Posted on 05/11/2009 7:49:21 AM PDT by Reagan Man
The Republican Party is in the political wilderness. Out of power after eight years of George Bush, its minorities in Congress and state governors are hammered daily by the media, heirs to every mistake -- real or imagined - that Bush made.
The bubble of Japan’s economic “miracle” came to a crashing halt in the early 1990s. Floundering politicians left the Japanese economy flat on its back for what became known as Japan’s “lost decade.”
The GOP needs to face the fact that it may be in the wilderness for a very long time. Unless it can shake the Bush Brand and regain the trust and confidence of voters, it may be in the first year of its own lost decade.
But is the party really lost?
No, at least not yet.
The man who charted the path that was known as the “Wilderness Road,” Daniel Boone, once said “I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks.”
The Republican Party has been confused for years, not just a few weeks.
The confusion emanated from George Bush’s brand of Republicanism, the oxymoronic “big-government conservatism.” Principles such as fiscal restraint were sacrificed for political expediency. The war was fought indecisively, committing us to the self-imposed quagmire of nation-building in Iraq. Competence -- a Republican byword – was replaced by cronyism.
Bush rebranded the Republican Party so deeply, Americans lost trust and confidence in its leaders. Which is why President Obama, Congressional Democrats and the mainstream media are working so hard to convince voters that the Republicans are still the Bush Party.
Democrats won’t let go of the so-called “torture memos” and the possibility that Bush administration officials might be prosecuted for authorizing the alleged abuse of terrorist detainees. Every time President Obama talks about the economy, it’s in terms of the crisis he inherited. While Obama spends us into an inflationary oblivion he speaks of past wasteful spending. As he nationalizes more and more of our economy, he excuses it by saying that it began with the Bush bank bailout. Which, alas, it did.
To revive the Republican Party it will have to shake off the Bush Brand. And its members need to do more than speak, they need to act.
That is enormously difficult for a party out of power. But it’s not impossible.
The answer is not to emulate British conservatives. Under David Cameron, the Tories have become, in too many ways, more liberal than the liberals. Cameron’s party is succeeding not because they’ve become more “moderate”: they’re succeeding because under Tony Blair and now Gordon Brown, the Labor Party has done to its brand what George W. Bush did to the Republicans’. If Brown were any less popular, his government any less competent or more corrupt, members of his own party would probably lynch him.
Top Republican congressional leaders are swamped by the tsunami of legislation and appointments by which Obama is transforming our nation into a European-style welfare state. They have little time to do more than deal with daily crises. But some are trying, and others are planning to climb onto the national stage with initiatives of their own.
Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va) has created a “National Council for a New America” – formally a congressional caucus -- which had its first public meeting recently in Arlington, Virginia recently. Cantor’s team is comprised of congressional leaders and a few outsiders, such as Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, to listen to voters’ concerns. His objective is not to rebrand the Party, but to get the public more engaged in opposing what the Democrats are doing.
Conservatives remain skeptical because the group is burdened by some pols, such as John McCain, who aren’t part of the solution: they’re part of the problem. As laudable as Cantor’s effort may be, his idea doesn’t yet include divorcing Republicans from Bush’s mistakes.
Republicans can’t -- in the short time between now and 2010 -- shake off the Bush brand entirely, but they can distance themselves from it. To do so, they have to defend what Bush did right and criticize openly what he did wrong.
Choosing nation-building in Iraq was a mistake on an historic scale. Incarcerating terrorist detainees – and using ‘enhanced interrogation techniques” in questioning them – was right. Spending recklessly and commencing nationalization of the financial and automobile industries were wrong. When he nominated Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court, Bush was at his worst. When he nominated Samuel Alito and John Roberts, he was at his best.
