Free Republic

I understand what you’re saying and concur. I knew all along that McCain was not the person to have as our candidate - it’s unfortunate that was proved correct.

They are all in my thoughts as I write this.

Rather than risking further offense, I defer to your knowledge on the subject and will refrain from interjecting my own thoughts on Christianity and especially Catholicism.

Agreed. There is a deep sense of denial floating around certain segments of Republican Party which remind me of the stories of Japanese soldiers living on remote islands after WW2: They don’t know the war is over. There has to be an understanding that most Americans (and I mean MOST) don’t want the government NOR the religious Bible thumpers intruding into what they consider their private lives. It is an absolute misreading of the population of the United States to think the social issues near and dear to the Religious Right are anywhere near as important with the general public. Americans have a long history of libertarian ideals of personal freedom and prefer not to have anyone tell them what they can or can’t do.

The GOP is at a perilous juncture. Either we take off the blinders, see the world for what it is and formulate a winning strategy or we perish. Start with figuring out what people want and go from there.

Agreed totally and completely. Elected Republicans need to start acting like Republicans used to act: Country First.

The mistake here is to take one aspect of Catholic thought and turn it into the main focus of the Catholic layperson. Yes, abortion is AN issue but it is not the be-all and end-all issue it is for certain other Christian sects. I am not going to argue religion here, but suffice it to say that being a Christian means more than going to a church and acting like some modern day Crusader. It means living a life based on a the teachings of Jesus Christ and understanding what those teachings are and what they mean. Picking and choosing from New and Old Testament and creating a mish-mosh of both is not Christianity the way I learned it.

I’m sorry if my remarks were insulting but I will accept the charge because I truly believe with all my heart that the alliance fostered by Mr. Rove has been a disaster for the Republican Party because eventually the person you’re asking for help from will ask you to pay the check.

This should not be a surprise. Catholics have been concerned for a long, long time with social justice issues and are voting according to their beliefs. The dominant Evangelicals which we have tied ourselves to are a product of the late 19th Century and have (to my Catholic school ears) a strange interpretation of the Bible which borrows a lot from the Old Testament and glosses over a good portion of Jesus’s teachings.

This is what comes of thinking that all Christians believe what Karl Rove’s “base” believes. I always knew it was a mistake to allow the Fundamentalists to hold this much sway over our party. They might have been enough of a population to move the percentage points a bit this way or that but were never going to be enough if the majority of the electorate decided to vote the other way.

I’d just as soon jettison the fundies and court the Catholics and perhaps move the party and Conservatism to a more intellectual grounding.

We have to be careful to not continue giving the same answer to every question. There are things that government has done that could not or would not be accomplished without it. My primary example is the interstate highway system - a huge Big Government project that produced something not only useful but a boon to business. The other example I use is the investment made into DARPA which ended up creating the Internet. The rest (and the billions of dollars that came from it) are, of course, history.

My argument is that just saying Big Government is not an answer. However, specifically stating what is wasteful and how it could be done better differently frames it in a more positive and proactive light. The fact is that being seen as a party of scolds does not endear anyone to us.

Republicans should ask the voters what they want but have to be aware that they may not like the answers they get. There are lots of Americans who would like the government to help them the way they are helping Wall Street. We can either come up with solutions that will directly help these people (and get their votes) or give them the tired “bootstraps” answer even as they are being evicted from their homes. I assure you that the latter will not garner us any votes.

This was a tough year to begin with coupled with a President with 25% approval. I don’t know what could have been done by the McCain people to not be painted by that brush.

He’s a smart, smart man who probably has learned a lot more since he left Congress. I’d say it couldn’t hurt to have someone that determined at the helm of the RNC

I think the long overdue purge is already under way. Time to get rid of the RINOs.

It’s far too easy for some Republicans to throw up their hands and sink into depression over the results of this election. However, I am a believer that our misfortunes lie not in the stars but in ourselves. Something has gone horribly wrong with our party and the first fight should be to identify the problem and to fix it.

I’m new here so I would not presume to post any topics until I get my feet a little more wet at Free Republic but I will make one suggestion here: If there’s anything that I’ve learned over the past 8 years is that there are people in power who claim to be Republicans but are nothing of the kind. These folks need to be excised from the GOP as soon as possible because they will do nothing but drag us down further.

When do we let Israel worry about their own problems and find their own solutions? I’m sure they are quite capable both militarily and diplomatically to iron it all out. Please keep the Neocons away from that region and away from the Republican Party.

Best wishes for a speedy return and strength for the family.

Touche

The fundamental problem with the GOP is that they are simply phoning it in with tired rhetoric and a lack of fresh ideas. Jindal is on to something. If you can’t show the American people how much a privately run health insurance system will cost them then they are not going to trust it or you. There needs to be a little honesty here. If the goal is to get government out of the things they should not be involved in then you have to have an alternative that works. Telling people everything will be fine with a private system and then standing aside while Americans get screwed by the companies who we trusted to do what they said they would do is not going to make many friends among the population and certainly won’t garner votes.

Vote For Us Because We Say So is a bad campaign strategy.

What has really burned me up over the years is watching my party dragged down by anti-intellectualism. Being smart and articulate don’t equal elitism - being “folksy” is not enough in my book to be the leader of anything. If there’s a lesson to be learned by watching the other side it’s that the American people can and will respond to someone who is intelligent and can speak the English language the way it’s meant to be spoken.

My version of Republicanism is about ideas, not veneer.

My very first comment after joining.

I could not agree more. Over the last eight years, I’ve held my tongue about the fact that there seems to be very little that’s conservative about the folks running the Republican party. Tax and spend is bad enough but to cut taxes and then spend like mad is plain crazy. Personally, I believe a long overdue purge is coming to the GOP where we’ll cut loose some of the RINO dead weight and get back to the core principles that guided our party for decades: fiscal responsibility, loosening of regulations but enforcement of laws when greed takes over, strength to back up our friends around the world and to strike fear into our enemies.

I’m sad for the party I’ve supported these many years but I’m not giving up on it. Just because it’s sick doesn’t mean I have to choose euthanasia.