Posted on 05/11/2009 12:58:21 PM PDT by Mikey76
Recently the leaders of the Republican party have gone on a “listening tour” to try to find a way to recover from their recent losses. They are trying to figure out what it is that will appeal to voters in the age of Obama. Sounds like a focus group effort to me and if that is the case, its all over for the Republicans. There is a simple reason for their recent losses. The Democrat party is much better at selling big government and all its benefits than are the Republicans.
Here is the problem for the Republican image. They say they are the party of smaller government, fiscal responsibility, national defense and social conservatism. But for six years, when they had all the power in Washington, they were fiscally irresponsible, they grew government and didn’t even make an attempt at waging war for social conservatism. The evidence points to the fact that we don’t have a two party system anymore. We have one party, the party of “Big, Powerful, Intrusive Government”, with two wings. One wing has been at the game a long time, the other is a neophyte. The Republican neophytes, however, are finding that their usefulness parallels that of a sixth toe. The voters don’t want two parties that pursue the same agenda with different language; they want real choices. Unfortunately, the system is rigged against “outsiders” so the choices remain what they are and a larger and larger percentage of the people feel disenfranchised as they lose their liberty.
The Republicans have a great advantage, if they chose to utilize it. The majority of the people in this country, for the moment, still believe in liberty. They believe in fiscal responsibility, they are socially conservative. They want to control our borders, they want smaller government, they want to hear English. When such ideas have been articulated in the past, they resulted in landslide victories for Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich. There are still people in the Republican party that believe this but they seem to be a rapidly shrinking minority. Just look at the last presidential candidate for the proof.
The rise of Sarah Palin and Bobby Gindal may give some conservatives a glimmer of hope but I will tell you here and now why the Republicans are going to go the way of the Whigs. It is more than a problem of image, it is a problem of courage. The Democrats don’t believe in the give and take of the two party system. They believe they are the smartest people in the room and the reins of government belong in their hands and no other. To a Democrat, the ends justify the means, the rule of law is only useful when it can be used against an opponent, it does not apply to them. Their only principle is the acquisition of power. In this current administration this principle is on display for everyone to see and they are not ashamed of it. The strong arm tactics of President Obama and his cronies would have made Mussolini smile. The naked grab for power in the private sector would have brought a chuckle to Stalin. Encouraging death threats against corporate leaders who dare oppose his will would have brought nods of approval from Hitler.
The crux of the matter is this. The Republicans are not going to become the party of conservatism or, dare I say it, liberty, because that would put them fully in the cross hairs of a Democrat party whose aim is to destroy the opposition by any means possible. It takes a person of great courage to stand up against that kind of onslaught and a career politician is not that kind of person. Why did Sarah Palin connect with so many people? Because she was like us. She was forthright in her speech, she had principles and she stood up for them even when it wasn’t easy. The American people respect that and the Democrats can’t stand it. Palin was not the kind of person that could be bought or intimidated so she has to be destroyed. Dick Cheney was the same way, that is why he was the most hated man on the Hill for eight years.
To make sure that no Republican ever challenges the Democrat agenda in a meaningful way again, even if they do happen to win an election now and then, they have entertained the possibility of prosecuting former administration officials for activities that were legal at the time but now meet with disapproval by those in power, i.e. Democrats. With the thought that a future administration is going to drag an official into court, ruining their reputation and bankrupting them in the process, is anyone going to take any risks? In anyone going to offer an opinion that goes against the statist vision for this country? Is anyone within the government going to stand up for the people’s freedom? No.
In addition to image and courage, the Republicans have a wrong headed strategy for growing the party. The Democrats have developed a strong base of support among those who benefit from the government's largess and contribute little or nothing to receive it. Add to this the unions and community activists who support their Marxist vision and the possibility they will incorporate millions of illegal immigrants into their voting block and they have a secure and formidable base of support. If the Republicans try to compete for that base, they will lose. If they are too intimidated to espouse the principles of the people in this country that still love liberty, they will lose. Unfortunately, it would appear that the leadership of the party is following those tends exactly and by so doing, will accompany the Whigs into the dustbin of history.
www.patricksamuels.com
That is the problem...they're both selling big government.
Nailed it. Nailed it. Nailed it.
ping
“...the leaders of the Republican party...”
