Posted on 11/09/2006 1:23:34 PM PST by MarkDel
I've been thinking a lot about our devastating losses in the Midterm Election, and trying to ask myself, "Where do we go from here?" In order to properly answer that question, we need to determine HOW we get into this situation where we have lost both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The mainstream media would like you to believe that the 2006 Election signals the end of the so-called "Reagan Coalition" and the beginning of a move to the Left in American politics. I do NOT agree. The Reagan coalition has NOT been destroyed, but I do think it's fair to say that it has been "fractured" somewhat over the last several years, and we witnessed the culmination of that in the 2006 Election. The bottom line is that Conservatives and/or Republicans have engaged in a lot of 'circular firing squad' behavior over the last few years, and that's not good.
I think the first thing we need to do is examine the various factions within our movement and see WHY they are angry or disappointed in the Republican Party at this stage of the game. The groups I list are what I and others consider to be the foundation of the so-called Reagan Coalition that has, for the most part, dominated American Politics between 1980 and 2004:
LIBERTARIAN CONSERVATIVRES--This group has always had an uneasy alliance with the Conservative movement because they do not necessarily agree with some of the moral foundations of our movement. BUT...Reagan was able to bring this group under the Republican tent with his heavy emphasis on Personal Responsibility, and Reagan's foundational ties to the original Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964 that pushed so many Libertarians under the Republican tent. This group has grown increasingly disenchanted with the Republican Party in the post-Reagan era because they feel they have been ignored at the expense of the Social/Christian Conservatives. This group has been drifting away for years, but their departure was exacerbated by the (regrettable but totally necessary) adoption of things like the Patriot Act. To Libertarian Conservatives, things like the Patriot Act merely reinforced their worst fears of Republicans turning into the Big Government types that they once despised. To see CLEAR illustrations of our losses among Libertarian Conservatives, please notice the erosion of Republican support in key states like Montana, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada. This is an example of a General loss of support among Libertarian Republicans. As for a very specific example, please note the loss of Congressman Jim Leach in Iowa, who made his anti-Gambling bill the foundation of his tenure, and Libertarian Republicans totally abandoned him this year and he suffered a stunning upset defeat. This group feels the party has sold out to Christian Conservatives.
BUCHANAN/ISOLATIONIST CONSERVATIVES--This group has been wrongly referred to as 'Paleo-Conservatives' and while they do represent a part of this group, that is not what the foundation of the group is. The true foundation of this group is based on Populism and Isolationism...two of the most dangerous political ideologies to have at least one foot in the Right Wing world. These are the people who jumped off the reservation in 1992 and voted for Ross Perot, thus giving us the Bill Clinton tragedy. Obviously, this group has been slipping away for years, but they really fled after the invasion of Iraq, a war which is not overtly about national interest...even though less Populist Conservatives realize that it is ALL about national interest over the long haul. This group thinks the party has sold out to Wall Street Conservatives.
CHRISTIAN/SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES--This group has truly been the backbone of the Party in the Reagan era and beyond. They have been reliable voters who generally have accepted modest return on their investment in terms of their loyalty...though they do expect SOME return, and their demands have increased in recent years. They have drifted away ever so slightly the past two years, mainly because of their disgust with things like the Abramoff and Foley scandals, as well as some other issues related to Republican corruption. But also, there has been a general feeling pervading this community that perhaps they have not been rewarded enough for their loyalty. Their worst fears seemed to come true when Republicans foolishly compromised on the issue of Judicial Filibusters. When that fool John McCain and his so-called Gang of 14 led Republicans to drop the so-called "nuclear option" that confirmed the worst fears of many Social Conservatives that the Republicans either took them for granted, or they lacked the moral courage to do the right thing in the face of pathetic behavior by the Democrats. This group tends to feel that Wall Street Republicans and Fiscal Conservatives have too much power in the party.
WALL STREET REPUBLICANS--This group is mistakenly referred to as "Rockefeller Republicans" by the media and other Right Wing elements...this is VERY inaccurate. The Rockefeller Republicans of yesteryear are now Democrats or Independents...the last of the Rockefeller Republicans was Lincoln Chafee, and he just lost his Senate seat on Tuesday, so they are ALL gone now. In truth, the Wall Street Republicans are essentially what the media has mislabeled as Paleo Conservatives. They are pure, laissez faire Capitalists, who place the accumulation of Wealth and Material gain as the ultimate extension of pure Democracy. They are what's left of the pre-FDR Republicans, along with the less ugly faction of the Buchanan group. They tend to think that the Social Conservatives have too much power in the party.
FISCAL CONSERVATIVES--They are different from the Wall Street Conservatives in that they tend to be more about Personal Responsibility as the foundation of fiscal discipline rather than the accumulation of wealth. This group has been VERY reliable for the Republican Party for decades, but has shown some signs of slippage in the post-9/11 era as Republicans in Congress have shown less and less fiscal discipline. They tend to think that the Social Conservatives and Neo-Conservatives have too much power.
NEO-CONSERVATIVES--While most of you on this forum will STRONGLY disagree with me on this, this group has been the second most important faction in the growth of the Republican Party in the Reagan years and beyond...only Social Conservatives have been more important. Reagan himself was a former FDR Democrat, and MOST of the really important influential Conservatives of the late 20th Century (Krauthammer, Fukuyama, Kristol, etc...) have been Neo-Conservatives. This group is now a popular target of all other Conservatives as they are being blamed for the Iraq War. Neo-Conservatives, with some exceptions, have remained faithful to their moralistic view of foreign policy despite events in Iraq, and have chosen to focus more on problems involved in the execution of the War rather than any fundamental failure in theory. So Neo-Cons have shown some slippage as they blame President Bush for not prosecuting the War as violently as necessary, nor articulating the reasons for the War as well as he should have. Neo-Conservatives tend to feel that the Wall Street Republicans have too much power.
