Posted on 10/18/2008 9:59:11 AM PDT by Publius804
Republican Party Killed Reagan Era
Friday, October 17, 2008 9:49 AM
By: Michael Reagan
If you believe Newsweek magazine — something that usually requires a serious suspension of disbelief — the Reagan era is dead. Politico also chimed in, proclaiming the death of the Reagan revolution.
Newsweek doesn’t go on to tell you who killed the Reagan era, so I will. It was the Republican Party that demolished the shining city on the hill my father built. It was the Republican Party that was 100 percent responsible for the end of the Reagan revolution.
They forgot who he was; and having forgotten who he was, they stopped following in his footsteps that should have led to smaller, less-intrusive government and restrained government spending. They are the ones who began to undermine the sturdy foundation my father built.
By the way, the same thing happened to Maggie Thatcher in Britain. Her own party was responsible for undermining all the great advances she made towards dismantling the socialist welfare state that had made England an economic basket-case. It happened because once she was out of power her party weakened.
Maggie was strong, and Ronald Reagan was strong, but when they no longer were in power and at their prime, their followers turned into weak-kneed office seekers.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
We'll keep praying this is true. I think McCain still has a chance and that his gift is stopping whoever it is behind Obama while bringing Palin to the forefront. With the internet we can't assume mainstream media has the influence they had even in the last election.
One thing I can assure anyone who is not voting for McCain is that the first big change will be what the regime has in store for talk radio. At least vote to keep talk radio free even if McCain is not your choice.
DAMN RIGHT ! I f’ing hate this red/blue state media newsspeak bullcrap. Red states are DEMOCRAT not Republican.
No...I don’t think Ron Paul or Bob Barr are it. I think who takes the lead are people like you and me...The American citizens outside the elite belt-zone of D.C. and New York...outside the huge inner cities where averageness is considered outstanding and low life is considered average or normal...sits a country so dumbfounded by everything about Washington D.C. and this new attitude. The Neo-libs aren’t your typical Democrats. These are dangerous people. The old time Dems like Lieberman are Republican now....so you know the Republican party has evolved to the left of center as well.
Who leads this is the faceless majority of Americans who demand change that reflects their beliefs and values....and who you get are local officials who hear the disenchanted voter and see an occasion ripe with opportunity to lead...it will be the local officials and state representatives who will be called on. The last thing a decent third party needs is a bunch of washed up old faces who have lost touch with what Americans value. We need the new faces of America who still have the value of what makes America the greatest country in the world. The Chamber of Commerce members who start new business...
Or you simply hope the Republican party simply takes a sharp hard turn to the right and demand a Non-Presidential election year platform on which the party will PUBLICLY distribute exactly what it stands for and believes in...a basic tenet of it’s ideology and role of government...role of citizen...role of business....and insist to the public that each member will represent them if elected according to the stated tenet of it’s beliefs.
The average Joe on the street don’t know what a “conservative” is ...all they know is the NBC/ABC/CBS Evening News all think it’s a very bad thing...so it’s the new liberalism as far as thought perception is concerned. That has to be changed. The media needs taken on...and it gets taken on by US...through our elected officials...
How do we take on the media? By having a major campaign against the media. By demanding in large numbers that stations that carry the MSM news products lose their FCC licenses...We have to get more active...more vocal...and demand that our party represent us or we form our own party of Reaganism....
Read Ed Rollins’ book “Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms: My life in American Politics”. Reagan was responsible for Rollins’ conversion from Dem to Republican. Rollins was Reagan’s campaign manager in 1984.
ANYWAY, Rollins states in his book that the Reagan revolution was doomed when Reagan chose George Bush as his vice president (or words to that effect).
That’s one of the major problems for the decline and fall of the USA: Republican primary voters too lazy to study up on candidates and participate in the primary elections. These voters also are bad about splitting their strength among three or more candidates and allowing the media-popular RINO to get the nomination.
Even the color scheme has been turned around, and not for the better.
If the shoe doesn't fit don't wear it.
Find a leader who believes in these simple credoes and you will see Reaganism revive over night.
Yes, but America has changed, especially considering those folks who were born after 1981. Reagan would NOT win today, and saying otherwise is as ridiculous as a Dem in the early 1980s calling for the return of FDR and the New Deal. Sad to say, but "Reaganism" is dead. :(
Everything liberalism is not.
I disagree with you. Reagan knew how to transcend politics and appeal to all Americans. Reagan would be a winner today, just as he was in the 1980`s. Reaganism is all about advancing the agenda of the conservative movement. Which is based in conserving the Constitution and the original intent of the Founding Fathers. That may sound old fashion to some folks. I still find it refreshing. Reaganism is alive for conservatives. Whether the Reagan Era is over or not, is something we may find out in the next 4-8 years.
One thing is true. If Obama gets elected, he will call his win a mandate and push for:
~higher income taxes
~increased government spending
~expanded social engineering
~more government intervention
~income redistribution
~protectionist trade policies
~higher corporate taxes
~environwacko energy policy
~eliminating all limits on abortion
~cut and run foreign policy
There is nothing pro-American about that agenda. I think in time most Americans would reject it and along with it, President Obama.
Did you know that Laura Bush was a young enthusiastic booster of George S. McGovern?
It has been 28 years since Reagan was first elected. In 1980, 28 years back was Eisenhower’s first victory. It’s hard to believe today that Oprah’s Obama is as far removed from Reagan by time as Reagan was from Eisenhower.
PING!
Why not just call it the “Conservative Party”?
Of course the Republicans themselves killed it.
I'll never forget many on this board and elsewhere calling good conservatives stupid, "unappeasable" idiots for refusing to compromise their conservative principles.
People were running around in '04 telling people not to bring up our bleeding borders, and there would be plenty of time to deal with those issues after the election...We were told we must win first, then deal with all those "other" issues.
Bahh!
If Huckabee gets any sort of authority over the Republican party... I *WILL* leave.
And then work against that theocratic socialist.
I suppose to get credibility in the liberal media, one requirement is going on record claiming the reagan era is over.
The problem lies in supporting the liberal narrative — why aid and abet the liberals’ plans for a tsunami of American Communism?
The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "shining city upon a hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.
I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.
And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that; after 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.
We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for eight years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.
And so, good-bye, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
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.