Time to Purge the Republican Party

Townhall.com ^ | Jan 18, 2012 | Ben Shapiro

[RobertClark]

I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me.

BINGO!!!!

I now consider myself to be Independent - the Republican Party does not represent my core Conservative beliefs. I changed my voter registration 5 years ago. Prior to that, I contributed significantly on an annual basis to the party and was active in our state party offices. No longer. The party has been steered toward a limp-wristed acceptance of liberalism and moderation - they can go to hell. If a purge of the party can be accomplished, great, if not, I'm all for relegating it to the dustbin of history and starting anew.

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

One major change which would cure 75% (if not more) of the Republi-Tard Party problems, is to ELIMINATE open primaries in ANY state

This would allow for only R's (albeit not all Conservatives as we well know) to vote and would keep the Rats and so called "Independents" from messing up the results by being allowed to create mischief as they are wont to do.

[iopscusa]

What is ‘Republican’ in the traditional sense? The nasty WHIG Mercantilist Lincoln that destroyed the Constitituional Republic or the Progressive Big Gov Manic-Depressive Teddy Roosevelt who kicked off the Empire or the EPA/Red China opening Nixon or the Bush Compassionate fools? The History of the Republican Party is mostly filled with the wrong type of people and really the anti-Tea Party Party as much as the Leftist Party.

[Timber Rattler]

The problem isn't Romney. The problem is the Republican Party.

BINGO!

For the GOP-E's current obsession about the Republican "brand," well the Republican brand just ain't worth saving.

[RFEngineer]

“Ben nailed it. Time for a massive cleanout.”

This has been obvious since before the days of “compassionate conservatism”.

I keep coming back to the polls of last spring where the TEA party support came from a large contingent of folks who didn’t want Obamacare to interfere with their Medicare.

That’s not really an indicator of a conservative groundswell - opposing one socialist program because it would interfere with expectations for another.

I’m afraid that’s where we are - while the TEA party is decidedly more conservative than the GOP, where it really matters in government - cutting government spending, including the many socialist programs, I don’t think the TEA party represents that. That’s why the GOP continues to hang on decades past it’s last hint of Reagan conservative principle.

Until we get a groundswell that advocates with significant enough numbers to fundamentally alter what government does, conservatism is going nowhere - because it’s not a viable alternative to the status quo.

So we get the GOP, we get Romney, we get the status quo.

[DH]

They tried to “clean house” with term limits. How did that work out?

The answer: “We don’t need no stinking term limits.” So, we go on and on and on with Republican dynasties that offer a line of special “family” members handed down from grandfather, to father to son to carry on the old family tradition of self-enrichment, power and the preservation of the motto “we go along to get along.”

The Republican party should be the third party.

[Luke21]

“He wants the GOP to be more like Nixon and Ford. Unfortunately for us, that combination was able to win in a landslide.”

When did Ford win a landslide? Agnew was Nixon’s running mate in 1968 and 1972. Ford’s claim to fame was losing to Jimmy Carter in 1976 as an incumbent. Some landslide.

[Graybeard58]

It's my belief, many won't agree but Herman Cain was the best chance we had as an all around conservative. (I didn't say perfect). Palin was another, had she bothered to enter the race. My hope is that if, God forbid, that utter creep Romney is the nominee, that after Obama soundly defeats him, that Palin will restructure the Republican party along conservative lines, both social and small government, strong national defense.

[fruser1]

You have to have a third party to siphon money away from the RNC until it siphons enough to get rid of it.

I could understand supporting a RINO candidate if there was a moderate dem in the whitehouse. But for someone as extreme left as O, if they won’t support a conservative candidate now, they never will.

RNC is done for me. The more people that start thinking that way, the more a third party becomes viable and eventually replaces the junk one.

If that does not happen, if a third party does not thrive, then I simply know that I am an extemist and perhaps I should reconsider my views.

The TEA party has already done the noble step of trying to work within the RNC this go around. As you can see, it’s not working. They need to abandon the “work within the party concept” and head out on their own.

