Posted on 12/06/2012 7:31:44 AM PST by Perdogg
South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.
Sen. DeMint's departure means that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, will name a successor, who will have to run in a special election in 2014. In that year, both Mr. DeMint's replacement and Sen. Lindsey Graham will be running for reelection in South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Once the voter understands that they can vote themselves money and services from the public treasury, they will.
It's the flaw in democracy which is why we were designed as a democratic Republic. The design made Senators and the Senate body a appointed body, separated and unresponsive directly to the public voter as much as possible.
Ah, the ‘50s. Trying not to scratch my polio shot, radio-listening to Koufax pitch one night and Drysdale the next, learning to slalom on a waterski, watching the strangest programming on b/w TV live from the U. S. Senate! (Who were those ugly men and what were they talking about so fiercely?)
Guess I’d done better in life if I didn’t have such a good time then.
It was like a Archie Bunker lifestyle....but Eisenhower was president.....lol
I just listened to Arthur Godfrey with my mother and left the politics to my dad....
I like this move. Ideas are more important than elections, or, I should say, ideas ultimately change policy more than campaigns. The Heritage Foundation was a huge driver of idea-based change in its prime, maybe DeMint can restore it.
This past election really demonstrated how against the wall we are when it comes to ideas. The very notion that democracy is a means whereby self-supporting citizenry governs themselves was, in it’s “47%” expression, treated as risible as best. The evident addition of Asians to the Democrats’ long-established Jewish super-majority means that, no matter what we think, Americans without preconceived notions see Republicans not as a party of ambition and opportunity but the party of ill-educated rustics and fundamentalists, even when the standard-bearer has two Harvard degrees and was one of the guys who more or less invented modern Wall Street.
If you doubt the power of long-term ideas over transitory elections, look at gay marriage. 30 years ago it didn’t exist. 15 years ago it was a fringe idea even on the left. Once it became a political issue, it did nothing but lose elections for more than a decade. But by 2012, everyone in the Democratic Party supports it, not many high-ranked Republicans oppose it more than nominally, and there are few business careers that wouldn’t end the second you said something bad about it, and it’s political (to say the least of legal) success is a foregone conclusion.
Having said that, the next question is how to fix it....On that point I am flat out of ideas....Government dependency is at all time highs and then there is this so called fiscal cliff stuff...
I contend that the fiscal cliff is way back in the rear view mirror. We fell off that Cliff about four years ago and we don't know that because the fall does not hurt...
It's that hard landing that will certainly get every ones attention.
So nothing can be done until we hit the concrete. I suggest we prepare for that and be ready to explain it to the bewildered populace......what's left of them anyway...
No, I’m not taking my marbles and going home. I am planning to do as much as I can and one thing I’ll do is only support the Republicans who have the guts to fight on.
I’m not the one quitting.
I think it's more of a Christian thing than any other reason.”
Maybe, but it looks more to me that the Republicans are joining in with the Democrats. They are giving up way too much, just because Obama was re-elected. Who here really thought that Romney was a good conservative? Most of us supported him because we wanted anyone but Obama.
During that third debate he agreed with almost everything Obama said. He could have brought out what happened in Benghazi — that we left our consulate unguarded and Obama pretended it was a video. Instead he only responded once in the second debate and only went after the time frame for when Obama said it was a terrorist attack. Yes, Candy Crowley probably threw him off his game, but he could have been easily ready by the third debate. He could have made statements before and after the debate about Benghazi and our other embassies around the world.
I don't want any Republican who keeps bowing down to the Dems, instead of standing up for what is right. We need to get active now and push the conservative agenda or we will end up with another Romney. He should have easily won. The economy is in shambles.
I understand the frustration, and I’m only pointing out that we have been in this funk before....History repeats...
The usual agitated utterances are to form a third party.
That is utter bunk! It is also political suicide by way of vote dilution.....happened before when the old antiwar anti-foreign involvement wing of the party split off but they failed to have any effect and numerous attempts have been made including the Libertarian and constitution parties.
Any splits along these lines will result in a longer time coming back. It just is what it is.....
That's all I'm trying to say, and it sickens me to read the usual rhetoric...been there....done it....so it prompts a reply from me, always misunderstood and mostly ignored...
The reasons we lost are numerous, but mostly due to complacency. Turnout sucked.....on both sides but theirs were more loyal....they voted more against us then they did for their side. They don't want to hear our ideas. They are afraid of them and voted for the status quo....
So what! You think a few eager to compromise republicans caused that loss? No Way........
What caused that loss was a political machine that with it's media was able to with cute little rhetorical catch phrases and general denigration of the brand to pigeon hole conservatives as crazy, fringe and ill informed.
It worked and will continue to work until people see that they killed the golden goose.....the economy. It's going to take a while to repair the damages.....and I believe it will take hitting the bottom to do so. just like a drug addict or garden variety alcoholic.
More Republicans governors were voted in this time. I think we may have to take the fight to the state level and one thing make it impossible to vote without ID. We need to cut down on election fraud. Plus we need to see how electronic machines are being calibrated. Only one state requested the FBI to check out the machines even though a lot of states were reporting votes were being changed from Romney to Obama.
Getting out before the blame game starts.
I think Demints move to heritage indicates that conservatives as well as Conservative voters have realized the dire situation we are in and are moving to retrench and begin the process to be ready when the country calls again... Meanwhile the battle will continue for the hearts and minds of the public, but results are going to be difficult to achieve until such time as the public desires to hear our message again...
It’s already underway....
Sure the GOP-e hates the TEA Party which includes Congressman Scott but for the Republicans to have the only African American in the US Senate would be a blow in the nuts to the Democrats...the optics are just tooooo irresistible.
“Think he will be able to vote against Boehner for speaker before he leaves?”
Unlikely, as DeMint is a Senator and Boehner is Speaker of the House.
Haley should say 'we didn't see this coming' and as a result she's appointing herself with the intent of proving herself worthy of the seat in 2014.
Tim Scott
Yes, he will be greatly missed. Sad day for South Carolina conservatives but I do wish him the best.
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