Asset Building as Key to Republican Revival?

Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, former advisors to President George W. Bush, have penned an article for Commentary Magazine entitled “The Path to Republican Revival.” The piece, currently available online as a special preview of September’s print edition, describes the recent political troubles of the GOP and offers up principles for the revitalization of the GOP electoral brand–including an endorsement of an ASPIRE Act-like proposal.

Gerson and Wehner believe that the first step back towards a GOP majority is a series of missteps by President Obama and the Democrats:

Obama’s overreach has created a measure of opportunity for Republicans. The question is whether that opportunity will be grasped. Can Republicans overcome their manifest problems and succeed in preparing themselves for a restoration of public trust, and can they do so not only by appealing to new groups but also by offering compelling answers to pressing public needs?

Their GOP platform includes strong national defense, and a host of areas in need of reform–tax structure, budget, financial regulatory and tort systems, as well as continuing education reforms. Gerson and Wehner single out economic growth and asset building efforts for special consideration:

But an even more powerful argument lies in the appeal to social mobility: the idea that, in America, economic and social dynamism is what offers striving individuals the prospect of success and wealth…It is, in, fact, vital for Republican leaders to press the case for economic growth in general. Americans achieve their dreams not through the redistribution of wealth but through the creation of wealth. As the late Jack Kemp never tired of stressing, growth-oriented economic policies are a simple matter of justice and equity. At the same time, they offer fertile opportunity for innovation by applying conservative and free-market ideas to the task of encouraging savings and wealth-building among the aspiring poor, rather than debt and dependency. Such innovative ideas can range from local efforts to nurture financial literacy to ambitious KidSave proposals that would create savings accounts for every child at birth, subsidized for low-income families. Whatever its particular expression in policy, asset-building should be a hallmark of the Republican party, on the sound theory that ownership encourages social mobility, community, and family stability.

Gerson has written previously of his support for asset building ideas and the ASPIRE Act, in the Washington Post and through his work with The Poverty Forum. His advice here is clear and strong, now the question is who will follow in the footsteps of Republicans like former-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and current Representative Tom Petri (R-WI) and stand up for asset building as a key policy frontier for building wealth, increasing family stability and perhaps even revitalizing the GOP?