Isn’t that an oxymoron? I didn’t know these milquetoast types knew what leadership was, what a real backbone looked like or was for or how one could come by one.
Just like Mexico. Thank you for validating what I've said here for a long time.
That's true. The RINO Republicans also want big government and free handouts, but they're just not getting the word out. Of course, they still wouldn't win. They'd need a base to do that.
The reason the Republicans lose is because they're not conservative any more. People are now waiting for a Conservative party. If there's no Conservatives to vote for, why waste the gas?
“Who’s better at spending your money: You or the gov’t?”
This will not get the job done. The Democrat sheeple voters aren’t voting for or against spending their own money. Much of the Democrat base have no money to spend. They are voting FOR spending someone elses. There is a big differance.
if moneyed blue-blood east-coast RINOS and beltway pseudo-intellectuals won’t get out of the way, then yes, the GOP will split into a moderate and a conservative party, and the new moderate GOP will become the next Whigs.
The GOP don’t need no steenken listening tour. The voter polls told them repeatedly that they were going in the wrong direction:
1]Bush took out Saddam’s conjured mushroom cloud instead of bin Laden’s real WTC bombers and decided to nation build the middle east.
2]Bush was creating jobs in other countries rather than here.
If the GOP didn’t hear that, they don’t need a tour, they need a hearing aid.
This is exactly why “moving to the center” and wooing the “moderates” will only lead us to defeat and more defeat.
You will never out-Democrat a Democrat. You can never promise more, you can never spend more, you can never grow the government more, you can never betray your principles more than he can. You offer 10, he’ll demand 12. You agree to 12, he’ll swear you’re starving widows and orphans who need nothing less than 20.
The minute you compromise you’ve lost the game because you’ve accepted a logic that leads right back to a Democratic victory at the end of the argument.
Your only hope is to explain why, when the Dem demands 10 or 12 or 20, its wrong to go that direction at all. You have to know what your principles are, you have to be able to explain them, you have to care enough about them to defend them without embarassment, and you have to be able to face the storm of invective and lies and slander that are coming your way just for having the courage to speak at all.
The fact that the GOP is going on a listening tour already tells me they’ve lost their moorings, they are looking for a way to position themselves with respect to the electorate, they are looking for how best to market the brand. I’ve heard these GOP cats going on about the GOP brand and I want to tell you; if you think the GOP is a brand, then either you’re in the wrong party or I am. If you have to do a survey to find out what your principles are, either you’re in the wrong party or I am.
His last point can’t be stressed enough. The DNC has effective control of the communications media, and the entertainment media, and the schools and universities. If you are going to fight them you are going to look and feel very alone if you get your affirmation from any of those sources. You must either have healthy resources of courage and a stubborn streak a mile wide and skin as think as rawhide or you are not the leader we are looking for. You either know what you believe, and you’ve got the elbows and knuckles you need to be able to spout philosophy in a mosh pit, or you need to stay home and tend your garden. These are not times for baby-faced wimps in suits.
I agree the Party is in the crapper right now. GWB learned from his father’s mistake about raising taxes. But he failed miserably on the spending side of the equation and he had plenty of accomplices and enablers among big spending Congressional Republicans.
Perhaps it is God’s will that we’re being punished for this breach of dicipline and failure to govern efficiently and prudently.
But those who suggest that the Party is dead and buried need stop smoking crack. Only the GOP reinvigorated by its conservative base stands any chance of reversing Obamuism. The Libertarian and American Independent Parties aren’t going any where. We have to make due with what we have. Conservative took control of the GOP is the key. It has been done before (1964, 1980, 1994) and must be done again. These minor little third parties have no future and are going no where. They only serve to distract from the work that needs to be done.
No, I understand this, however, there are currently more people paying taxes than not. Given that, the GOP should be able to gain strength if they practice what they preach.
then the left has won.
The strategy of the left is to “exclude from power all those who do not agree”
IF you are not a leftist you have no access to power.
This means young people in order to have a job, career, family, ANY HOPE of a future will have to spew and play the left wing game. All because good people of conscience stayed home.
control the local party and you control the national party.
ACORN has 5 BILLION dollars to spend without any supervision or limiation.
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