Conservatives must stop using lazy rhetoric and instead engage in the real policy fight to eliminate cronyism. That's the message of a piece I co-authored with Sen. Jim DeMint in the Weekly Standard Magazine:
This year's turbulent primary season, which hit a crescendo this month with David Brat's upset victory over House majority leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary for Virginia's 7th Congressional District, is an opportunity for conservatives to reflect. Why have our political leaders struggled so much to capture the enthusiasm of the conservative grassroots? Why did Republicans fail to win power in the last national election, despite wide distaste for the president's signature legislation? Is the Tea Party's agenda the solution to that failure or the problem? To many observers, the answers are both obvious and discouraging: The messages most appealing to the conservative base do not resonate with the general public, and the messages most likely to sway swing voters do little to energize conservatives. The movement is trapped in a double-bind. This view is wrong.