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The Emerging Conservative Consensus
Pajamas Media ^ | Dec. 16 | Jazz Shaw

Posted on 12/16/2009 12:31:45 PM PST by AJKauf

Ask yourself who would win in a theoretical election: Obama ’09 or Reagan ’84? Sure, President Obama’s victory last year was impressive, but his approval ratings are dropping by the hour and the late Reagan is consistently cited as one of the country’s most beloved former presidents. Perhaps Reagan wouldn’t win 49 states as in 1984, but is there any doubt, knowing what we know now, that Reagan would emerge victorious — and do so decisively?

Republicans can win big in 2010 and 2012 by talking less about social issues and more about economic liberty and federalism.....

(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
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To: AJKauf

eco-cons sound like environmentalists. The should call them e-cons.


21 posted on 12/16/2009 1:16:04 PM PST by Right Wing Assault (The Obama magic is fading.)
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To: AJKauf

State Rights don’t exist at this time to the extent necessary to really practice federalism. For starters we’ve got to get some strict limits established on the application of the commerce clause. Until this federal encroahment is rolled back it’s going to be impossible to address many of these issues on the state level. The states have been hamstrung in the ability to run their affairs and some have gone as far as talk of secession in order to be freed from this entanglement. This very issue has come up recently wrt RKBA, gay marriage, and health care just to name a few.

THere’s no doubt in my mind that if states could decide on these issues we would overall have a much more conservative political climate in most of the country outside of a few liberal strongholds. When conservatives start to talk about state’s rights the elitists in DC and the northeast go nuts.

I’m all for states rights if we had any remaining.


22 posted on 12/16/2009 1:17:13 PM PST by bereanway (Sarah get your gun)
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To: bereanway

Never forget this was written by the interminable Jazz Shaw, wadda tool!


23 posted on 12/16/2009 1:24:56 PM PST by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: iopscusa
Yep, Jazz needs to address an out-of-control federal judiciary before he talks about kicking the socons back to their individual states to address these issues by way of federalism. At this point his whole argument is a nonstarter.
24 posted on 12/16/2009 1:37:46 PM PST by bereanway (Sarah get your gun)
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To: Philo1962
We should be talking smaller government, low taxes, and balanced budgets.

Well said.

25 posted on 12/16/2009 1:42:30 PM PST by GL of Sector 2814 (Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense (Heinlein)
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To: AJKauf
I don't WANT Republicans to win.

I want CONSERVATIVES to win.

If that means a gun loving, abortion hating Democrat, well, so be it.

We run into big trouble when we conflate CONSERVATIVES with Republicans. (See, e.g., McCain-Feingold, GW Bush's No Child Left Behind abomination, perpetual war for abstract concepts, etc.).

The two ain't necessarily the same.

26 posted on 12/16/2009 1:49:37 PM PST by d-back
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To: AJKauf

“We need an election that’s based on strengthening the private sector, creating jobs and opportunities there, creating wealth, empowering the individual, protecting the family, protecting future generations.  Liberty versus tyranny is the message.  It needs to be oriented around liberty and freedom:  Restoring America to its greatness, protecting it, saving it.  Believe me, that would resonate.” - Rush Limbaugh, Dec. 15, ‘09


27 posted on 12/16/2009 2:44:03 PM PST by RoadTest (Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3)
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To: Jim Robinson
This nation was founded by Christians and plank number one is the principle that all men are created equal and granted certain unalienable rights by God their Creator, including among others the rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Jim, I've never said we should abandon these planks. I just don't believe we should be bringing them up or talking about them.

The only legitimate government responsibility regarding the economy and “creating jobs” is to stay the hell out of our way!!

Of course, Jim. But we can't afford to alienate any of the independent voters. In 2010 and 2012 we can either take a small victory (that leaves us with a minority in the House and Senate, and Obama in the White House), or we can run the table. we have to play our cards right.

28 posted on 12/16/2009 3:09:26 PM PST by Philo1962 (Iraq is terrorist flypaper. They go there to die.)
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To: Jim Robinson; Philo1962

Removing social conservatism gets us RINOs like Ford, Dole and McCain.


29 posted on 12/16/2009 4:17:03 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: AJKauf
Ask yourself who would win in a theoretical election: Obama ’09 or Reagan ’84? Sure, President Obama’s victory last year was impressive, but his approval ratings are dropping by the hour and the late Reagan is consistently cited as one of the country’s most beloved former presidents. Perhaps Reagan wouldn’t win 49 states as in 1984, but is there any doubt, knowing what we know now, that Reagan would emerge victorious — and do so decisively?

Context is everything. Reagan wouldn't have done well in 2008. It was a Democrat year, and there was a reaction against Bush. Obama wouldn't have done well in the Eighties either -- too much like Jimmy Carter.

30 posted on 12/16/2009 4:24:06 PM PST by x
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To: Philo1962

Yeah, well the hear no evil, see no evil spineless RINO way is what got us into this mess in the first place. To hell with yellow-bellied, gutless RINOs. And the last time I looked, the so-called independents were joining us Liberty loving Tea Partiers in huge numbers. The RINO GOP had better wake the hell up or fall by the wayside!


