House Speaker John Boehner easily fended off an eleventh hour effort by conservatives to deny him another term, but longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie says the Republican majorities in Congress need to take concrete steps to prove they are taking the nation down a more responsible path or members can expect some bruising primaries in 2016.
Viguerie has been an active conservative for more than 50 years. He pioneered the use of direct mail in political campaigns. Viguerie is now chairman of conservativehq.com and is author, most recently of “Takeover: The 100-Year War for the Soul of the GOPand How Conservatives Can Finally Win It.” He says the conservative insurgents failed on Tuesday but also delivered a clear message.
“I think this sends a strong signal to the leadership that there’s unrest at the grassroots,” said Viguerie, noting the next intraparty battle could unfold next year if GOP leaders don’t chart a solidly conservative course during the 114th Congress.
“The most important thing for conservatives to be focused on between now and Election 2016 is the primaries. I say, ‘It’s the primaries, stupid,'” said Viguerie.
“We’re going to be collecting a list of people who are supportive of big government by things like (the vote for speaker), those that voted for the cromnibus bill which increased government spending and there’ll be many other votes that we can take a look at. I think you’re going to see a record number of Republican House members that are going to be challenged in the primaries in 2016,” he said.
Viguerie says there’s an easy way for incumbent Republicans to avoid such a headache, by pursuing a solid agenda over the next two years. One area of progress, he says, would be for the GOP to “get off of defense” when it comes to spending and get serious about fiscal responsibility.
“Compromise, for as long as I can remember in Washington, has meant we grow government. (Republicans) don’t grow it as much as the Democrats would like but we grow government at some level. Let’s put a marker out there that we want to reduce the power, the scope, the reach of the federal government and compromise with the Democrats that we’re going to reduce it maybe not as much as we want , but we’re going to reduce it,” said Viguerie.
Another major focus for the GOP majorities, according to Viguerie, is to obey the demands of voters expressed in last year’s elections.
“I think they need to communicate to the American people that they did hear the message that people want less government. The 2010 election was about the tea party, about limited government, constitutional government. The 2014 election was about stopping Obama. Whatever it is that Obama is doing, the voters want him to stop, whether it’s Obamacare, spending, leading from behind in national security. There’s just a long list of things,” he said.
Viguerie is not impressed by the GOP leadership in either the House or Senate, but he says grassroots activists can still make a big difference in what kind of legislation comes out of Congress.
“Conservatives are not going to let to the political promised land, quite frankly, until we get new leaders,” said Viguerie. “We need to keep that pressure on and we’ll win more than perhaps we’ll lose.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently told the Washington Post that one of the main goals for the GOP over the next two years is to give voters good reason to elect a Republican president to go along with a responsibly-led Congress.
“I don’t want the American people to think that if they add a Republican president to a Republican Congress, that’s going to be a scary outcome. I want the American people to be comfortable with the fact that the Republican House and Senate is a responsible, right-of-center, governing majority, McConnell told The Washington Post.
Viguerie sees that as flawed logic for two reasons. First, he says voters expect decisive conservative leadership now.
“They’re looking for people who have bold vision. American voters like the message they heard in 2010 and 2014. They don’t like this go along to get along attitude of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner,” he said.
Furthermore, he cautions conservatives against assuming they will experience political nirvana if the GOP controls Congress and the White House.
“We has that in most of the Bush years. We had , for years, Republican White House, House and Senate and government grew at a massive level, so we need to make sure that we have the right type of leaders and right now we do not have them,” said Viguerie.
He says choosing a rock solid conservative is essential for the party in 2016.
“The nomination fight coming up is so important that (the GOP must nominate) somebody that’s not going to maintain the status quo but actually ratchet down, ratchet back the growth of government and reduce the size of government,” said Viguerie.
