Posted on 11/29/2005 4:16:55 AM PST by WhiteGuy
Where is the Instant Replay?
"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program."
Ronald Reagan
Some of the most famous men in boxing-ring history weren't really "boxers" at all. They had real "knockout" punches that provided their victories as long as they could stay on their feet until they had the chance to use them. Babe Ruth's major league baseball career began as a pitcher, until someone realized how well he could hit. Golfers understandingly play to their strengths. Ben Crenshaw wants to get on the green; John Daly prefers the tee box. In sports, whenever a team or a competitor develops a winning play or a proven strategy for winning, they rerun it at every opportune chance they get as long as it keeps working. Even after it has apparently stopped working, they run it a few more times on different occasions or in different events just to be sure it doesn't really work anymore. In case anyone has any reservation or doubt, how often did Jim Brown run the ball for Cleveland or how many passes did Johnny Unitas throw in his career? How often did the Bulls work the ball to Michael Jordan?
In 1994, a conservative political genius devised a strategy of listing ten issues that were near and dear to the hearts of all conservative Americans. Republicans swept the elections gaining control of both houses of Congress for the first time in the lives of most of the conservatives that voted that year. It was no different for the candidates. Precious few of the incumbents in either house, whether defeated or re-elected had ever held office when Republicans controlled either house let alone both.
Was the election simply a backlash from Hillary's health care plan? Undoubtedly backlash was part of it, but the election could not have turned on the outcome of a pending health care vote because Hillary's plan had already been defeated in September before Congress adjourned to campaign for the November election. Americans are generally optimistic and forgiving; they normally prefer to vote for a candidate or an issue rather than voting for revenge. In choosing between the slate of Republican candidates or the Contract with America, who would be willing to dispute that more people voted for the Contract than were voting for the individual candidates?
Could the Contract with America have been the political equivalent of a knockout punch? The forward pass? Having a Jim Brown on third and one? Most people would be inclined to recognize the possibility except for one small detail. We have been more than ten years, five congressional election cycles, and Republicans have not even mentioned the Contract in conjunction with an election. In each and every one of those elections, Republicans held their collective breaths and Democrats were cautiously optimistic about regaining one or both houses of Congress. As the Chicago coach, in the fourth quarter of a close play-off game, would you keep Michael Jordan on the bench?
Why haven't the Republicans used another Contract with America to extend their margins in Congress or to simply advance our conservative agenda? Out of power for more than ten years, Democrats are now considering formulating their own version of a Contract with America. If repetition of winning plays by professional sports seems logical, I repeat, why haven't the Republicans had another Contract with America in a single election since 1994?
Answering the question of why "professional" politicians have behaved differently from professional athletes will be our first step toward understanding how to elect statesmen, patriots if you will, exactly analogous to the Founding Fathers.
Will You Take The Pledge?
© 2005 Hopeful Patriot
Archived Editorials
I miss Newt.
They ran away from the idea because the MSM managed to villify Newt and the "contract on America".
So, you blame the media.
Interesting.
Isn't it possible that most of the leaders we all worked so hard to elect were simply the same type of hypocritical, greedy, lying, politicians that were in power prior to 1995? (except with am "R" following their name?)
Not to mention that Gingrich was hopelessly outclassed as a politician by Bill Clinton, who rolled him every damned time. And it certainly didn't help matters that there is very little, morally, to distinguish between them. Newt crapped the bed, plain and simple.
The real problem is that conservatives are prone to thinking they're playing by the same rules as those on the left, when in fact the left is often playing an entirely different game.
Further, conservatives are impatient: they look for The Big Fix, and they refuse to accept incremental gains. The problem is simply that conservatives are ignorant of the real game being played, and too impatient to learn it.
This is certainly a possible explanation and probably has merit as it applies to Newt. But this explanation does not hold water when it is applied to the Republicans. Republicans ran away from the Contract before Newt had any problems. In fact, Republicans ran away from the Contract before they finished voting on all ten parts of the contract. Newt was at the peak of his glory days. Understanding why Republicans have run away from the Contract is key to understanding why Republicans have now become part of the problem and seem to be listening to folks like r9eth:
"The problem is simply that conservatives are ignorant of the real game being played, and too impatient to learn it."
On the contrary, Republican politicians are now playing the same game as the Democrats. That's the rub. Passing Campaign Finance Reform and Medicare Prescription Drugs is precisely playing the "professional" politicians' game. On the other hand, if you meant that "conservative" voters are not aware that Congressional Republicans are now playing the same game that the Democrats have always played, then you have correctly identified the problem. That raises the question about timing:
"Further, conservatives are impatient: they look for The Big Fix, and they refuse to accept incremental gains."
The Federal Reserve Act, the XVIth and XVIIth Amendments were passed in 1913. It took roughly ninety years to push the country to the brink of insolvency. Every democracy in history has eventually ended in bankruptcy or hyperinflation after the public learns to vote itself benefits from the treasury. If you do the math, our country will cross the threshhold of insolvency somewhere in the vicinty of 2015-2020 unless major corrections are made to existing laws.
Major changes in the law will be most easily accomplished by making major changes in the lawmakers who actually make the law. That's what this series is about. We believe we know how to recruit and elect lawmakers made from the same mold as Ronald Reagan and cut from the same cloth as the Founders. Use your ping lists to recruit people to these threads. The Constitution can be restored in the less than a decade, but we are going to need your help. We don't have another ninety years to make a difference. We are asking you to invite your friends and fellow Freepers: Will they and you take The Pledge?
Ping for some who have volunteered to work for freedom.
LOL! You're pounding on the Big Fix again. Problem is, politics doesn't work that way. The left operates by patience: winning incrementally, and losing incrementally only to try again another day. They're very, very good at this, and it's the best possible strategy to defeat the Big Fix.
YES
"Why haven't the Republicans used another Contract with America to extend their margins in Congress or to simply advance our conservative agenda?"
Because there IS no conservative agenda......only a socialist one.
You have nailed it!
ping
Really?
Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections on an unabashed conservative agenda based on the big fix of cutting government down to size:
"We have come to a time for choosing; we will preserve for our children this the last best hope for man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.....history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening." Ronald Reagan 1964
The current article is discussing the landslide epic election that completely changed a seventy-year configuration of Congress and was called the 'Republican Revolution' because of its epic proportions. Incrementalism is the very thing that now endangers the Republican majority in Congress. Open your eyes and your mind. We invite everyone to read and follow this series. It will show you what is possible and more importantly, it will show you how you can be instrumental in achieving the complete restoration of the Constitution.
Ping for Freedom.
Republicans are no more principled that demoncraps. They're merely more palatable.
I would gladly take a huge swallow of gall if it would make things right - it won't. I'm glad that I'm no YOUNGER than I am. I fear for the Union. I fear the Union.
BTTT
bttt
Because they were beaten up by the news media all through '95. By the end of '95, it showed in the polls.
How soon we forget.
Not true.
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