Posted on 11/11/2006 2:42:16 PM PST by Reagan Man
As I write this column, three days after the midterm elections, the Democrats have taken over the House of Representatives and, with the concession of Sen. George Allen (R.-Va.), have captured the Senate as well.
Make no mistake about it—this is Republican loss and not a conservative loss.
Republicans lost because the Bush Administration and the Republican leadership too often cavalierly abandoned the populist conservative message and policies of President Ronald Reagan.
For far too long the American people have come to view the conservative movement and the Republican Party as one and the same. Indeed, they are not.
Conservatives need to re-establish their identity and independence from Republicanism. The Bush Administration has been hijacked by neo-conservatives who believe in “big government conservatism.” The very phase is an oxymoron—designed to give cover for big government intervention in both the domestic and foreign policy arenas.
The neo-conservatives support open borders, expansion of the education bureaucracy and promoting democracy in the Mideast through military intervention.
Republicans paid a heavy price at the ballot box for their failure over the last few years to live up to the ideals and standards which the American people believed they represented when they took the House of Representatives from the Democrats a decade ago and when Bush won the presidency in 2000.
This election turned out to be just what many conservatives had feared—a referendum on the performance of the Bush White House and the Republican Congress, rather than a contest between the two competing party’s visions for America.
Republicans lost touch with almost every element of their base.
Economic conservatives could not understand it when the Bush White House teamed up with Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) on “big government” legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the Medicare prescription drug bill. And they could not understand why “conservative” leaders such as former Rep. Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) carried the water for the President on behalf of this massive expansion of government.
Conservatives were perhaps most dismayed with the administration’s failure to secure our borders and to deal with illegal immigration. And many conservatives such as Bill Buckley, Brent Scowcroft and Pat Buchanan were skeptical early on about the war with Iraq which they viewed as unnecessary and not a part of the War on Terror.
To further complicate matters, Republicans—who were elected by promising the highest standards of integrity—were involved in one scandal after another involving members of Congress, Republicans lobbyists and some members of the Bush Administration.
Exit polls indicated that the American electorate had become more than skeptical regarding the war in Iraq, concerned about the war on terrorism and the scandals in Washington.
One final nail in the coffin of the GOP was the failure “at all levels of government” in responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (One note: In my opinion this emphatically excludes the leadership by Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi in efforts exhibited in rebuilding his state.)
In short—the mid term elections can be summed as crisis of confidence in the GOP controlled Congress and the Bush White House.
Sadly, it seems that the “Party of Reagan” has been hijacked by the neo-cons, the big government crowd and the pragmatists.
The debate for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the conservative movement has begun. Let’s hope we are up to the job.
The question is this: Do we want do the stay the course or do we want to want to return to the “Party of Reagan?”
[***Mr. Rotterman is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation and a GOP consultant.***]
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."
-- Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and one of the founders of the ACLU.
Just a bit of an over exaggeration, don't you think?
Nope.
And your "technique" of political discussion is to dance like mad, use every logical fallacy in the books and throw in frequent, one-liner insult bombs.
You do your arguments a disservice by using the tactics favored by pimply-faced 15 year-old DU'ers out to cause fights at FR. Try debating like a grown-up if you hope to convince others of the validity of your position.
You're still stuck on projection.
Philadelphia, for instance, can't even get a liberal Republican elected mayor let alone a moderate or conservative Republican. It will be years before it sees another Republican mayor.
I get sooooooooooo tired of people mindlessly invoking Reagan and then going on to list some of the very trangressions --- amnesty, increased spending -- that Reagan did. Reagan was a wonderful man but people need to stop making him an unattainable, mythical figure! Reagan, at the height of his popularity, didn't have the make-up we currently have in Congress that is considered a disaster. If people are going to keep pitching a hissy fit until they get the ideal, we're never going to get anywhere.
Great quote. Thanks!
I was one of those Reagan democrats back when he was first elected. I thought then as I do now that he was the greatest president in my lifetime. Having said that, I also believe GW Bush will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents. If the Iraq situation settles to where we have a functioning democracy and an ally in the region, history will be very good to Bush.
Yep, like trying to get a Republican elected mayor of Ithica... I shudder every time I have to drive past there LOL
Most welcome :-)
*sigh* The going has really been slow.
Reagan is no mythical figure or a god. Reagan is the modern day standard that all other Presidents will be compared to. Reagan was an historic figure of enormous proportions. Someone who comes along maybe once every 100-150 years. Reagan was famous, heroic and legandary. Reagan was a great American, a great President and a great conservative. The author of this fine article does an excellent job of expressing what the challenges are for the conservatives and the GOP between now and the next election. Bush has set conservatism back 20-25 years, and the election results from Tuesday prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Enough of this status quo-centrist garbage. Conservatism works every time its tried. If the GOP wants to win in 2008, its got to return to its conservative roots as advanced by Pres Reagan and Speaker Gingrich.
"Bush has set conservatism back 20-25 years, and the election results from Tuesday prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt." I repeat, Bush at his WORST gave us better numbers in Congress than Reagan at his best. That doesn't mean he wasn't a great man. It means that he was a human being working within realistic parameters. You go on and on with all these platitudes about Reagan, but you completely dodge the fact that he was behind some very less-than-conservative things: amnesty for illegals, raising taxes on Social Security, increasing the deficit, etc. Reagan was a pragmatist, just like most effective politicians. Reagan is not a myth -- your characterization of him is!
Newt is the one The Lord keeps putting in my spirit for the future. So I'm goin' wait and see if he's not the one who'll be the republican nominee for President. Should be interesting.
>>>>I repeat, Bush at his WORST gave us better numbers in Congress than Reagan at his best.
Without Reagan getting the ball rolling in the 1980`s, there would have been NO Republican Revolution of 1994. It was Newt Gingrich who brought a GOP majority to the Congress, and it was George W. Bush who lost that majority by not governing as a conservative. Newt led the GOP to an historic vicory in 1994 by building on the Reagan record of advancing CONSERVATISM. Not through some status quo nonsense to advance more LIBERALISM. The Contract With America was a success. The Reagan Revolution was a success. The Bush agenda has failed.
Dubya handed the Democrats control of the Congress, and without a return to a more conservative policy agenda, the GOP has no chance of retaking the Congress anytime soon. And the 2008 race for the WH looks like a lock for the Democrats at this point.
>>>> .... you completely dodge the fact ....
LOL I dodged nothing. You're attempting to make Bush43 look better after an historic political defeat, by taking pot shots at the Reagan legacy. Fine. The truth of the matter is crystal clear. Bush is no Reagan. Period. Never was and never will be. Reagan was a conservative. Bush is a moderate. The record speaks for itself.
I really hate these threads where your sole purpose is to embarrass Reagan. As a fifth columnist you should be extremely proud of yourself, Reagan Embarrassment.
There you go again, making a fool yourself in public. I've never embarrassed Reagan. Not once. You make these posts because you actually hate what Reagan stood for. I speak the truth. You are the biggest embarrassment in the history of Free Republic and like GW Bush, one of the biggest losers of all time.
That's my annual post to you. Enjoy it.
Everytime you post!
You sure are taking McClintock's loss hard. You probably realize that his loss affirms what many said about him not being able to win the governorship in 2003. This time he didn't even have the Stoos stone around his neck.
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