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MEMO TO CONSERVATIVES: THE FIGHT IS JUST BEGINNING
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| Feb 25 2008
| Richard A. Viguerie
Posted on 02/25/2008 5:34:34 PM PST by ovrtaxt
Feb 25 2008 MEMO TO CONSERVATIVES: THE FIGHT IS JUST BEGINNING
by Richard A. Viguerie
The time has come for conservatives to move on, to shift priorities, and to work to elect conservatives at all levels now and in the years to come.
For too long, conservatives have done most of the work necessary to elect Republican candidates, but, once elected, most of those Republicans have ignored conservatives’ concerns or have opposed conservatives outright.
These Republicans have taunted us: “What are you going to do? Vote for the liberal Democrats? Calm down and grow up, and keep supporting us even while we trash you and people like you and much of what you believe in.”
However, there is a third course – neither blind loyalty to an arrogant, out-of-touch Republican Establishment nor acquiescence in the election of liberal Democrats. We can shift our priorities to electing principled conservatives, and let GOP anti-conservatives fend for themselves.
We can stop – stop! – providing any support to organizations and candidates that do not follow conservative principles. For example, no conservative should give a penny to the various Republican campaign committees at the national level. Let them rely on the country club Big Business wing of the party, whose interests they represent and whose candidates they give most of their support. (Don’t worry; they won’t starve.)
Conservatives’ resources are finite. We must stop supporting the Republican Establishment, and, instead, support the principled conservatives who need and deserve our help.
This is a long-term strategy, rooted in this reality: It is from the ranks of the lower public and party officials that most future conservative leaders will come – perhaps, someday, another conservative president in the philosophical image of Ronald Reagan.
Last week, a mainstream conservative, State Senator Andy Harris, unseated U.S. Representative Wayne Gilchrist of Maryland in the Republican primary. (Gilchrist was elected in 1992 as a mainstream candidate but had moved toward the radical left.) It wasn’t the first time Harris challenged an incumbent liberal Republican; that’s how he won his state Senate seat in the first place.
Across this country, there are outstanding conservatives like Andy Harris who are running for Congress or state senate or some other office. For example, Woody Jenkins, who narrowly lost a U.S. Senate race in 1994, is running for Congress in the March 8 special election in Louisiana.
Unfortunately, in the presidential campaign, the GOP has once again rejected the strategy that won 44 states in 1980 and 49 states in 1984: the strategy of uniting social, economic, and national-security conservatives behind a conservative presidential candidate. But that doesn’t mean that conservatives should or will sit on their hands. It just means that, in 2008, they will shift their work and their resources to conservative candidates up and down the line. And, in November, conservatives and Establishment Republicans, and pro- and anti-McCain Republicans, can come together to elect those conservatives who are running on the Republican ticket.
It is in the races and political futures of Andy Harris and Woody Jenkins and leaders like them that conservatives should invest their time and effort and money, this year and for the foreseeable future.
For conservatives to finally come to power – with conservatives in the White House and in the majority in Congress and in state legislatures and in other offices – will take a long time. Right now, we have a thin bench. We don’t have the county committee members who can run for county chairman, the county chairmen who can run for state chairman; we don’t have the city council members who can run for state representative and then state senate, the state senators who can run for Congress or for governor, the governors or senators who can run for president.
It will take six to eight years to rebuild the conservative movement, and at least that long for conservatives to hold both the White House and the leadership positions in Congress and at other levels. It is not a journey that will be completed overnight, but it is a journey we must begin today.
If you are a conservative, don’t just complain. Do something.
- First, don’t assume that your representatives at various levels in party positions and public office are conservatives because they say they are, or because they use conservative rhetoric. Plenty of politicians who know how to sound conservative. There are many “sort of” conservatives who, in their hearts, believe in the conservative philosophy, but are just not willing to rock the boat. It might make them look bad; it wouldn’t be prudent. The kind of conservative leader we must raise up is someone whose record demonstrates a willingness to take on the party Establishment and make every honorable effort to beat them.
- Become a delegate to your party’s county convention, state convention, or national convention, and encourage like-minded people to do the same, including family members and friends, neighbors and co-workers, and fellow members of religious or civic groups. If you can’t be a delegate – if, say, the filing deadline has passed – attend anyway if you can, or learn how the process works so you can be a delegate the next time.
- Consider running for party office or public office. Don’t fail to run just because there’s an incumbent in place, or because some other person is already running. Even if you don’t win this year, you can pave the way for future victories. Who knew, when an obscure history professor named Newt Gingrich lost races for Congress in 1974 and 1976, that he would one day be the first conservative Speaker of the House?
- If you do not run yourself, recruit someone else to run, or find someone already running whom you can help. Contribute financially, help raise money, and otherwise get involved as a volunteer.
