Grassroots Republicans are key to party's future

The Kansas City Star ^ | 2009-05-09 | David Steelman

[rabscuttle385]

. . . . .

Elected Republicans should govern by the principles they profess in campaign rallies and advertisements. Those principles were once the difference between the parties.

. . . . .

The Republican Party, at its best, is a party of broad ideas and principles. For example, those who tend to vote Republican believe in limiting the size and scope of government and respect the guarantees of individual freedom and liberty of our Constitution. They respect life and its diversity; and they understand that free market capitalism, the glue that holds the Republican Party, and our nation, together, is both the most efficient and most moral economic system.

Unfortunately, elected Republicans, particularly in Congress, have expanded government, ignored the Constitution, bailed out failed big businesses with taxes collected from successful small businesses, and spent, and spent, and spent.

. . . . .

If change is possible, it will come from grassroots Republicans who no longer support candidates simply because they are the lesser of two evils, and who expect solutions as well as obstruction.

. . . . .

[rabscuttle385]

He's right.

[chicagolady]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cradle of freedom]

I am starting to get in the mood to get in the fight again, after the long disaster that we have been through this past year, it is time to get out of the doldrums and start getting active again. I am starting to send out emails again to dems and republicans alike to express my views on various issues and I will be donating to great conservative candidate supporters such as Tom Tancredo’s teamamericapac.org. It is time to start spreading around the early money. Don’t wait till just before the elections. The early bird catches the worm and the candidates that get that early money have the best chance of winning.

[Logical me]

Lets face it. The changes King Obama will have put in place will never be changed back to a less intrusive conservative Government. For instance if he institutes universal health care, it can never be taken away. America is in for changes that will be close to the end of true freedom. The past 50 or so years have been aimed for this radical change, step by step socialism.

[nathanbedford]

Under the leadership of Tom DeLay and his lieutenants, the K Street Project merged an army of interest groups and lobbyists with Congressional Republicans.

I think Tom DeLay is getting a bad rap here. As Bill Clinton said, he would not disarm unilaterally. What were the Republicans to do as the Democrats systematically plundered industry after industry of campaign contributions? Just a couple of articles away we are told that General Electric is setting itself up to profit big from Obama's health care reform. We have seen what the Democrats have done for their union supporters in the Chrysler mugging. Bill Clinton was selling our secrets to the Chinese for campaign contributions.

I would suspect that Tom Delay was small potatoes compared to what the Democrats had been up to. With evenhandedness on the part of the media, the latest activities would fall into a modest perspective. The net result: Democrats got the money and Republicans got the blame.

All that being said, I do not want to fall into the trap of defending Tom DeLay by invoking relativism. He is not exonerated because the Democrats were worse. But one must have some sympathy for a man with responsibilities to ramrod a party in the House and fund House seat election campaigns against the organized mafia that is the Democrat party. When we had control of the Justice Department, vigorous enforcement of laws by the Bush administration might have been a better and more prudent policy than turning a blind eye to the K St. boys. In the end, Abramoff brought in the federal prosecutors anyway and that not against the Democrats.

[cartervt2k]

“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 knowing how it happened.”

Socialist Party candidate for President, Norman Thomas, 1944

[PhiKapMom]

He is right about the grassroots Republicans! Thanks for posting!

[cradle of freedom]

Obama is going for the ultimate in big government but there is also a movement in the opposite direction as a number of states are looking at states rights. Roosevelt led us to this pagan-like worship of Washington. Other Democrat presidents added on to the centralization of government as well. Sadly many “me too” Republicans internalized the FDR dogma that big government is the American way.

Maybe after 50 years of going in the big government direction, the more conservative states will just say no thanks and start asserting their rights. I think that if state and local governments become more feisty and independent they can start exerting some pushback against big Washington. For instance, the presidential and senatorial candidates like to get the endorsements of local governments and governors. This gives them a great deal of power as when the next election comes around, the local leaders can refuse to endorse the senator or presidential candidate that is for big government. It goes both ways. Everything has been top down with the leadership of both parties making the rules. But it can go the other way as well if we remember that this is supposed to be a grassroots country. Local governments can push back and set some conditions rather than just slavishly following the leadership of both parties.

[cradle of freedom]

Wow.

[cradle of freedom]

About what grassroots Republicans can do — how about going back to the old Revolutionary War ways by printing pamphlets and distributing them throughout our communities? Pamphlets and leaflets are a great way of reaching people and are affordable to produce. This is a great way to get past the Associated Press and the electronic media. Passing out these pamphlets to church members is a great way to reach people as there is a common idealogical background. I think the churches are under-utilized in patriotic work.