Commentary: Liberals & Conservatives Unite for America’s Future

A basic political re-alignment appears underway in the United States.  A few days ago a pundit from the left criticized the large slate of Republican candidates for taking a more populist stance.  This latest criticism is a remarkable change after years of charges Republicans were mainly tools of the rich.  The latter charge now seems downright silly when you hear daily revelations about how the Clinton family raises money.

Several columnists working as campaign appendages of the Democrat Party appear alarmed the GOP is seizing what used to be considered lefty’s holy ground.  Witness Dana Mountebank of the Washington Post fretting about something called the Export-Import Bank.  Long denounced by liberals the government supported bank is despised as welfare for the rich.  Mountebank now labels it a success but fails to mention Ex-Im as it’s known in power circles has encouraged many manufacturers to move jobs overseas.

Mountebank also rails against Rand Paul as a grandstander and opportunist.  Paul is accused of opposing the Patriot Act and domestic spying simply to advance his political campaign.  A couple of thoughts and one is who doesn’t seek political office without at least some core values about the role of government?  You may answer Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie but for the most part there are at least a handful of ideas and values candidates cite as cause for seeking office.  Two, Paul’s entire political career is pursuit of a strict constructionist approach to the Constitution.  It’s his reason for being!    Mountebank is flatly dishonest in ignoring the Kentucky Senator’s history.  Not all of the columnist’s fellow travelers at Pravda-on-the-Potomac are quite so harsh when it comes to Paul.  The foreign born Fareed Zakaria claims too many citizens in his adopted land “fetishize” the Constitution but after the spying debate appears here in this column to have figured out Paul speaks for millions of Americans.  Last night I saw a poll validating Paul’s claim outside the Beltway his countrymen do take the Fourth Amendment as near and dear to their collective hearts.

Official Washington and many of the Obama sycophants in media still share the simpleton’s view of politics.  Elephant equals country club and filet mignon.  Donkey drinks beer and goes bowling.  Possibly the public is more sophisticated than often given credit?

Meanwhile opposition to a secret Pacific Rim trade deal is forming among a coalition of liberals and conservatives.  The right fears a loss of sovereignty and the left bemoans an expected loss of work for Americans.  In some instances it appears the two sides also are showing more respect for the concerns of those across the political spectrum.  Inside the Beltway it’s business as usual.  Elsewhere there is growing concern the accelerating sun is setting on America.  Roll Call details the inability of elite Democrats to grasp the cultural zeitgeist.

A couple of years ago I was listening to Ralph Nader being interviewed by a public radio host.  The liberal reporter was taken aback to learn Nader had been associating with some Tea Party folks.  The aging activist explained a growing number of Americans are realizing the system is gamed against them.  He witnessed some of the same complaints from the right as he was hearing from the Occupy Movement on the left.  A few days later at a Tea Party event I mentioned Nader’s experience.  The attendees were adamant they shared nothing with Occupiers.  Yes, there may be differences in hairstyles, entertainment choices and the neighborhood you call home but everybody knows what it’s like to be robbed by Wall Street, abandoned by your employer and barred from entry into the entrepreneurial class by an overzealous and over officious bureaucracy.  This isn’t the country we were taught about in school.  Opportunity is in scarcity.

A smart young Republican would see a roiling, exasperated and disgruntled mass.  A smart Republican would challenge the old boys and girls clubs on Capitol Hill, the White House and in dozens of state capitals across the land.  A smart Republican won’t need Wall Street while sweeping away the old guard during primaries and on Election Day.  As my coaches used to bark at us during practice when we weren’t measuring up, “Get with the program!”