On Thursday, July 17, the New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative hosted a panel discussion for Grand New Party: How Republican’s Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream by Ross Douthat, Senior Editor of The Atlantic and Reihan Salam, a Fellow at New America and Associate Editor of The Atlantic. On the panel, along with the authors, were Frank Micciche from New America; Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Editor of the National Review; and Noam Scheiber, Senior Editor of The New Republic. Matthew Continetti, Associate Editor of The Weekly Standard, moderated the event. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video will be available at right.

Salam opened the discussion with a terse and pointed introduction, which set the pace for the rest of the discussion. He questioned the salience of the traditional issues of the Republican Party. The Cold War is over, democracy is spreading without government intervention, and marginal tax rates are already at their lowest level in years. The Regan era was largely successful. Now there is a new, young cadre of conservative thinkers who subscribe to the traditional ideological cannon – according to Salam this is Thatcher, Regan, and Hayek – but who think that in the present moment, policy needs to be innovative and bold.

The only self-described liberal in the conversation, Scheiber largely agreed with the policies laid out in Grand New Party. However, he suggested the policy prescriptions would be more apt for the Democratic Party. While a 21st century “silent majority” might exist, he questioned whether the GOP could feasibly adjust to this new base. The GOP, he said, always favors the affluent when its interests conflict with the middle class, as would likely be the case for implementing the Grand New Party agenda. Under President Bush and the GOP Congress, he noted, dividend taxes were eliminated and capital gains rates cut, but an increase in the child tax credit was jettisoned to reduce the package’s overall cost. Scheiber says Democrats have already established institutional mechanisms for promoting working class interests.

Salam said that this book presented ideas for a long-term shift in the party on a 10-15 year horizon. Douthat aptly noted that, by definition, any reform goes against trends. People thought no Democrat could reformed welfare or signed NAFTA, but Clinton did. The Democratic base was with Clinton on these reforms, Ponnuru added, even if the party higher-ups showed resistance. Now Republicans are in the same situation; the elites have retreated to Regan minimalism, forgetting that Reagan was never an ideologue, and instead pragmatically applied radical ideas. Douthat emphasized that his book hoped to change Republican focus, but not ideology. Conservatives have failed to focus on socioeconomic trends, he added, but their principles were still sound.

Salam said that the party needs to find themes that resonate more directly with voters. McCain’s focus on campaign finance reform and cap and trade does not stir people’s hearts. Family values, the panelists agreed, should be the backbone of Republican policy. Douthat claimed that the Republican base has always been open to the idea that there is good spending and bad spending, and spending on family values could have long term payoffs. Ponnuru agreed that Republicans are open to spending that will save in the end, noting that social conservatism is a rational response to economic stress. Douthat said that people want guns when they feel crime threatens their security, are prolife because their ethical values are threatened, and that while gay marriage has primarily a symbolic impact, again people are against it because they feel family values are threatened. Salam agreed that gay marriage is really about values surrounding child rearing. This new policy angle could bridge the gap between Republican economic and social philosophy, which have at times seemed ideologically disparate.

-Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar, Research Intern for the Next Social Contract Initiative