Posted on 04/29/2009 11:17:58 AM PDT by Law is not justice but process
There seems to be a general depression (emotional, not economic) pervading the Republican Party recently. Everyone seems to think the Republican Party dead, as the Democrats have the Presidency, the House, and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. I know this is not the case, because I lived through 1994. An unpopular Bush had just lost the presidential election of 1992, and the Democrats had just 4 fewer House Seats and 2 fewer Senate Seats than they have now. The economy was rapidly improving, and the press was extatic about the accomplishments of the Democratic Majority. Pundits predicted the demise and permanent irrelevance of the GOP. The press and Democratic leadership actually expected the Democrats to increase their majority in the 1994 elections.
We all know what happened next.
The incredible turnaround of the 1994 Congressional elections was not just the result of overreaching by the Democrats (though there was some of that), but of a brilliant strategy put forth by the Republican Minority Leadership. They presented a unified national agenda with specific alternatives to Clinton Administration Policies, and they won.
We did it once, we can do it again. We just need leadership.
We need a leader. It is not enough to wait for the Democrats to cut their own throats (though they are doing that even faster than I expected), we need to articulate our own plans. For one, how about more nuclear plants as an alternative to carbon taxes? How about a health plan that does not destroy the private health care sector? How about a foreign policy that supports loyal allies and panders less to repressive regimes like Iran and Cuba? How about some real border security to insure that what jobs still exist in this economy go to citizens?
I do not have the skills of a political leader, but I could certainly support someone who has those skills and articulates Conservatism as it ought to be done. I think I would be an effective supporter, and that millions more like me would join and be even more effective. The Tea Party Movement has demonstrated that right now we are a movement in search of a leader. We need to find this person. Someone who can go above the head of the press like Reagan did. Someone unafraid to say the Federal Government must do less, not more. Someone who is willing to stand up and defend capitalism and free markets instead of using them as scapegoats. Someone who is willing to say the fault for Islamic fundamentalism lies not with the West, but with the Islamic nations and peoples who have tolerated and even encouraged them for the last 60 years (or maybe 1200 years). Someone who is willing to point out that the solution to Islamic Fundamentalism lies with those same governments and peoples who created it and someone who is willing to impose the pressure needed to make them live up to their duties. Someone who is unashamed to hold conservative social views: who will stand up and defend marriage, who will say drug use is wrong and harmful, who will espouse Freedom of Religion rather than freedom from religion, and who can effectively value innocent human life while supporting an effective death penalty for the guilty.
Who is this leader? I used to think it was Newt, but he is becoming a bit of a Moonbeam. Fred Thompson is that leader in thought and articulation, but seems to lack the desire. I like my governor, Mark Sanford, but I know he lacks the political skills to sell our message. Sarah Palin has been Borked, as so many other budding Conservative leaders. I like Senator Inhoffe, but I have also grown tired of senators. Who is left?
Please tell me who has the potential to be our new leader? He or she may be in Congress or a governorship somewhere, or may be running one of the banks that survived the credit scare without taking Federal Money.
Who will lead?
A New Contract?
They need a contract
They need to resist and raise hell
They need to go on offense
Boehner isn’t the answer
Does anyone have fire in the belly?
Sarah and Michelle are about the onlu two left in the GOP that will stand up to the Obamaites.
Ping to Coffee
“They need to go on offense”
My point exactly. I suppose we at the grassroots can go on the offensive as well. What is next in the Tea Party movement? I think we need a 2 million person Tea Party on the Mall in DC on July 4th. What’s stopping us?
I don't belong to an organized party...
I'm a republican..
“George Bush KILLED the republican party..”
Fine. Bush screwed us. Are we going to sit around moping until this is the Peoples Republic of North Cuba? Or are we going to do something to take our party back. We survived Nixon and Ford. We survived Bush I. We will survive Bush II as well.
Just because Bush spent like there was no tomorrow doen’t mean we cant find a new generation who won’t. Look at all the new blood that entered Congress in 1994. Find fiscally conservative candidates and elect them.