The opportunities are coming in rapid-fire succession. President Obama will nominate a hyper-liberal to the Supreme Court. Conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) is now the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He will have to take the fight against the Obama nominee to the nation if there is going to be any chance of preventing confirmation. There will be time -- probably months -- between the nomination and the final confirmation vote. Sessions can, and should, take the issue on the road all summer, convening town hall events to make Americans aware of the nominee’s background and the dangers he (or, more likely she) poses.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga) plans to take the conservative message around the country in meetings just like the ones Sessions should do. The two could easily combine their efforts, enhancing the likelihood both would succeed.
The Democrats’ plan to tax energy -- the global warming tax they call “cap and trade” -- has stalled in the House Energy and Commerce Committee because the Dems are in disarray over the costs and job losses it will cause their states. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wi) is the ranking member of the House Budget Committee and also serves on the Ways and Means Committee which has jurisdiction over all tax legislation.
Ryan is as well spoken and well-informed as anyone on “cap and tax.” He can explain clearly the fact that the Democrats’ plan will be a huge burden on each household and business. If he joined forces with Sessions and Price, the trio -- separately and together -- could cover the country on every issue Americans consider most important.
It would be an Outside-the-Beltway strategy. Which is precisely what the Republicans need to recover the trust and confidence of the voters.
But – but JEB and MIT have a BETTER IDEA!
· By all means, let’s have the conservative movement “…leave Reagan behind…” and invent some sappy, empty phrases — like “Hope” and “Change” —
that the ACORN morons can get a grip on and they’ll flock to the GOP.
Here are some that might work:
WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS IS MORE BUSH!
A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT.
2 CARS IN EVERY GARAGE.
A FREE LATE-TERM ABORTION FOR EVERY UNWANTED PREGNANCY.
A GAY BABY-SITTER OR TEACHER FOR EVERY CHILD.
FREE MONEY FOR EVERYONE.
DEFICITS ARE OUR FRIEND.
MORE LIKE THE DEMOCRATS THAN THE DEMOCRATS.
WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS IS MORE MUSLIMS.
KISS A TYRANT — KICK AN ALLY.
A FREE ILLEGAL HISPANIC HOUSEBOY IN EVERY HOME.
Yeah, that’s the ticket. Let’s hurl ALL the traditional and time-tested values on which America became, in under 2 centuries, that shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom and a world leader over the side to appeal to the ravening masses of MTV, VHI, government school indoctrinated imbiciles that ACORN inticed to the polls with a pack of smokes and a pint of Ripple.
Sounds like a HELL OF A PLAN TO ME!!!
The late Congressman Larry McDonald frequently reminded us that “If you don’t stand for SOMETHING you’ll fall for ANYTHING!”
He must have known the Obama voters.
Feel free to add YOUR suggestions.
But it is Bush’s fault, not solely the last one we had, as well as congress for going along with the seemingly fixed notion that states as consenting entites in granting the Federal government powers beyond those delineated in the constitution has been entirely dispensed with.
It was never intended for the Federal government to go running roughshod over state governments and thus individual liberty whenever it pleases, regardless of issue it is intending to solve. Yet, the Republican party appears to have endorsed this shortcut through the national political process whole heartedy, attempting to achieve its own goals in the same manner that Liberals use to achieve theirs — by erroding constitutional principles to where we as individuals have little protection from the whims of Federal politicians and national political winds of various shapes and sizes regardless of which party is in power.
Libertarian Party Platform 2004:
Immigration
The Issue: We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S. officials to create a new "Berlin Wall" which would keep them captive. We condemn the U.S. government's policy of barring those refugees from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects.
Transitional Action: We call for the elimination of all restrictions on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for all people who have entered the country illegally.
Yes it is lost. Bbefore Bush the republicans but for a couple of issues were somewhat libetarian in their platform . And they were law and order. And they were fiscally more conservative than the dems. What are they now? They are the party only of anti union anti gay. They have lost broad appeal giving up core values.
The man ran and nobody noticed, in other words it was already tried.