- Begin to build an organization – something that can be as simple as a mailing list or a telephone list of people in your area who agree with you on conservative issues. Get some political experience, and help other conservatives get experience; the greatest advantage that the Establishment has is that its members know little things like when meetings are going to be held and what opportunities for political advancement are available. (Sometimes a small effort can have a major impact. I know of one city where most Republicans are conservatives, but the Establishment makes sure that only a few people – their kind of people – know when the meetings are held to pick the candidates. A few hundred phone calls or e-mails by conservatives before each such meeting would be enough to fix that problem.)
Yes, conservatives will not have the White House for the next four years. But any one election – even a presidential election – is just one battle in a long, long war. Conservatives must follow the advice of Winston Churchill: Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.
TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; anyonebutmccain; cindymccain; conservativevote; johnmccain; mccain; mccainsucks; mccaintruthfile; mccrazy; mcfraud; mcinsane; mcmexico; mcnasty; mcpain; mctraitor; mctreason; mcvain; nomccain; rino; viguerie
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To: WOSG
I do not fail to understand that the delegate process already *is* weighted as you suggest it is. I am aware that there is some more weight to states that have more GOP congressmen and some other rules along those lines. It is not weighted enough....and....what does it matter how many delegates Texas has if the nominee has been chosen by the time they get to vote?
I do not fail to understand that there are Republicans in every state and so it is absurd to cut out certain states completely.
Don't argue against things I did not say. I didn't say that we cut out Republicans in Blue states "completely". What I have argued for a long time is that states lose power in the party based on how they did the last time, and continue to slide for every election they have not elected a Republican, down to a minimum level, maybe 50 percent. You have to still fundraise and you want to build a party that can win in any state, but you have to care the most about your best customers. It's just basic business principles. My vote as a California Republican should mean diddly, because my state has less than diddly chance of giving that candidate any electoral votes.
I do not fail to understand that we won most states in 1988 and almost every state in 1984, so the give almost no weight to the preferences of states where you have almost no chance of winning electoral votes is a subjective and self-defeating concept.
Proving my point about the need for conservative candidates. Reagan won the country by first winning the nomination, and he could not win the nomination today. Not the way it is structured, not with current campaign finance rules, and not with the MSM even more in the tank for the Dems and choosing our candidate for us. The media has learned lessons from recent history, too, and they are getting better at manipulating than they used to be. They have it almost down to a science, with constant push-polls, highlighting certain issues and candidates, and ignoring others, using fear of PC to keep people in line.
I do not fail to understand that McCain won in South Carolina.
I wonder what would have happened if SC went first? What do you think? I also understand that McCain still only got something like 34 percent in SC. Big whoop. He should be our candidate because he got 34 percent in a state where Dems can vote in the GOP primary?
McCain won in conservative South Carolina and he won in Florida. He won because unlike in 2000 when a single candidate became the conservative choice, we were split with Huck and Romney, and McCain won by narrow margins.
Huck and Romney were by no means conservative. In a race such as this, to have a winner take all system when you have 6 people splitting votes and the winner getting 30+ percent is idiotic.
So be it. This was not a decision by elites, nor was it dictated by the state ordering, but a consequence of multiple campaigns running in a GOP primary and the choices of over 10 million voters getting reflected in the nominee.
The choice of how many of those 10million voters was McCain? 30 percent? Of those 30, how many were Republican? Of those, how many were in red states and how many were in states that have no chance of giving electors to a Republican?
This is the process that the party set up. They couldn't have known going in whether the winner would be Rudy or Mitt or McCain, but they knew that whoever came out of Iowa, NH, MI and Cal, NY etc, all the early states would be a liberal to their liking. And that's what happened. It's not an overt conspiracy, it's a conspiracy of inaction. They have a system that as it has evolved shuts out conservatives, and they like it that way. The only way to get out of that rut is to either change the rules substantially for next time (not going to happen) or find another way to get a conservative choice to the American voters.
Good points, though, well argued. We just differ.
121
posted on
02/28/2008 8:31:50 PM PST
by
Defiant
(The new GOP: A slightly slower road to socialist authoritarianism. Hoorah!)
To: billva
However you might find that purging everyone you think is a Rino would leave you with a minority that couldn't elect anyone.Too late, the GOP is already there. I'd rather have a strong minority of conservatives that build on those principles than a bunch of "winners" that agree with the left but think pairing it back by 25% is a victory.
Instead of defeating our rivals they want to give up and agree with their premise. Example: here in Tennessee the governor and the Dems (along with RINO's) wanted to raise the cigarette tax by 40 cents a pack. My so-called conservative state representative in the most conservative county in TN (and practically in the US outside of Utah) wrote to me saying he wanted my help to "cut the governors request to only 20 cents a pack".
He didn't fight to say "Hell no", he admitted defeat an wanted me to "fight" to just get screwed less.
I don't play that game.
122
posted on
02/28/2008 9:13:27 PM PST
by
Fledermaus
(Nothing in the Universe can convince me to vote for Juan McLame!)
To: meandog
You put the cart before the horse...social conservatism isn’t dead BECAUSE those thing exist. Those thing exist because too many gave up the social conservative fight because they think it was too hard and, frankly, they were too lazy.
