Rhode Island's Lessons For Real Republicans (If GOP Stands For Nothing, It Deserves To Lose Alert)

Worldnetdaily.com ^ | 09/14/06 | Jane Chastain

[goldstategop]

How did our country stray so far from the founding principles of limited government, states' rights, self-reliance and moral integrity?

Most Americans blame it on Congress.

Americans have little faith in members of Congress, but we keep re-electing our own congressman and senators, often with little or no serious thought on the matter.

In 1994, after 40 years in the political wilderness, Republicans assumed control of Congress with the promise that they would get back to those founding principles. A few tried. Fewer are still trying, but we are torpedoing their efforts.

Even if we are alert enough to know that one or more of our elected representatives ought to be ousted and we vote accordingly, we often support efforts to keep the status quo.

How many card-carrying Republicans would purposely write out a check to elect someone who supports higher taxes, multi-million dollar pork barrel projects like the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska, price controls, subsidies, abortion on demand, amnesty for illegal aliens, the death tax, gay rights and onerous environmental regulations that rob property owners of the right to use their land?

When you dutifully write out checks to the Republican Party, the Republican Congressional Committee or the Republican Senatorial Committee, and the political action committees of leadership, you are– more often than not – doing just that. These entities are committed to this one thing: keeping anyone elected to office with an "R" next to his or her name in that office.

If Satan himself managed to get elected to office as a Republican, the Republican Party would fight to keep him there.

Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island is a case in point. (Any resemblance to the fictional candidate mentioned above is purely coincidental.) The Republican Senatorial Committee spent $1.2 million dollars to keep this man from being dumped in the party primary by Stephen Laffey, despite the fact that Chafee stands against virtually everything the party is pledged to support. The RSC even ran ugly attack adds against Laffey – a dedicated conservative – because he dared to enter the race.

It is next to impossible to unseat an incumbent in a primary, largely because the party is committed to keeping those incumbents in office.

Laffey's near miss shows just how fed up Republican voters in Rhode Island are with their party. Forty-six percent turned a deaf ear to party leaders who told them – in so many words – that a "real" Republican can't be elected in Rhode Island. They simply refused to support a phony one.

Laffey was elected and re-elected mayor of Cranston because he made the case for the principles Republicans are supposed to believe in. No wonder less than 15 percent of voters in Rhode Island are registered Republicans. They've never heard these principles clearly articulated in their state.

"Oh yes, please raise my taxes again. Yes, yes, please tax away my inheritance. Oh, please steal my property rights so you can protect the insects in that mud puddle in my backyard!" Can't you just hear all those voters in Rhode Island clamoring for bigger government?

This lesson from the Rhode Island primary must not be lost on conservative voters. Better to throw your money down a rat hole than to give it to the RNC, the RSC or the RCC, or one of the leadership PACs.

Most people don't have a lot of money to donate in an election, so they want to make sure they get the most bang for their bucks. That's why they simply write out a check to the party, sit back and wait and wait and wait for things to get better.

If you don't know which candidates to support, then support Political Action Committees you can trust. Club for Growth is the PAC largely responsible for Laffey's near miss. It is dedicated to electing economic conservatives. It's tripled in size in just two years and has pulled off a number of impressive wins in primary elections this year. Club for Growth and the National Taxpayers Union Campaign Fund helped unseat free spender Joe Schwartz in Michigan's 7th Congressional District.

Yes, Republicans are running scared – scared of losing their majority, but a majority of what? As the old saying goes, "If you don't stand for something, you fall for anything."

What is the worse thing that could happen if Republicans lose the Senate seat in Rhode Island? It would be held by a real Democrat.

What is the worse thing that could happen if Republicans lose control of the Senate and/or the House? They just might go back to fighting for the things they have pledged to support

[goldstategop]

I won't be shocked if the GOP loses control of Congress in November. A party that stands for nothing deserves to lose. That's true of a party that supports a LIBERAL just to remain in power. Whatever happened to the party that once stood for limited government, federalism, individual rights and right and wrong? It became like the Democrats, worshipping government as its own end. If RINOs lost, what would happen? They would be replaced by real Democrats. At the end of the day, the GOP has to decide if it is a conservative party or a liberal party. It cannot straddle the fence in the name of protecting incumbency. Power won't get the GOP far if it repudiates everything for which it stood to keep it.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[S.S. Monkeyface]

Better be careful. The automatic, yellow-dog Republicans around here will try to get you for this.