REALIST CONSERVATIVES--Best represented by people like George Bush's father and James Baker. These are the people who warned the younger Bush about the follies of Neo-Conservatism and the pursuit of an over-aggressive foreign policy. While the problems in Iraq have made this group look smarter by the day, this is VERY misleading. This group is the one that laid the foundation for the absolute MESS that is the Middle East. The so-called Realists had their chance to solve things in the Middle East and elsewhere for over 50 years...and they failed miserably. They were the same people who told Ronald Reagan that his approach to the Soviet Union was too harsh. History has proven their ideology both flawed and immoral...but they are a necessary evil in our movement as they reign in the natural tendency of neo-conservatism to turn into Utopianism, or the Woodrow Wilson view of the world. The Realists tend to think that Neo-Conservatives have far too much power.
So in summary, you can see that all of these groups have major gripes with the direction of the Conservative Movement in America. Reagan was able to bring all of these diverse groups together under the flag of Patriotism and Optimism, and to a lesser extent, Newt Gingrich did the same thing during the Clinton years. George Bush was able to hold this coalition together in the ashes of 9/11, but as things grew more difficult in Iraq, these divisions began to crack the movement at the seams. The Conservative/Reagan coalition is NOT dead and it MUST be salvaged...
I have thoughts on how we can achieve this goal together, but I would like to hear you thoughts on what I've said, and where you think we should go from here. I'll post my thoughts later in the thread after I've seen some (hopefully thoughtful!) responses.
Newt will come to the rescue
http://www.newt.org
"Reagan was able to bring this group under the Republican tent with his heavy emphasis on Personal Responsibility, and Reagan's foundational ties to the original Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964 that pushed so many Libertarians under the Republican tent. This group has grown increasingly disenchanted with the Republican Party in the post-Reagan era because they feel they have been ignored at the expense of the Social/Christian Conservatives."
Brilliant and absolutely correct. Especially that last sentence.
the fun hasn't even started yet.
Well, Newt is a HUGE part of my proposed solution, but I'll expand upon that later. Needless to say, I agree with you that he is the guy we should turn to most.
We donate mccain to the democrats for starters.
OK, so how do we SOLVE that problem? What can we do to please BOTH Libertarian Conservatives AND Social Conservatives?
Where do we go from here?
Well...I know what I did.
I looked under the News/Events Topic.
I clicked on a post.
I realized, yes...this IS yet another vanity.
I removed the shocked look upon my face.
I thought about letting it pass...just for a moment...but the vanity of it all got the best of me...I could not resist.
I responded.
I laughed.
I cried...tears of joy mind you.
The voices of "All is Vanity!!! scream inside my head...they torture me...yet I must go on.
Where do I go from here? I really don't know.
And his little dog too (Graham)
I think Newt would be great too. But the fact is the MSM would crucify him.
His marriages would be examined in detail. All the old stuff about how he "stopped" the government, etc, etc...
We need somebody the MSM can't do that kind of harm to.
The future of the conservative movement is going to lie with some new face...maybe Pence, maybe somebody who will emerge in the next two years.
The one thing I'm sure of...the media wants McCain to be the nominee in the worst way...I don't trust that guy.
The Republican/conservative "fat cats" must buy or build a broadcast network where real news and accurate stories can be presented day after day and night after night. EXAMPLES:
anti-ILLEGAL immigration vs anti-imigration
reduced tax RATES vs reduced taxes
Laffer curve
install internet-cams at Guantanimo so citizens can watch the treatment of those bastards that want to KILL US!
Show the effects of the Welfare state on the minority (legal) community
Keep that crook Jefferson in the news
revisit Chappaquidick and Ted's efforts to undermine the U.S. gov't w/the Soviets
explore Harry Reid's escapades
Explain Nancy D'Alessandro Pelosi's fortune
Keep after Skerry and his TREASON...
I submit that without daily truth and accurate (Non-DNC scripted) news presented by a credible news-man we have NO HOPE until the frigging democrat/Socialists drive us to destruction
"What can we do to please BOTH Libertarian Conservatives AND Social Conservatives?"
Continue working toward defunding abortion and devolving it to the states. Beyond that, there be dragons.
For one thing it wasn't actually devastating. Congress is still split about 50-50. The R majority in both Houses wasn't particularly impressive, and the D majority in both Houses won't be either.
In the immortal words of Cary Elwes in the movie "Princess Bride"...
"You have a truly dizzying intellect"
I was just playing.
Seriesly...I couldn't resist. :)
Kjo,
The mainstream media will TAINT any candidate we use as our standard bearer...that's just part of their dishonest, amoral behavior. If they can dirty up a man like Rick Santorum, they can play that game with anyone...so we might as well use the great talents that Gingrich possesses.
I'm sorry if I was rude, I'm just trying to be very serious here because I am VERY worried about the future of this nation after Tuesday.
I think what we might do now is band together and see if we can exert enough pressure to derail ANY immigration legislation. That's a pretty tall order, and I know we aren't going to get anything positive done, i.e., fencing, but maybe, just maybe we can stop the amnesty and gridlock the whole thing.
You are one million percent right.
That sounds like a good short term plan.
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