The question is what do we do if the American people reject our positions?
Some will, and will never be convinced otherwise.
They want to be nanny-stated, to have no responsibility for anything, including themselves.
Unless and until social pressure swings the cultural pendulum back, there will be a significant contingent of people who have no sense of honor nor self-reliance who will be perfectly content sans peer pressure to sit on their largesse while they live off ours.
There will also be those who seek to exploit that attitude by catering to it in exchange for power and money.
Try to educate and persuade them, or just thrust a stick in their spokes?
If we can educate and persuade, great. That takes time, though, and the Republic may not survive the wait.
Certainly, the stick-in-the-spokes tactic is not needed in every instance, some things will wait long enough for education to work.
Others, however will do such grievous damage to our country that the stick-in-the-spokes approach may be the only viable resort.
A combination may be more effective, announcing why the stick is going in as it is being done, what the damage would be otherwise, and calling on all Americans to support the action for the good of our country, our future, and that of our children.
Sieze the Moral High Ground, not as haughty proselytizers, but as the humble saviour who stops a curious child from grabbing a knife blade or reaching into a fire.
What may at first blush seem "Mean" is in fact an act of selfless compassion, a just and honorable act, one which makes good sense regardless of who you are.
Some here would argue that the latter position is our duty...When the life of the Republic is at stake, it is. ... because it halts actions we find immoral.
Not just immoral, but contrary to the system of laws we have in a Constitutional Republic which are there to ensure all, even the smallest, get fair treatment. The rule of law is intended to eliminate guesswork and bias, and the Constitution especially to guarantee that certain actions be NOT taken because they are destructive to the rights of all--and people must be shown that, shown why those actions would be fatal to our Republic and our way of life.
The problem the GOP has had, specifically, is that it is being 'had' by the liberal Media. The only message it can get out through those channels is the watered down version of liberalism to which many have erroneously resorted in order that they might get airtime and thus 'gain popularity'.
As this has intensified, the GOP has drifted further to the Left, away from its Conservative base. Liberals won't vote for candidates they perceive as being too Conservative, Conservatives won't vote for candidates they feel are too liberal, and the result has left the party in a political no-man's land, where few want to venture.
The worst liberals can expect is slow progress for their agenda, the best Conservatives can hope for (under those circumstances) is more slowly losing all that is dear to them and their Liberty.
Continuing down this path will only cause the GOP to lose more votes.
As I have said elsewhere, take a stand. The Constitution is a great place to start, for it is the legal foundation, and one of the most seminal documents of this Republic.
The founders understood that we cannot all have everything we want all the time, and attempted (successfully, imho) to construct a counterbalancing system which would be self-limiting so long as the Constitution was adhered to.
I contend that such an approach will always leave the GOP as a rump party, and thus is fatal for us in a democracy.
Unless and until the GOP becomes supportive of the Republic (This is not, nor was it intended to be a “Democracy”, which is often described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for dinner.) as its name (“republican”) suggests, it will continue to disappoint all who look at it with false advertising.
It cannot embrace the mob rule of Democracy and selectively pick and choose what parts of the rule of law (essential to a healthy Republic) it will honor.
The only moral high ground is in having a strong enough sense of honor to do what is right, not necessarily popular nor convenient.
The trick is to get both sides to see why it is the right thing to do.
As I said there are those who will never admit their course is wrong, the 'true believers' who, as Shakespeare put it "would not serve God if the Devil bid them".
Those hearts and minds are sold and will never be won.
There are those who will lead moral lives, regardless of what it costs them in this life, who do so with the solemn belief that the reward for that is great in the next life, one which lasts for eternity--and still others who will lead a moral life without that specific belief, because it is to them 'the right thing to do'.
Most people fall somewhere in the middle.
Regardless of media spin (look at the people doing the spinning!), an awfully large number of those who care, (who are not of the apathetic class who will not care until the problem directly affects them) are not happy with the current state of affairs, and given a direction, a cause, a purpose, and a viable plan in contrast to what is making them unhappy, will at least make some token effort toward righting things, toward changing their lot for the better.
And now we have the secret to the foe's recent success.
While they substituted ersatz charisma for a viable plan, and wooed the witless with platitudes of 'hope and change', they blamed others for the problems they created, they plotted the consolidation of power over the people and have succeeded, thus far, in ways the people do not even understand.
At least trying to throw a stick in the spokes registers adamant opposition to policies seen as being detrimental or even dangerous to the Republic.
Good start, but the follow-up has to be made, the people reminded and reminded again--educated, if you will--as to the origins of the mess.
”I told you so!” may brook some resentment, but if done right, humbly, calmly and dispassionately, builds credibility.
So learn the story of why we are in the economic mess we are in. It is not pretty.
It is not politically correct (people tire of that petty tyranny, anyway), and it is an ugly tale of greed in high places and low.
People will call you "racist" for getting the meticulous details straight, but it can be done without even mentioning any particular groups of people, only circumstances.
We are all reaping that harvest, and as the pain becomes apparent, those in Government who engineered the disaster must be held to task, regardless of party affiliation, although most are from one party.
Point out that the Democrats, who claim to represent the people, in fact ignored the will of the people and passed the stimulus package before anyone even had time to read it.
It was Democrats who changed the law to require-- not just permit-- the banking practices which led to the current state of the economy and which will have laid the foundation for any disaster to come as a result.
Failing the ability to implement policy, the GOP must impede and offer (vocally!) alternatives which are not only better, but which will cause people to remember those alternatives later. And it must absolutely and unequivocally lay the ‘credit’ for the mess at the feet of those who made the mess. .
It is only the failure to become in the minds of Americans the watchdog of the Rights of the People which will make the GOP the rump party and guarantee its slide into oblivion. While cleaning house will be painful for the GOP, failure to do so will imperil the Republic. No third party is ready to step into the breach, and there simply is not the time to raise one to national prominence in time to stop a second term of the present disaster.
FOr those in the GOP who think the latter will keep Conservatives 'on the reservation', I would caution the Party Elite that the disgust for the Liberal morphing, compromise of virtue and the Rule of Law, and indeed our Constitution by members of the GOP is held in contempt second only to that reserved for the Socialists they have compromised with, and that the idea of being the only viable alternative will NOT be enough to keep the GOP even in a marginal position.
The last election broke the proverbial camel's back, and the treatment of the only candidate whom the Conservatives could back after the election, namely the villification of Sarah Palin by the party elite, has cemented that disgust.
Either the GOP cleans house, promptly and thoroughly, or the party will end up on the scrap heap of political history as America enters a dark and Socialistic age from which our Republic may not return without bloodshed, if then.
Joe, You are just too cool!!!!
Great Post!!!
Thank you for your extremely thoughtful and well-presented statement. I hope that you would send it to every Republican in Congress, because the party has to stand FOR something as well as AGAINST something.
Do you publish at all?