Posted on 04/25/2006 9:49:30 AM PDT by Reagan Man
I know a little something about adventure.
In the late 1970s, the leader of the Republican minority in the U.S. House of Representatives used to greet newly elected Republican members with a white flag of surrender. "Every day I wake up and look in the mirror and say to myself, 'Today you're going to be a loser,'" said the former minority leader. "And after you're here awhile, you'll start to feel the same way. But don't let it bother you. You'll get used to it."
A party whose leader would offer such advice deserves to be in the minority -- and we were, for 40 years. But in 1994 we changed that with a bold ideas-based, values-led grassroots movement. We believed in transformational leadership: accountability in government, balanced budgets, lower taxes, stronger defense and reforming the welfare state. And we believed this: To bring about this transformation, we had to reject the minority leader's advice. We would not "get used" to losing. We would win. And win we did.
But today, 12 years later, conservatives are grasping for a reinvigorated movement that will return our party to its roots of smaller government, innovative ideas and common sense solutions. The situation is serious. We are in jeopardy of losing the majority we won in 1994. Now is the time to act.
Five Challenges to Our Future
History is full of once great but now collapsed civilizations, e.g. Rome, Greece, the Aztecs, the Mayas. And yet as Americans, we deceive ourselves into believing that somehow we are permanent, that we will escape the fate of those who also believed that they were unconquerable.
My stepfather was a career soldier who served America in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It was while living in France -- where the damage of World War II bombs and the suffering of those wounded were still apparent -- that my father's lessons hit home for me. We toured the battlefield of Verdun, the greatest battle site of the First World War. I realized then that the difference between preserving our freedoms and losing them to tyrants is the quality of our leaders, the courage of our people and the willingness to work every day for the implementation of the solutions necessary for our survival.
The future cannot be left to chance. The future must be won.
Today, in order to win the future, there are five challenges that America must meet:
1. Confronting a world in which America's enemies, including the irreconcilable wing of Islam and rogue dictatorships, could acquire and use nuclear or biological weapons;
2. Defending God in the public square;
3. Protecting America's unique civilization;
4. Competing in the global economy in an era of the economic rise of China and India, which will require transformations in litigation, education, taxation, regulation, and environmental, energy and health policies for America to continue to be the most successful economy in the world;
5. Promoting active, healthy aging so more people can live longer, which will require dramatic transformation in pensions, Social Security and health care.
For 400 years, in the spirit of freedom and entrepreneurial pioneering, we have defined a better America that has overcome every challenge. It is in this tradition that I will regularly share my thoughts here on the solutions necessary for our generation to meet these challenges and win the future.
I can make only one promise: It will be challenging and engaging, and it will never be dull. But then again, adventures never are.
**your coalition has brought us the freaken mess we now have, to hell with them.**
This "Mess" is far better than the alternative...
Or would you commit suicide to prove a point? No thanks..
Bad Repubs trump Dems ANY DAY...
Until you realize that, we are doomed to CONTINUE the current mess. You change NOTHING by losing elections...
And I am talking about well-educated, hard-working and freedom-loving Indians, Ukrainians, Nigerians, Thais, etc, who have always and will always help this country be the greatest in the world.
That is your perception, not mine. Technically, Bush was a "compassionate conservative" from Texas, with a strong northeast influence.
IMO, globalism is akin to "The New World Order". Something Bush41 was famous for and something Bush43 embraces. While Reagan supported a policy of cooperation among the US and other nations, he also had a protectionist streak in him.
However, I don't see Bush`s intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan as globalist policy. That is simply the WOT. Just as I didn't see Reagan's policy in fighting communism and winning the Cold War, a policy of globalism.
You are crazy....The Contract With America wasa HUGE Success!! It drove the Democrats CRAZY!!! THAT"S how I know it was good.
What you describe is what I refer to as, STUPID politics. Bush didn't destroy the Democrats. Far from it. His domestic policy agenda has made him the biggest social welfare spender of all time. Bush has expanded the federal bureaucracy like no POTUS in US history. His support for open borders, illegal immigration and amnesty is a page right out of the liberal-libertarian handbook of chaos and anarchy.
The Demlibs do hate Bush. But they hate being out of power even more. Bush just gives them a good target to attack.
I agree with you. And on top of that, I'm tired of politicians dithering and telling us how difficult solutions are to find.
Solutions are not hard to find. A spine is hard to find in Washington, but if our pols actually had them, solutions to these problems are not difficult. Solutions based on principles and not on accomodation to a million different views.
Illegal immigration, for instance, does not seem like it requires a complicated solution.
1) Crack down on employers, 2) Build a fence, 3) Block illegal residents from receiving public services. None of that is complicated to accomplish. Require a backbone, yes. Complicated, no.
Do all three immediately and simultaneously, and that alone would allow the Republicans to hold both Houses.
Riding the wave of success on the illegal immigration issue, shift taxes away from business and personal productivity and onto consumption.
If we weren't so locked into a two-party system, a new party that championed these issues and held to their promises could take all three branches of government.
I used to be heartened that Bush43 didn't pay attention to polls, because the polls are mostly orchestrated by the left wing. I assumed that meant he would stick to his (and our) principles.
Now, I wonder. He seems to have joined Congress in trying to be 'moderate' as though moderation is a good thing. I like this quote from Ayn Rand:
"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil."
I think Bush has fallen into the trap of the middle. Fallen and can't get up.
Actually there is one way for us to have an incumbent in 2008. All we have to do is agree with the dems that Bush wasn't really elected in 2000 so his presidency wasnt legit. That way, 2004 would actually be his first legit term and he would legally be able to run for another term in 2008.
Winning by doing your opponent's job for him is NOT winning.
until you get a MAJORITY of Conservative in Congress, NOT voting Republican is suicide, and not something I care to help commit.
You change NOTHING from the outside. (Unless you have a HUGE media machine quoting your PR releases as God-Given Facts, like the Dems do.)
Ha! I feel ya bro.
LOL!
So in other words; the pols have us right where they want us; cowering in fear to say or do anything to them vote wise, for fear that the other side will get the upper hand.
That would work until you realize that the sides are becoming one in the same.
We're never going to get our congress critters to grow a spine until we the people get one ourselves, bite the bullet if necessary, and either not show up, or vote for another candidate. BTW: Primaries are a good place to start, you can still vote for your party, but vote the incumbent out. Failing that, vote for a third party, or just don't show up.
If we all did that, our so-called representatives might get the silly idea that they represent US, and depend on US to get them there, and start listening to US.
The situation just plain sucks, but other than outright rebellion, I don't see any other alternatives. If you have one, I'd like to hear it, but spare me the "we have to maintain the status quo or we'll be screwed" line: Because we're already screwed.
Very well said.
Bush's tax reform commision/panel, or whatever they were called, was a JOKE!
Talk about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic....
Yep, the "things could always be worse" argument has worn thin.
Thin? It's downright anorexic!
Dole was just another congressional jelly-belly with no vision for the country. His wife is just about as useless as a Senator IMO.
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