The Lesson of 1992

I read this quote from the Anchoress’ little brother with some frustration as well as the Anchoress’ commentary afterwards:

Yep. Right on schedule. Writes my Li’l Bro Thom: Did they learn nothing from ‘92? They may as well start engraving the “President Clinton” commemorative coins now…

Had Ross Perot not run in 1992 it is unlikely Bill Clinton would have been president. (hat tip: Instapundit.)

So the lesson of 1992 is that we’re required to support our party no matter what. Our highest duty is to the bosses who run America’s political parties, not to any principles that make for sound policy. This is a shallow politics and an incredible shallow lesson and I would suggest there’s a much better one to be learned from the 1992 debacle.

As popular as it is to blame Ross Perot and his supporters for the downfall of the first President Bush,  that’s never been a reasonable explanation, for many reasons. First, considering that Bush won only 38% of the vote in 1992. Republican establishment types blame Perot, they blame Pat Buchanan for challenging Bush in the primary. The only one who is given no credit for George H.W. Bush’s defeat is Bush himself. He was a victim of circumstances. He got a lower percentage of the vote than Herbert Hoover did after the Great Depression and he had nothing to do with it.

He made his own bed through a vistionless Presidency that inspired no one and stood for nothing. He made a promise not to raise tax and broke it. His own domestic policy weakness caused the evaporation of 90 + % approval ratings.  

Republicans made their biggest mistake when they took part of their base for granted. In 1992, it was economic conservatives and government reform advocates left out in the cold.

The same lesson was taught again in 1994 as districts that Democrats trusted to re-elect Democrat incumbents year after year fell into the hands of Republicans as voters whose interest and values corrupt big spending Democrats betrayed turned on Democrats who’d been in Congress as long as 42 years.

In 2000, the corruption of a big money Clinton administration that was more ambitious and powerful than anything else gave wings to a Ralph Nader candidacy, but the GOP barely won the Presidency.  The reason: 2 million Evangelicals Karl Rove had predicted would show up at the polls didn’t.

Then in 2006, Republicans lost Congress through a mix of corruption and big spending that left Republican voters non-plussed and unmotivated.

The lesson of 1992 is one that political parties refuse to learn: take people for granted at your own peril. Those favoring a Rudy candidacy are planning to abandon conservative Christian voters at their own peril.