Free Republic

Now that Democrats have won the White House and have widened their margin of control in Congress, does this signify that American voters have moved to the left? Many Republicans question this claim. And a new report from the Pew Research Center seems to verify that America is still a right of center as a country. But the picture gets murky when you look at the details. And this murkiness presents a considerable challenge for Republicans who are trying to figure out where to steer their party. According to the just published report, more Americans today call themselves conservative than...

How the GOP Can Take Back the Youth VotePosted By Justin Higgins On November 30, 2008 The Republican Party hasn’t captured a majority of the 18-25 demographic for decades now, and with President-elect Obama renewing the debate about youth in politics, it’s about time we ask ourselves, “How can the GOP capture its fair share of the youth vote?” As a rare member of that demographic who votes Republican (Obama won the youth vote 66-32), I have a few answers — and they all have to do with some fundamental differences in mindsets and rhetoric. The disconnect is more about...

Michael Pollan, best known for his polemics against the food-industrial complex, has made a minor villain out of Earl Butz, Richard Nixon’s secretary of agriculture. Faced with a sharp spike in inflation, the Nixon White House sought to win the political allegiance of housewives by taking sweeping steps to lower agricultural prices. Butz slashed regulations and trade barriers while increasing subsidies. The result: Family farms closed down, huge agribusiness concerns expanded mightily, production soared, and domestic food prices fell dramatically. For Pollan, Butz’s machinations lie behind the current obesity epidemic and a broader coarsening of American life. But there is...

They say that elephants never forget, but that's exactly what the Grand Old Party has done. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Rockefeller and Nixon Republicans kept the party in a seemingly permanent minority with a "me-too" philosophy that allowed Democrats to balloon the size and scope of government. But, when Ronald Reagan ran unashamed on conservative principles in 1980 and Republicans in Congress embraced bold conservative reforms in 1994, America responded with overwhelming approval. Since then, many Republicans have run for office as conservatives but governed as scandal-plagued big-spending moderates. They stopped offering common-sense solutions and broke promises with Americans...

Now what? The Republican Party -- nationally and in Pennsylvania -- lies in tatters. Having lost the White House to Barack Obama, suffered historic losses in congressional elections, been almost shut out in statewide races and experienced further erosion in the state House, there is no doubt the GOP has hit rock bottom. It is, most significantly, a loss for so-called moderate Republicanism. Party moderates have opined time and again that a more middle-of-the-road presidential candidate could win Pennsylvania. McCain was touted as that candidate. It was a double-digit trouncing.

The election has come and gone, and we’ve all seen the reports of the Republican Party’s untimely demise. Some say Republicans were too conservative, that we’ve become a regional party and that we’re clinging to an old playbook. As a Republican, I can tell you that nothing could be further from the truth, and we are alive and kicking. That doesn’t mean the Republican Party isn’t in need of new ideas, new messengers and a new focus in order to move forward as a party. Losing elections brings change, and change is coming to the Republican Party. What really cost...

After a GOP beating, there is always a debate between the people who want the party to become more principled and those who want to turn the GOP into a poll-driven pile of mush that they believe will be more appealing to centrists. The problem with this whole discussion is that the "we need to be more moderate" crowd tends to simply ignore a number of inconvenient facts that make their position completely untenable. We've already gone the moderate route -- and lost. One of the most surreal aspects of the post-2008 campaign is listening to moderates pretend that the...

Senator Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner have a tough two years ahead of them. For the second election cycle in a row, conservative-leaning voters gave the Republican party an ultimatum: Shape up or ship out. And now the leaders of the GOP better deliver if they want 2010 to go any differently. They can start by changing business as usual in the House and Senate. In the House of Representatives, John Boehner should use his influence and leadership position to appoint Rep. Jeff Flake to the Appropriations Committee. Flake fans may recall the Arizona representative’s pursuit of an appropriations...

GOP Reform: From The Skagit Grassroots Up Welcome! This blog/forum has been created to serve as the Skagit County headquarters of patriotic conservatives working to rebuild and revitalize the GOP from the grassroots up. Our goal is to: build a network of activists, each contributing in his or her own unique way; connected by traditional ideas and ideals, policies and principles; to disseminate core Republican beliefs to fellow Americans; and, to support and elect candidates to office who will implement our agenda in the public arena.The work begins today and it begins right here in Skagit County. We are not...

--Dear Conservative, Yes, I know, these are times that try conservatives' souls. The sunshine soldiers left long ago, and we survivors are left to sit on the ground and tell sad stories of the deaths of our favorite theories. I get a lot of calls from patients like you, still in mourning after the presidential election. Here is Dr. Greenberg's Rx for the political blues: Remember that the political pendulum swings back as surely as it did forth, this time after a long period when conservative ideas--and candidates--were in the ascendant. It's that old Hegelian three-step: thesis, antithesis, synthesis. In...

