Posted on 12/07/2008 12:46:17 AM PST by rabscuttle385
Chief Justice William Rehnquist liked to take small groups of Supreme Court law clerks to lunch at the Monocle, an old Capitol Hill watering hole near the Senate. He ordered the same meal every time, a hamburger and a beer. Just as predictably, one of the young clerks would ask the chief justice of the United States for career advice.
"Go home," he would say. It was only the mischievous twinkle in Rehnquist's eye that persuaded the listeners not to immediately clean out their desks right after lunch. As the chief justice would explain, the states, not Washington, presented the best opportunities for a career.
Republicans reeling from the 2008 elections should follow Rehnquist's advice. Republicans are in a deep funk, much like the one that gripped them in the wake of the 1992 elections. But fears that the election results represent a fundamental realignment of American politics may be premature.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Realignments take more than a victory at the polls; they occur only after a critical election that represents a sea change in the nation's politics. Only two occurred in the 20th century, the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 and Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Despite comparisons of our economic crisis with the Depression, it would be a mistake for Obama to think of himself with a mandate like FDR's. We still live in the era of Reagan - Obama himself campaigned on a platform of tax cuts and deficit reduction.
Meanwhile, Republicans must rebuild their brand by focusing on the states, where the nation's problems in education, crime and economic growth can best be solved.
Federalism allows states to offer a different mixture of taxes and policies; citizens can vote with their feet. If you prefer high taxes and strong environmental protections, you can move to California; if you like more free markets and lower taxes, you can move to the South.
Republicans can replenish their arsenal of ideas by experimenting with change in the states and transforming the successes into their next national platform. The states, not Congress or inside the Beltway, will prove to be the farm team for the next generation of leaders.
This is stunningly bad advice. We are about to witness the greatest expansion of federal power at least since the new deal even eclipsing the great Society. Can you imagine electing to go to Kansas or Nebraska in 1933 rather than Washington, DC to commence a career?
We conservatives can deplore it, and I certainly do, but let us not further deceive ourselves about the implications of the Obama election.
consiering the fac that the media was in the bag for Obama and that Obama outspent McCain 6 to 1. Yeah I wouldn’t call it a mandate.
Thirty-eight States could stop Washington if they wanted to. They could outvote with Constitutional Amendments the most Democrat twelve States (listed in order of % for Obama/Biden): Hawaii, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, Illinois, California, Connecticut, Maine, Washington.
Or the Senate could be taken back by the 28 most Republican States (listed in order of % for McCain/Palin): Wyoming, Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho, Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Montana, Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado.
Or we could control 2/3 of the Senate by taking back six of the middle ten States (listed in order of % for McCain/Palin): Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, Oregon, New Mexico, New Jersey, Michigan.
Wishful thinking, Yoo.
This guy must have written this before the remakable GOP elections in Louisiana.
Oh, see. I thought it was a mandate for the wholesale abandonment of reason.
Once massive unemployment can’t be hidden by the MSM and the “change” Liberals have brought us is poverty and their power-hungry corruption, the American people will, IMO, turn on them in a heart beat. We must find conservative leaders to channel the anger and loathing right back to the source (Pelosi, Muslim Messiah, Reid, et al.). Not to worry, it will come sooner than they realize. The country is in shock right now, but the realization that we’ve been lied to and screwed over will arrive shortly. When our enemies knock at the door due to lax security, there will be no patience for Liberals passive surrender policies nor the destruction of our military that they will surely begin on January 20th.
PING
Hope you are right.
I think with the left’s support in the media, every negative thing that will happen over the next four years will still be “Bush’s fault”.
If Republicans grow a set of gonads, the anger will be channeled right back to the source; that being the corrupt and morally-bankrupt US Congress and their “God.” The Messiah won’t be curing all and that will become apparent instantly.
Maybe, just maybe it will only take two years, as it did with the Republican’s pact with America. If not, see tagline.
bump
Yes, at the very least everything negative in the first year will be the predecessor Republican's fault BUT in 2001 everything negative in the first year was the then current President's fault and not the predecessor Democrat's fault. Same old double standard.
Sadly I doubt this is right. The people have in large measure been seduced precisely into trading liberty for security, provided by an expanding government, and with each "crisis" that unfolds, it will escalate.
And infrastructure spending will have no effect on the recession, so "crises" will not be in short supply for the next decade or so.
Those who long for the second coming of Reagan are like the two characters in "Waiting for Godot."
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