If it fails, so be it. But they should at least give that a shot. If not, we are doomed to the current status quo of a degenerating america.

[Scotsman will be Free]

The democratic party was hijacked 50 years ago.

[andy58-in-nh]

I joined the Republican Party (some 35 years ago) because with the growing influence and ascendancy of Ronald Reagan, the GOP was becoming a home for conservatives and conservatism.

Today, most of the Republican Party's elected officials are no longer conservative. And the party leadership in Washington? I dare you to find one explicit conservative among them. Party members however, who comprise the rank-and-file, are still largely conservative, especially primary voters and activists.

And there is your fault line - not between competing groups within the party, but between the leadership and the base. They can't purge us, unless they want to become a members-only club and a small one at that. Instead, we need to replace them. And while we're at it - let's find a leader.

[sergeantdave]

“If people really want to change the GOP, then get involved locally.”

Bingo!

I was involved in local politics for 20 years.Trying to get a conservative to show up at local council or county government meetings was like inviting a vampire to a sunrise cross service.

For some reason, still unknown to me, conservatives find it either trivial or loathesome to get involved in local politics.

This is despite the fact that the Founders built the American individual freedom movement through local politics. The necessity of first cleaning out your neighborhood of rats and Marxists just flies over conservatives’ heads.

[andy58-in-nh]

Conservatives are not political activists by nature. We tend (quite properly) to put our families, jobs and personal responsibilities first. This worked well as long as government was constrained by the Constitution and by the rule of law.

For 100 years, Progressives have labored to erode both Constitutional adherence and Western legal principles, leading to an immense growth of government power and influence. The Left has enjoyed an equally great advantage in the process because they believe in government, actively promote its expansion, and frequently benefit politically and financially from government largess.

But the Left has also labored to destroy those competing institutions that stand in the way of their vision of Progressive social utopia, institutions that conservatives and traditional Western society depend upon for their survival: families, neighborhoods, churches, synagogues, membership organizations and charities.

So now, we conservatives must engage the battle directly, especially since we lack a national leader or a party that uniquely represents our interests.

[Roninf5-1]

That blonde now runs the Republican Party.

The GOP Elites are not stupid. They know exactly what they are doing. They are masters at getting the rank-n-file Republican rubes to vote for them year after year while stabbing them in the back year after year. The Republicrat/Dumbocan Party has about a 5% approval rating and a 95% re-election rate. These are no dummies.

Pictured: CONgressmen laughing about how easy it is to fool the public.

This country doesn't need a third party. It needs a second party.

[ravenwolf]

If people really want to change the GOP, then get involved locally.

---

You are right, even in a town of 1 thousand population you can see the arrogance and conceit and deceit and the almighty importance of the people in the town government, these are the same people that eventually get to county, state, and federal governments.

Needless to say the reason most of them want the positions in small town government is because it makes them think of themselves as important, and the reason they get them is because any one worth their salt don,t want them.

[Constitution Day]

I get a kick out of reading this sort of asinine plastic saber-rattling every election cycle.

If you want to “purge” the party (Stalinist much, Mr. Shapiro?), then how are you gonna do it from the outside, tough guy?

If you want to change the party, you have to get involved locally. I did. I’m only one person, but I do what I can.

[central_va]

I am tired of living in a country that makes somebody feel like a criminal for starting a business, paying exorbitant taxes and following the law while the lazy and the stupid get rewarded. If the Republican would just say that they get that it would go along way to restoring the republic

[central_va]

I am tired of living in a country that makes somebody feel like a criminal for starting a business, paying exorbitant taxes and following the law while the lazy and the stupid get rewarded. If the Republican would just say that they get that it would go along way to restoring the republic

[Tarantulas]

Absolutely.

http://www.maricopagop.org/precinct-committeeman/what-is-a-precinct-committeeman/

Let’s join together and take over the Republican Party from the inside. Turning tail and registering Independent solves nothing.

[ari-freedom]

Right...right. Ford was Nixon’s VP after Agnew resigned but he wasn’t his running mate. But Agnew was also a Rockefeller so it does seem to indicate that 2 Rocky Rino’s can win.