House Minority Leader John Boehner’s reelection on Wednesday to the top House Republican leadership post was the result of skillful political maneuvering before and after the Nov. 4 elections, Capitol Hill sources and an expert on Congress told CNSNews.com. Boehner’s work strengthening one-on-one relationships with members and offering key leadership positions to powerful members of the House’s conservative faction, Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Eric Cantor (R-Va.), ensured that he would not face a serious challenge for his position...

Before the Republican Party even begins to think about curing what ails it, members have to recognize the fact that the party is Balkanized. We are never going to win elections if we remain broken up into separate factions, sometimes barely speaking to one another. Bizarre as it seems, each group within this Balkanization of the GOP is united in the belief that Ronald Reagan is its standard bearer. This, they tell us, is the man they want to follow. Ronald Reagan was not someone who found ways to disagree with you, but spent most of his life trying to...

The Republican Party has hit a new low. Just 34 percent of Americans in a Gallup Poll released Thursday say they have a favorable view of the party, down 40 percent from a month ago, before the election. What’s worse: 61 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Republican Party. According to Gallup, that unfavorable rating is the highest the polling organization has recorded for the GOP since the measure was established in 1992. The poll of national adults was conducted on November 13-16 with a three percent margin of error.

The last thing you want to think about right now is the 2012 GOP primary calendar, but I am afraid you have to, if you want the RNC chairmanship contest to have meaning and the GOP to have a good chance of recapturing the White House four years down the road. Each would-be RNC leader should be asked about the 2012 presidential primaries they will be overseeing. Specific questions need to be posed, and concrete answers delivered. The RNC must begin now to consider overhauling the presidential nominating process three years hence for the simple reason that the process as...

House Republicans are not shifting to the political right, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday, just hours after two of the top three GOP leadership spots were won by conservative lawmakers in an internal leadership election. Members Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Mike Pence (R-Ind.), and John Mica (R-Fla.), however, told CNSNews.com that they think the conference is shifting to the political right. But Boehner said, “No, I don’t think it’s right or left. It’s what are the issues Americans are concerned about, and how do we build solutions on our principles? It’s not left or right....

Dear , As we as a Party regroup after our near miss in the presidential election, we must reflect on what our Party has done well and what we can improve moving forward. It is for that reason we have created a new Web site for you to share your thoughts on the direction of the Republican Party. Please take a moment to visit www.RepublicanForAReason.com and create an account to begin the dialogue. The Republican Party has always been the party of reason and hope, and I strongly believe we will continue in this tradition as we work to the...

GOP Strength Rests in Its Core Beliefs by Ken Blackwell "It's that time again. Throngs of delirious Democrats are invading the streets and suites of Washington to celebrate their victories in November. "Across town, members of that other party gather in hushed bands, mourning their loss of power, employment and staff. The more prolific have taken the op-ed pages of every newspaper as their pillories, to flog themselves for their defeat. "As a member of that other party, enough is enough. It is time to look forward, not back." I wrote those words for a column in February 1993. Back...

South Carolina's Mark Sanford is one of three GOP governors now being widely mentioned as potential saviors of the Republican Party between now and 2012. All are conspicuous for calling on their own party to live up to its principles. Most notably, none have advocated the GOP move to the left. Mr. Sanford is a two-term governor known for vetoing spending bills, pushing market-oriented policy reforms (such as moving his state's Medicaid system to a private account-based model) and criticizing the lapses of the national GOP. "Some on the left will say our electoral losses are a repudiation of our...

Washington, Nov 19 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) announced the new leadership team elected by House Republicans today. During House Republican Conference organizational meetings for the 111th Congress, Boehner was re-elected by his colleagues for the post of Republican Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. He issued the following statement: “The months ahead will present Republicans with an unprecedented opportunity to renew our drive for smaller, more accountable government and offer positive solutions to the challenges facing the American people. We have to seize this opportunity, and seize it together. I’m deeply honored my colleagues have placed...

NASHVILLE -Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee has decided not to seek election as chairman of the Republican National Committee, one of his chief Tennessee associates said today. Thompson, 66, who aborted a run for president in January after a poor showing in the early primary and caucus states, had considered seeking the party’s national chairmanship after its losses in the Nov. 4 election. “He called me yesterday and said it’s not in the cards,” said Nashville businessman B.C. “Scooter” Clippard, a close Thompson associate who headed fundraising for Thompson’s presidential campaign. Clippard said Thompson chose to remain in...