I’m only 48 years old and this crap wouldn’t have been tolerated when I was age ten living in southern California.
Too many have given up.
123
posted on
02/28/2008 9:17:40 PM PST
by
Fledermaus
(Nothing in the Universe can convince me to vote for Juan McLame!)
To: Fledermaus
You put the cart before the horse...social conservatism isnt dead BECAUSE those thing exist. Those thing exist because too many gave up the social conservative fight because they think it was too hard and, frankly, they were too lazy. Im only 48 years old and this crap wouldnt have been tolerated when I was age ten living in southern California. Too many have given up. I'm actually saying that the culture climate has changed. Just as we no longer practice Victorian age social mores and decorum, there are certain evident facts that conservatives must unfortunately come to grips with:
o Virginity is no longer evident among the majority of freshmen entering college.
o Almost 6 percent of the American population is currently either behind bars, on parole or free having been convicted of felonies.
o Unlike the 1950s, most women no longer stay home and raise children--most household are two-earner incomes.
o Divorces are about 47 percent of every marriage and there is a large percentage of couples (somewhere in the 40 percentile range) living together out of wedlock.
o Gang affiliation is at an all time high in schools...
Face it my FRiend, the social fabric of America has changed!
124
posted on
02/29/2008 6:08:32 AM PST
by
meandog
(Please pray for future President McCain--day minus 325 and counting! Stay home and get Baraked!)
To: ovrtaxt
the strategy that won 44 states in 1980 and 49 states in 1984: the strategy of uniting social, economic, and national-security conservatives behind a conservative presidential candidate. This gets repeated so often around here that it needs a comment.
Ronald Reagan did that magic because he attracted a lot MORE voters than those who made up the three-legged conservative stool.
Many of those landslide makers (not all) are known as "Reagan Democrats".
The modern conservative movement as presently led REPELS "Reagan Democrats" (the ones who haven't died of old age).
Unless you can figure out how to attract replacements for the fourth leg of the Reagan coalition, a nationwide landslide is an impossibility.
Here's a clue: Chanting "Nyah, nyah, his middle name is Hussein" is not going to git 'er done.
125
posted on
02/29/2008 6:22:27 AM PST
by
Jim Noble
(I've got a home in Glory Land that outshines the sun)
To: Jim Noble
Exactly. Reagan actually gave people something to vote FOR.
126
posted on
02/29/2008 10:23:19 AM PST
by
ovrtaxt
(Member of the irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.)
To: ovrtaxt
"They cant win without us."
But Mighty Mouth Obama can with your help.
127
posted on
02/29/2008 10:28:43 AM PST
by
verity
("Lord, what fools these mortals be!")
To: verity
He won’t get my help. I don’t vote for liberals.
128
posted on
02/29/2008 10:30:25 AM PST
by
ovrtaxt
(Member of the irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.)
To: verity
129
posted on
02/29/2008 10:37:42 AM PST
by
PSYCHO-FREEP
(Juan McCain....Viva El Presidente! "I'm not prejudice, I hate everybody the same.")
To: ovrtaxt
Memo to Conservatives: We’re screwed, blued, and tattooed.
Face it - almost half the people in the US don’t pay taxes - and their votes count just as much as yours. Most of these people are going to vote for more goodies from the government - stuff for which they don’t have to pay. Candidates who want to win have to bid for their votes, whether they like it or not...
We’re being invaded, but ALL of the current candidates support illegal immigration, and giving these invaders a path to citizenship. Their votes will count as much as yours, assuming, of course, they aren’t already voting fraudulently.
Add to this various UN treaties that, if ratified, will outlaw gun ownership and free speech and will seize more of taxpayers wealth to redistribute to third-world kleptocrats. Remember, if ratified, these treaties supersede Federal Law and the Constitution.
Sometimes, I wonder if this is how a Roman felt in 470 AD...
130
posted on
02/29/2008 10:44:37 AM PST
by
Little Ray
(The Presidential Field: A Commie, a Criminal, and A Nutball. Its important: Vote for the Nutball.)
To: PSYCHO-FREEP
You characters are going to elect Obama by default.
131
posted on
02/29/2008 10:48:17 AM PST
by
verity
("Lord, what fools these mortals be!")
To: verity
Look. I intend to vote for a conservative. If there’s one on the ballot, I will gladly do it.
Like I said- I don’t vote for liberals, and I’m not going to start just because one of them happens to be Republican.
132
posted on
02/29/2008 5:47:10 PM PST
by
ovrtaxt
(Member of the irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.)
To: CPT Clay
CORRECTION:
Got to win legislatures in **2008**!!
133
posted on
02/29/2008 9:55:42 PM PST
by
WOSG
(William F Buckley: A great conservative, may he rest in peace.)
To: meandog
You are listing the results of giving up.
134
posted on
03/04/2008 8:34:46 PM PST
by
Fledermaus
(Nothing in the Universe can convince me to vote for Juan McLame!)
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