Duncan Hunter is retired, he spent 28 years as a congressman in a safe district, he voted right but never made an impression on anyone. Hunter never ran for office outside of his district, he never wrote articles or books, no one outside of his district including you probably had ever heard of him until he ran for the presidency in 2008 so that he could use the funds and the name recognition to insure that his son kept his seat in the family.
Duncan was my congressman, he is a great guy and a great congressman but he is not a charismatic leader of any movement, he was never a player in California politics, you saw the biggest impression that he ever made and you saw that he couldn't attract any attention, he finally endorsed Governor Huckabee, turned the 28 year Hunter seat over to his son and then retired.
Yes , Bush was a turd. A turd chip off the old turd block , his old man.
“Bbefore Bush the republicans but for a couple of issues were somewhat libetarian in their platform .”
Conservatives are conservative, not liberal.
Libertarian Party Platform:
Throw open the borders completely; only a rare individual (terrorist, disease carrier etc.) can be kept from freedom of movement through “political borders”.
Homosexuals; total freedom in the military, gay marriage, adoption, child custody and everything else.
Abortion; zero restrictions or impediments.
Pornography; no restraint, no restrictions.
Drugs; Meth, Heroin, Crack, anything new that science can come up with, zero restrictions.
Advertising drugs, prostitution, pornography; zero restrictions.
Military Strength; minimal capabilities.
you forgot the rest of the libertarian platform
few if any taxes
no govt. schools
all the guns you want
little if any govt.
few if any business regulations
no emminent domain
I won’t turn my back on God, America, and Conservatism for a tax policy and it wouldn’t matter anyway.
In the real world no people or nation would survive the childish fantasy of the libertarian party.
The original Americans would fight to the death to block the libertarian party and their bizarre anti human theories.
And yet, for the movement to succeed, it will require a larger and more coherent organization that will attract a greater number of citizens, and act both as a magnet and as a clearing house for ideas, strategies and tactics.
In the past, the Republican Party would have served this role, but has presently abdicated its former influence in pursuit of a disastrous, rootless, value-free centrism. And in this respect, what the GOP requires is not "rebranding" - as though it were a commodity to be marketed like washing machines and cell phone providers.
What the party does need is a renewal. The GOP's rebirth will herald itself only by a conscious decision to once again promote a coherent set of core ideas, and - this is equally crucial - to declaim others. This means deciding that some things are right and some are wrong, that some things work and others do not, and choosing to accept the consequences of that decision. It means no longer trying to be all things to all people and winding up being nothing to no one.
A large segment of the American people are crying out for such leadership today, and finding none. The world of our childhoods and own dreams is slipping from our grasp, sinking beneath a sea of taxes, red ink, regulation, and government-approved social decay.
In this hour, a New Traditionalism waits to be born. Who among us will lead the charge?
I think at this point we need ten thousand leaders. We need to articulate to our family, friends and neighbors just what is in store if they do nothing - and basic steps that learn from the past mistakes of the left AND the right. And to develop basic policy concepts to stabilize the private-sector middle class, such as shrinking government jobs, encouraging entreprenuership while still providing needed regulation for the financial masters of the universe that helped dig this hole we are currently in - while avoiding pie-in-the-sky platitudes - that it will take a lot of hard work to reverse the current course of events.
A LOT of people sense what is going on but don't follow politics and economics enough to start to grasp the next steps. And it HAS to focus on preserving the middle class - a coalition of conservatives and Blue Dog dems and small-'l' libertarians, IMO, can find enough common ground over middle-class issues to form the critical mass for an electoral majority.
Once the movement gets started, it will attract those with political skills and ambitions, as all grassroots movements do. The trick will be to steer them, and not let them hijack us.
Squarely on target.
The history of socialism clearly reveals that:
1. The super-rich and powerful will remain super-rich and powerful...by essentially forming a partnership with the regime.
2. However, the merely rich are unable to defend themselves...and get wiped out.
3. The middle class disappears. There is a reason why Marxist teaching calls for the elimination of the bourgeoisie.
4. The lower class gets a lot of new neighbors-- but little else.
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