalia this is likely to be the case.

In his Oct 11th 2011 testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Scalia says:

 I speak to students [from the best law schools] … quite frequently about the Constitution because I feel that we're not teaching it very well… and I ask them, "How many of you have read the Federalist Papers?" And a lot of hands will go up. [And I say], "No, not just Number 48 and the big ones. How many of you have read the Federalist Papers cover to cover?" Never more than about 5%.

And that is very sad, especially if you're interested in the Constitution. Here's a document that says what the Framers of it thought they were doing. It's such a profound exposition of political science that it is studied in political science courses in Europe. And yet, we have raised a generation of Americans who are not familiar with it.

Thus if Republican leaders — like the ones Scalia likely encountered at elite schools — aren’t familiar with The Federalist how can they defend the Constitution?

The sad truth is this: they can’t. Only when Republicans can relocate The Federalist and its republican political philosophy can they restore our republic to its former greatness.

For a continuation of this series on the Republican renaissance and republican public policy see tomorrow’s newsletter out at 8AM.

Zigmund Reichenbach holds a M.A. in Philosophy from West Chester University.  You can find him commenting on news stories of national and state interest at his Facebook page Zigmund Reichenbach -- Commentator or you can follow him on Twitter @zreichenbach1.  To support the creation of articles like these visit our Patreon here.