comebackI picked up a copy of David From’s Comeback and will be be posting a series of blogs over the coming weeks with my thoughts on the book. The short version of From’s argument is that Republicans have to get over Ronald Reagan. According to From “Reagan Republicanism offers solutions to the problems of forty years before, not to those of the twenty-first century.” Indeed, he makes a compelling case that after years of economic expansion and tax cuts, the public no longer responds to a Republican agenda that focuses on tax cuts, especially while budgets deficits sore. He sites one poll from 2006 that found Americans opted 2 to 1 for balancing the budget instead of cutting taxes.

If From’s thesis right, it raises serious questions for the Republican coalition. The glue that held the movement together has always been fiscal issues, especially taxes. To some degree, the mid term elections of 2006 were an example of what happens when fiscal issues are not the forefront of GOP agenda. Having lost credibility on budget issues, and having already substantially cut taxes, Republicans became mired in internal debates about foreign policy and immigration. The fracturing depressed turnout and allowed for significant defections of moderate Republicans to the Democrats.

So From may be right that Reaganism is dead, but the question is does its passing also doom the Republican Party?