I’m getting sick of the wailing and tooth gnashing around here. As Gen. George S. Patton said: “Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory. “
Some more Pattonian inspiration for you:
“Better to fight for something than live for nothing. “
“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom. “
“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more. “
And, of course, my favorite of all:
“We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. “
Coffee here -
The leader of the movement (not the Party) is reflected in your mirror.
Don’t wait for the next person to do it. It takes 2 million individuals to make a group of 2 million.
OK... charge on.. I think the Bush's all three of them.. are controlled by the same handlers of the Clintons , Obama, Henry Waxman..
OH!.. the republican party most all of them/us have done literally NOTHING about massive voter fraud of democrats for the past twenty years.. possibly longer.. Its a wicked thing when your screwed and won't admit it.. I think its called being.... "Oblivious"..
Doing the same things when those things have been proved to be worthless is "I think" called insanity/CRAZY...
Conservatives are outnumbered and its not getting any better. With 1/2 of white women voting liberal and almost all immigrants and minorities (fasting growing segment) voting liberal, and 40-45% of the tax base not paying taxes, the gig is up until the government collapses or is overthrown.
I don’t mean to be a pessimist. Just stating the facts.
The only hope i see for a successful state working on the ideals stated in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, is a geographic redistribution of people to say Texas or a few adjoined states and declaring independence.
Very similar to the situation in the 1850s, except that the geographic distribution as it exists is more about rural vs urban, than about north vs south.
Please see Rome and the Visigoths.
In 2006, the birth rate was 11.6 for non-Hispanic whites, 16.5 for non-Hispanic blacks, 14.8 for American Indians, 16.5 for Asians and 23.4 for Hispanics.
Unless you begin to change the pervasive political opinions of these fastest growing groups, you can kiss the idea of a conservative government good bye. They have a vested interest in continuing to vote for folks like Obama as long as they keep printing money and handing it out to these groups (which also includes white, single mothers).
I hate to say it, but if the defeatist opinions I see expressed by so many on this thread are indicative of the state of Conservative thought, then I’m not sure I want to be a Conservative any more. Its one thing to hunker down for a few weeks and lick your wounds, its another thing entirely to give up.
Why can’t anyone in the movement see the opportunity presented by the current situation? People loved Jimmy Carter for about a year, then they laughed at him. The American People do not like moonbeam leftist policies when they are actually applied. Even the now-hated-by-all George W. Bush was able to get reelected WITH a 29 seat advantage in the House and a 10 seat advantage in the Senate! The people of this nation have not shifted 180 degrees in 4 years! The Republicans just squandered what they had by acting horribly for the last 4 years. We can change how Republicans act, because we are the ones who elect them.
We CAN make the GOP conform back to our ideals. We CAN get the GOP back in power, and can do so in as little as 2 years. There is nothing in the genetics of any immigrants, be they Hispanic or Asian, that makes them vote Democrat. They will vote and have voted for Republicans when we offer them policies they like and if we have leaders that they trust to carry those policies out. They want to be rich, as do I. They will vote Republican when we articulate policies that are more likely to help them achieve their goals.
Hells Bells, people, they forgave us Watergate! Do you not think they will forgive us W?
Its not defeatist. Its mathematical. There has been such a drastic change in the voting population’s demographic since 1994 that the same rules don’t apply. Unless you change the voting habits of the growing demographics (attract them to conservatism) the conservative cause is doomed. I don’t think the growing demographics, primarily hispanic, have any intention of following in the path our forefathers set with our national charter. Latin America has endured the cycle of socialism, starvation, oppression and brief periods of prosperity throughout modern history. It is a cultural issue, not a racial or ideological one.
Do a little reading on Rome and its neighbors the Visigoths. Rome’s system of values was altered by mass immigration from the Germanic tribes to the north, as well as corruption and over consumption and trying to police the known world. They were off fighting a rising Persian empire in the east, much like the US while the Visigoths and Germanic tribes mass migrated south into modern italy. The similarities are immense. Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it as the old saying goes.
You’re right. We’re doomed. I’m just going to become a full time gardener.
Goodbye forever.
They woke up after that election, and DESTROYED those Republicans in l996!
And they will DESTROY any leader that emerges.
Please...get it thru your heads....the MSM needs to be dismantled before we can win again.
Time for we Americans to have another “tantrum”. Isn’t that what the MSM called it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.