Posted on 05/02/2009 10:42:19 AM PDT by RobinMasters
I know that we are experiencing slippage in districts like Rohrbacher’s, but I do not believe the reasons to be what you attribute them to. Yes, the Republican party is losing ground. I agree there. IMO, there are a number of reasons.
I remain convinced that our party leadership has been our worst enemy. It has become apostate, for lack of a better term. It has failed to educate. It has failed to push sound policy. It has in all too many instances advocated things not all that dissimilar to what the left has been.
So how do we stand out? To the general public we stand out on right to life and... As you state the public also sees that we stand out on illegal immigration too, but that isn’t seen universally. For instance, John McCain wasn’t concerned with it. He pushed for a transition to citizenship last year.
What this did was marginalize those who supported the rule of law. You see, our biggest problems have been people within our own ranks, be it the leadership or others who have served to marginalize the bedrock of the party. Hear me out. I know this probably hits you the wrong way. I don’t think it should.
How can reasoned Conservatives sound credible, when important people within our ranks advocate for breaking the laws on our books? For nearly two decades we have had massive numbers of foreign nationals swarming our nation. While the better selves in our ranks spoke out against this, policy makers at the top ignored them.
We told them where this would lead, and the party officials and our elected officials called us names and ignored us. Well here we are.
Sure Rohrbacher is losing ground. So did Dornan. It’s the same problem. His district is changing demographically, and he’s losing his base.
I have stated for about fifteen years now, that illegal immigration would destabilize our political system. Even after the Dornan situation, folks refused to confront the issues laid bare because of it.
Are we really racists? Are we anti-poor people? Are we really wrong to advocate for enforcement of our sovereign borders? Of course not, but when you have some big names on your side go vocal against you, and you have a simultaneous lack of leadership at the top on the subject, the appearance is that the Conservatives are real bastards that even the leadership of the party rejects. Our credibility wasn’t destroyed by the clever actions of the left. It was destroyed by our own party elites.
When it comes to big government and the proclivity of the left to spend, we used to be able to claim we were different. Then we took control of Congress and within five years we were the big government big spending party. Once again we destroyed ourselves. The earmarks were just fine when we were the ones saying who could get them. Talk about destroying your credibility...
These are the blueprints for how we lost credibility on a number of issues. Our leadership made our party look like the other party. So how do we as Conservatives combat this?
Should we simply capitulate on the border? Should we remain silent as the party acts like the Democrats on issue after issue? I don’t believe so, and I doubt you do either.
Our leadership must change. They must support the rule of law. They must honor the U.S. Constitution. They must support smaller government and fiscal restraint. They must make it clear that capitalism did not cause this mess we are in right now.
As the leadership comes to terms with this, the rank and file and our elected officials need to be on the same page. If a ‘maverick’ wants to spout something that doesn’t conform to the above guidelines, fine. Remove them from positions of power. Then continue to push sound policy. For heaven’s sake, quit marginalizing our best, by joining the Democrats against them.
On immigration, this is precisely what the leadership did. Regarding education, our leadership remained silent as the left took over our institutions and implemented UNESCO’s game plan for our children. When it comes to the military, our side made it official we would only maintain a one theater battle readiness plan. On issue after issue, we became no better than our enemies. When you do that, how do you sell your party as being better? Well you don’t.
Our leadership also failed us miserably, when they allowed ACORN to abuse the system the same way it allowed Hermandad Nacional, when Dornan was cheated out of his office. ACORN was clearly abusing the system, conducting political activities on the taxpayer dollar. I suspect it was handing out loans for political gain as well. Of one thing I am certain, no reasoned investigation has been launched to seriously put a stop to any of this. And so we shrink as a party and see our nation severely damaged as a result.
As for anti-minority, I don’t buy into the idea we are. We treat all races the same. We have had to focus on the Mexican immigration problem, but if we had addressed it years ago, the problem wouldn’t be what it is today. We allowed the left to create this monster problem, and now we’re afraid to deal with it. Well, unless we want to be Mexico, we will have do deal with it, like it or not.
If we legalize those who are here today, we will be 40% Mexican by 2040. No nation could maintain it’s own culture under that pressure.
I have laid out for you why McCain is viewed by many to be a pariah here. I gain nothing by addressing him for what I see him to be. Folks last fall wanted to dismiss the problems I saw with him. They thought he should be made President to stop Obama. At that time, that’s all they wanted to hear.
At this time, I don’t gain anything by continuing to see him for what he is. As far as I am concerned, we need to be on the same page when it comes to policy. John is never going to align with Conservatives. You simply cannot align with Conservatism, when you team up with Ted Kennedy, George Soros, John Kerry, Teressa Kerry, the Tides Foundation, Russel Feingold, and other consummate leftists or their organizations. Honestly, doesn’t this make sense to you?
What happens when a guy like McCain reaches out to Ted Kennedy? Doesn’t that lend Ted credibility? Doesn’t it say to liberals that their fair haired Senator isn’t so bad after all, look, even leading Republicans think he’s a great guy. When John teams up with Soros, it’s the same thing. This give people reason to think Soros is a decent person. These relationship also give people the impression that you and I are real pricks when we speak out against them and their policies. The actions of John McCain are extremely destructive.
Then when Obama proposes clossing Gitmo, there’s John McCain to lend him credibility on the subject. When Obama cuts our military, there’s John McCain to say, “I agree with these actions.” Is there anything more destructive than that?
I’m not trying to be mean here. I’m not trying to drive people away. I’m not trying to be unreasonable or unfair. This is just how I see things. If that bothers you, I am sorry.
I agree that the Tea Parties were a good idea. I think it’s an idea that worked much better, because it wasn’t actually a Republican party idea. It was an idea that was born of Conservatism, wasn’t labeled with a party stamp, and was actually joined by Democrats who also think Obama is a real nut. That is how you draw people across the isle to your side.
You don’t do it by capitulating on matters of conscience. And that’s why I am very reticent to join calls to give up on immigration, allow the homosexual agenda to rule, and to reach out to Democrats as some people have done. No way.
I don’t see the recent confab with Jeb Bush, Romney, Canter etc. as good, because these people are not the people we need to head up our party.
Jeb is another George. Romney DID NOT rule as a Conservative as governor. Cantor I don’t know about, but if he can join up with other two in good conscience, then I can’t join with him in good conscience.
If you don’t like it here anymore, I’m sorry to hear it. If it pains you to hear that John McCain is responsible for the destructive things he has done and is doing, then I don’t know what to tell you. Until John changes his actions, I won’t be changing my opinion of him.
You take care.
Not to pile on, but I just saw that Cantor participated on a group phone call with John McCain taking a leadership position with regard to the new effort you mentioned. It seems my concerns were right on.
Did you really study the data in the link about election results from 1972 to 2008?
I don’t judge poorly Cantor for talking to McCain on the phone. Neither of us know the subject or substance of the call.
Cantor has a great voting record; yielding a lifetime ACU rating of 96.
The GOP lost credibility on economic matters, and the leader for that was former Pres. GW Bush, not McCain. McCain often opposed Bush’s spending binges.
Cantor led the party recently opposing bailouts and deficit budgets.
We need a lot of that consistently. At this point if McCain opposes the dems spending, he is on my side. Same for Cantor.
And if some of my favorite GOP people, and some who are not my favorite GOP people get together to do the right thing, I applaud it.
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