"Thou shalt not speak ill of your fellow Republicans"
-- Reagans law
Posted on 09/10/2002 8:38:50 PM PDT by nonliberal
Citizens for a Sound Economy August 14, 2002
A Conversation with a Conservative
There is a widening gap between the values of Washington Republicans and America's conservative base. I have had two very different running conversations this year. The first is with inside-the-beltway Republican politicians. They tell me things are going fine and they’re doing the best they can. The other conversation has been with conservative activists all across America. They tell me how bad things look. They say it appears the politicians don’t care about freedom anymore.
Activists get involved because they want to make a difference. They hold core beliefs and values and are willing to sacrifice their time and money to advance these beliefs. They’re willing to organize their neighborhoods, develop phone banks, distribute literature and mobilize voters. They do really important work. But rhetoric and spin is not their thing – they’re involved in the process because they want to see results. And, right now, they aren’t seeing results.
President Bush remains remarkably popular with the conservative base. I sense people view him as a decent and honest man, and like all Americans, conservatives support the commander-in-chief. But there is uneasiness with some of the decisions of the “Bush Administration.” In particular, the farm bill and steel quotas have frustrated conservatives because they want to see the size and scope of government reduced – not expanded.
More worrisome, if you are a partisan Republican, is the growing frustration of the conservative base with the generic “Republican Party.” Take away President Bush’s personal popularity, and there is genuine anger and disappointment with the performance of the Republican Party.
Government is growing right now – at every level and in almost every area. That is a factual statement and it upsets the conservative activist base.
Social Security is headed towards bankruptcy and the Republican Congressional Committee is advising Republican congressional candidates not to talk about the issue. That is a factual statement and it upsets the conservative activist base.
The activists I talk with can’t believe Republicans would allow liberal demagogues to get away with scaring seniors citizens, let alone scaring Republican candidates. When politicians who are on record supporting personal retirement accounts flip-flop in the heat of battle, activists quickly become disillusioned.
Activists know, like most Americans, that the current structure of Social Security is unsustainable. Because they care about public policy, they have read the policy papers and the reports. The activists believe personal retirement accounts provide the only viable alternative to tax increases and benefit cuts.
And, here is something else conservative activists believe: That Republican politicians know Social Security is going bankrupt and personal retirement accounts provide the only viable solution to tax increases and benefit cuts.
So, when a Republican politician flip-flops on Social Security reform, the activists don’t view it as a change of heart based on facts. They see it as a political sellout caused by the unwillingness of the politician to fight for his or her core beliefs.
As I said, conservative activists do really important work. Precinct walks, phone banks, literature drops, voter mobilization – the work that makes a big difference in off-year elections. But it’s voluntary work. These dedicated citizens have complete lives and other obligations. They do the volunteer work on behalf of freedom because they’re motivated and they think they can make a difference. When their leaders let them down, activists stay home, and that hurts freedom.
Political leaders running political campaigns can make their own decisions about strategy. Elected officials make their own decisions about how and when to fight for freedom. On the other hand, their decisions have consequences – and from the conversations I’ve been having all year with our best activists, it appears the politicians have decided they don’t need their base. The problem is that on Election Day this November, the conservative base may decide they don’t need the politicians.
Teddy Roosevelt was a Progressive and held many views about the roll of government that would be considered liberal today.
In the fifties and sixties, the Rockefellers were representative of the liberals in the Republican party. Economic conservatism was the only constant conservatism at that time.
The shift toward across the board conservatism came with Barry Goldwater's nomination as the Repubican candidate in 1964, and he was creamed in the general election by President Johnson.
Since then there has been a struggle between moderates and conservatives in the Republican party. Conservatives sneer at moderates and call them RINO's, and moderates roll their eyes at conservatives feeling they are destroying the electability of the party with their uncompromising stands.
Between the crushing of the GOP by the liberal media and our viability today stood only Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, the internet, and George W. Bush.
When one is standing on a swing bridge that is partly stitched together and holding by the RINO's, one should not be so contemptuous of the role they are playing.
I don't agree with a lot of positions the RINO's take, but I do know that at this point in history we cannot win the Senate without them. And I want to win the Senate and get conservative judges confirmed, as that is the most important thing right now, as important as preventing D.C. from being nuked by terrorists/Saddam by neutralizing Iraq.
No.
Both have prostituted the definition of "liberal" and "conservative".
Not eveyone in Katy has potty mouth.
M
When you alter the original title, you create havoc, the likes of which are obviously way beyond your comprehension, or you wouldn't have done it in the first place.
Are there any CHRISTian Democrats?" (My title)
Yeah, since Smith got beat and not many seem to care....All most Republicans(including a majority on this site it seems) care about is winning. Not conservatism. Conservatism is kinda doing the old Russian "slash and burn" retreat. But the problem is, Conservatism isn't as big as Russia, if you get my meaning.
No. Have it pulled.
It tells me they don't want Erskine Bowles, a Clintonista, as their next Senator.
But then again that goes back to the context of this very article and the prevailing attitude now growing in the GOP itself. Some great conservatives went down this election cycle. Many went down simply because of party politics. We as a nation have survived 225 plus years of heated debate even during our very founding. I don't think having more debates on our nations or even a parties direction will end the United States as we know it nor do it harm.
The truth is debate has not been taking precedent over cloak room deals. In that respect truth and freedom is the looser along with the responsibility to know and understand canidates and elected positions and an approval or dissent thereof.
Sat, Feb 2, 2002
Helms gives Dole strong endorsement for his office
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., has endorsed Elizabeth Dole as his favored successor when he leaves office at the end of the year.
Speaking to a national gathering of more than 1,000 conservative activists in Arlington, Va., on Thursday, Helms broke with a long-standing tradition of staying out of Republican primaries.
"This lady, mark my words, will make North Carolina proud next January when she marches down that center aisle in the U.S. Senate and takes office as the new conservative Republican senator from North Carolina," Helms said.
If the author wants to find a legitimate reason to criticize the president, he should look no further than campaign finance reform. This act is the biggest attack on our Constitution in years. The First Amendment was written specifically to allow us to criticize elected officials and those who aspire to be elected officials. However, this law now makes it illegal to use modern media to do what our Founding Fathers considered one of the most important safeguards of our liberty.
I'm certainly disappointed and discouraged by what is happening in our nation. I'm disappointed and discouraged by the lack of courage that party leaders have shown for the past decade. If the Democrats retaking the Senate does one good thing, I hope it gives us an excuse not to make Trent Lott the majority leader again when we regain control. It is very frustrating to spend hours working for Republican candidates only to have them vote against me on the issues that I had considered most important.
On the other hand, we need to not quit working to better our country. I remember reading an article some time ago that said that Karl Rove expected about 19 million self-professing "religious conservatives" to vote for President Bush in the 2000 election. Instead, the president received only about 15 million of these votes.
Where did the other 4 million go? If they had voted for President Bush, the Florida controversy never would have happened. Even if none of them had voted for President Bush and all had given their votes in some combination to Pat Buchanan and Howard Philips, conservatives in Washington would have a stronger hand. If Pat Buchanan had received 4 million votes, the electoral college would not have changed. However, the popular vote would have shown a majority for conservative candidates. Furthermore, if those 4 million had voted for conservatives in other races, the GOP might still control the US Senate.
In less than 2 months, we will choose our Congressional representatives again. Every House member is running. A third of the Senate is running. If Republicans could retake the Senate and expand their lead in the House, conservatives would have a stronger bargaining position. That should be our current goal.
A Year Later
Bill
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