[msnimje]

People seem to forget that Texans are not the ones who chose the Senators in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island is a liberal state and as much as conservatives do not like it, Lincoln Chafee is the most conservative person Rhode Island is willing to send to the Senate at this point in time.

Chafee voted with President Bush 70% of the time. How often do you think Whitehouse will vote with him or the Republicans in the Senate?

I really dislike Chafee and wish things were different in Rhode Island but not enough to let the Dems have control of the Congress.

[goldstategop]

This site promotes independent conservatism. There are conservatives in the GOP and they deserve our votes and our checks. And then there are Republicans for whom the party label is purely a matter of political convenience and when the chips are down, vote with the Democrats. Conservatives should want to support real Republicans. If we need to support phony Republicans as part of supping with the devil, we deserve what we get. Chaffee votes as a Democrat. So why return him to office?

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[traviskicks]

The solution, I think, is relatively simple. Just give $$$ to the Club For Growth from now on, as they are the only ones that fund true economic conservatives, who actually want to shrink government.

[goldstategop]

46% of R.I Republicans felt supporting a LIBERAL was not good enough for the party. If we're afraid to articulate our principles in Blue States and stand up for them, we won't get respect. People in those liberal strongholds will continue to vote for the real liberals, the Democrats. And they would be right since a RINO GOP is no improvement on the status quo.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[tkathy]

Politics is about winning elections, not pouting and trying to get democrats elected if someone doesn't toe a rigid ideologue line.

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

If we were not in a life and death struggle with Islamofacist, I could handle the Dems controlling at least one house, to keep the Pubs on their toes. But too much is at stake for our soldiers to allow them to disgrace our military, and all they have worked to achieve in the Middle East. So I will hold my nose, and toe the party line a little while longer, even though we will never know if a conservative could win in R.I., because he never got a chance.

[goldstategop]

I agree. Support and contribute to candidates who back our values and will actually change Washington instead of growing government and adding new programs year after year. Its one thing if the Democrats tax and spend - that's their philosophy. Its another thing if Republicans do it. It means they agree the Democrats are right but they want to get us there more slowly. Thanks but no thanks.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[umgud]

I will vote for a bad republican before I'd vote for a good dem. The reason is simple. Even a good dem adds to their drive to gain the majority. I'd hold my nose and vote for Chafee to retain the senate. Remember that the majority party sets the rules.

[goldstategop]

Of course it is! But you can win on principle. Ronald Reagan didn't compromise on his beliefs to win votes. That's a lesson the GOP needs to take to heart. Conservatism wins wherever its tried. The sad part is we own the arena of ideas. Democrats are reduced to name calling and personal attacks. The way best way to win a mandate is to return to the principles that led the country to vote for the GOP in the first place. Its not only good policy, its good politics as well.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[goldstategop]

And if we never give a real conservative a chance, how are we going to change things in Blue States? By becoming who the Democrats are? That's giving people NO reason to vote for us. Again, why vote for a phony liberal when you have a real one?

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[america-rules]

This is real special.

A bunch of people from other states telling people in RI how to vote.

[msnimje]

Meanwhile, in the real world, this is how things are now.

If you want to change it you have to go to Rhode Island, find a Ronald Reagan clone, support him for several years and get him elected to the Senate.

[goldstategop]

And if Chaffee keeps voting with the Democrats, how does that advance the conservative agenda? He's not a moderate - he's a LIBERAL! You people would be the first to vote to throw him out if he was a Democrat. But he has the "R" label beside his name, so he can be a collectivist and you would hold your nose and convince yourself dealing with the devil is needed to keep our majority. Fine, but how high a price would you pay to retain power? Make Chaffee happy by jettisoning tax cuts, stop naming conservative judges and pull out of Iraq? It seems to me there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[onyx]

You don't vote, so why do you care?

[msnimje]

46% of R.I Republicans felt supporting a LIBERAL was not good enough for the party.

In the primary? Election day voters are not the same breed as people who vote in primaries, especially mid-term primaries.

[goldstategop]

That's what the Club For Growth tried to do. The party convinced itself a "real" Republican can't win in a liberal state so it wouldn't even try to back him to the hilt with dollars and support. We may have to put up with Chaffee for a couple of more years but becoming like the Democrats won't keep the GOP in office for decades.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[msnimje]

The party convinced itself a "real" Republican can't win in a liberal state so it wouldn't even try to back him to the hilt with dollars and support.

Actually, the voters of Rhode Island CONVINCED the Republican Party of this fact, not the other way around.

[goldstategop]

That's true but its a voice the party should begin to listen to. Right now the GOP is adrift because the conservative movement lacks a clear leader.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )