Good post by Noah Millman, who asks what Republicans have to do in order to become a legit governing party again. He identifies some things that would genuinely augur improvement: the existence of a foreign policy debate, and a rejection of the “no new taxes” pledge for every single conceivable occasion.

I was thinking about this question, but the one I’m more interested in is a similar but different one: at what point does the GOP go from walking disaster to an entity that wouldn’t make me fear for the nation lest they win the presidency? What do they have to do just to merely suck, as opposed to having gone ’round the bend? And a few things occurred to me:

1. Ryanism has to end. Let me be clear what I mean by this. I don’t mean Republicans have to support social programs forever to remain at their present funding levels and ways of doing business. I mean that Republicans need to stop with the bad faith that Paul Ryan has exemplified in his time as a national figure. Specifically: proposing a plan that would “end Medicare as we know it” by turning it into an unrecognizable system of diminishing-return vouchers while insisting that this would be essentially no different than the current system for the user. That is more than just “politics as usual,” more than mere shading or deception. That is misrepresenting your own views to pretend that they match with those of your target, i.e. bad faith. Other examples include bashing the president for having the same Medicare cuts as you have in your budget. Or bashing the president for not publicly backing the Simpson-Bowles budget plan that you personally vetoed as a member of the committee. This goes beyond fuzzy math or basic political word games and distortions–it is evidence that the party sees no particular need to be honest with the electorate or even with the interests in its own coalition. One could argue that Ryanism comes out of an inability to reconcile the demands of those interests. But the simple fact is that a party that acts in bad faith so regularly is one that cannot be trusted with power, and that tactic won’t take long to be self-defeating either. If other polls show Romney-Ryan tanking with seniors as this one does. People came to hate insurance companies in no small part because of bad faith practices that sought any possible loophole to avoid paying out claims. This one is a no-brainer.
2. Major New Deal and Great Society programs must be accepted by the GOP on a fundamental level. Reforms of these programs can and should be offered by Republicans, but those ideas must be focused on making Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, TANF, etc. (and eventually the Affordable Care Act) better, more efficient programs. That might well entail cutting spending–certainly, Medicare cuts need to happen if the system is to remain viable, and much waste has been removed from the program already. But cutting, say, excess Medicare Advantage payments makes the program more efficient and thus stronger. Vouchercare makes it weaker, less robust, less useful. Reforms offered by Republicans need to be conceived of with the mission of these programs as the top consideration. Which is to reiterate point 1–no more Ryanism.
3. A rejection of some hard-line social issue positions because of their impracticality. I figure gay marriage will be an entirely unremarkable position to hold for a member of either party in ten years, with anti- sentiment confined to some pockets of the Deep South and Interior West. Abortion, probably not. I don’t expect Republicans to renounce the pro-life position, but I need there to be some nuance to their position on this. We couldn’t just ban all abortions, few want to and it would be bedlam. Women’s rights and health have to figure into the equation. And so on. Again, I’m not looking for an ideal party here, just some sense that they wouldn’t try to ban everything they don’t like if they got power.

There are others I could come up with, but those are the first that come to mind. Anyone have another?