31 posted on 12/16/2009 4:37:35 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Join the TEA Party Rebellion!! God save this great Republic!!)
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To: pissant
So do I - but what I think was different was Ronnie talked about how the Government screwed up society. He really never seemed to take a position on how you should view life other than with hope and as a patriot.
32 posted on 12/16/2009 4:44:40 PM PST by mad_as_he$$ (usff.com)
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To: mad_as_he$$

“Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”

“Our coins bear the words ‘In God We Trust.’ We take the oath of office asking his help in keeping that oath. And we proclaim that we are a Nation under God when we pledge allegiance to the flag. But we can’t mention his name in a public school or even sing religious hymns that are non-denominational. Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers but there must be no mention of the Man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.”

“We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.”

“Abortion on demand now takes the lives of up to one and a half million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy will someday pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does.”

“Those who created our country — the Founding Fathers and Mothers — understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion. ... The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they’re sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.”


33 posted on 12/16/2009 4:55:01 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: pissant
Yikes!! Heavy stuff tonight pissant. I could not agree more.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all at the pissant castle!!!

34 posted on 12/16/2009 4:57:43 PM PST by mad_as_he$$ (usff.com)
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To: pissant
“Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”

You got that right. The materialists here would have us think that it's "science" that tells us the earth isn't flat. Without God and the Bible, "science" would probably still have us thinking that, along with all the other godless myths they advocate (like global warming and evolutionism).

35 posted on 12/16/2009 8:52:55 PM PST by WondrousCreation (Science needs to be redefined as a CONSERVATIVE discipline.)
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To: x
CONTEXT, good description of the cycles in US elections as they correlate to economics:
http://dagnyd.net/YouAreHere.htm
36 posted on 12/17/2009 5:32:53 AM PST by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: Jim Robinson

I’m not sure you’re listening. We have a choice between taking a tiny victory next year (and leaving the Democrats in charge of both the House and the Senate), or sweeping the table: taking back the House in 2010, and the Senate and the White House in 2012.

The GOP is not RINO. We hear you, and we’re doing whatever we can to recruit true conservative candidates who have a chance to win. But you need to pay attention to every word of that sentence: true conservative candidates who have a chance to win.

I’m sure you don’t like Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, for example. But if there were a couple of liberal Dems in those Senate seats, the government takeover of our health care system would be a done deal: not just a public option but single payer, driving the private insurance companies out of the market (and many of them into bankruptcy).

I completely agree that we need more true conservatives as Republican candidates, and we’re doing everything we can to recruit them. But like Rumsfeld said, we can’t go to war with the army we wish we had. We’ve got to got to war with the army we’ve got.

Obama, Axelrod, Emanuel and the rest of the Democrats are jubilant about the way things turned out in NY-23. Yes, we forced the RINO to withdraw from the race and we almost got a true conservative elected, but the final result was that the Democrats won a seat they hadn’t won since the Civil War.

If the Tea Party movement continues on its slash-and-burn course, you can expect to see the NY-23 result repeated across the country, in dozens of congressional districts, in 2010 and 2012. Obama will win a second term, with the Republican nominee splitting the non-Democrat vote with a Tea Party conservative like Sarah Palin.

At some point, the Tea Party needs to reach common ground with the Republican Party. This is the only way we will take our country back before it’s destroyed.


37 posted on 12/17/2009 6:31:13 AM PST by Philo1962 (Iraq is terrorist flypaper. They go there to die.)
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To: steve-b
Republicans can win big in 2010 and 2012 by talking less about social issues

Wrong. In fact ignoring 'social issues' just exacerbates the destruction of the US and us. It is the very issues we need to stay focused on not run away from.

38 posted on 12/17/2009 6:35:34 AM PST by Altura Ct.
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To: mad_as_he$$
Ronnie talked about how the Government screwed up society

Precisely. The problem with the GOP's "social issues" is that they are Big Government in the bedroom, not pro-liberty.

39 posted on 12/17/2009 6:51:00 AM PST by steve-b (Intelligent Design -- "A Wizard Did It")
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To: Philo1962
The GOP is not RINO.

Pretty high guffaw factor on that one.

We hear you, and we’re doing whatever we can to recruit true conservative candidates

Yeah, you betcha. Like Charlie Crist, Mark Kirk, Meg Whitman, Dede Scazzafava, et al. Real true-blue Reaganites there. You betcha. /s

who have a chance to win.

The Republican establishment has told us over and over again, in word and action, that "conservatives can't win."

But you need to pay attention to every word of that sentence: true conservative candidates who have a chance to win.

Oh, some of us pay very, very close attention to what you say. And we compare it very, very closely with what you actually do.

40 posted on 12/17/2009 6:58:18 AM PST by EternalVigilance (Partisans only for principle. - America's Independent Party - AIPNews.com)
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