Some political commentators are dancing on what they believe to be the grave of the Republican Party, claiming that the only way the GOP can have a viable future is for them to behave like Democrats. Posted on 01/29/2013 5:49:48 AM PST by Kaslin
Some political commentators are dancing on what they believe to be the grave of the Republican Party, claiming that the only way the GOP can have a viable future is for them to behave like Democrats.
Last weekend, National Review magazine sponsored a "conservative summit" in Washington. They should have held it elsewhere.
Prior to speaking at that event, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal addressed the Republican National Committee's annual winter meeting in Charlotte, N.C., where he proposed a new strategy for Republicans and conservatives that begins, not in Washington, but at the state level.
Jindal said the Republican Party loses when it plays on the liberal Democrats' turf, allowing them to set the agenda.
"America is not the federal government," he said. He maintained Republicans have wasted too much time trying to manage bloated government and too little time growing the private sector. The media and Democrats, he added, treat any serious proposal to restrain government growth as "not serious" when the truth is, "...nothing serious is deemed serious in Washington."
Then in a face-slapping moment, Jindal added, "If this election taught us anything -- it is that we will not win elections by simply pointing out the failures of the other side. We must boldly paint the picture of what America can be, of just how incredibly bright America's future can be."
The real action is occurring away from Washington. Republican governors, a majority of state chief executives, are lowering or eliminating state incomes taxes, cutting wasteful spending, balancing budgets, or creating surpluses, and in the case of Indiana, sending rebate checks to taxpayers.
Here are three Jindalisms the public can understand: "Government spending still does not grow our economy. ... American weakness on the world stage still does not lead to peace. ... Higher taxes still do not create prosperity for all."
Poverty should not be the final verdict on any life. Republicans need to have "testimony time" during which people once addicted to government tell how they broke free and are now earning a paycheck because they embraced conservative principles. Republicans should be seen as friends of the poor instead of friends of the wealthy, who President Obama has said, are doing fine.
Republicans should also partner with churches. Stop arguing about the evils of welfare dependency and start helping people live a life of self-sufficiency. That begins with a change in attitude and a transformation of outlook. What better institution to address these internal qualities than the church?
If Republicans want to do something about the future, they should back a growing movement to pull children out of underperforming public schools where often their views, values, understanding of history and even faith are undermined. Home-schooling is an option. The public school system, seemingly a "hot house" for growing new generations of secular liberals, is a failure on many levels. It makes no sense to me to put one's children in a school system that will likely transform their minds and souls into something quite different from those of their parents. Private school is also an option. Many of them offer scholarships to children whose parents can't afford tuition. A solid education is the first step out of poverty.
Negativity doesn't inspire. Criticizing Democrats might make the base feel good, but it solves nothing. Republicans should adopt the optimism and vision of Ronald Reagan, whose main gift to this country was to persuade Americans to believe in themselves. His optimism became our optimism. In the end, "we, the people" must realize they have the power, not Washington.
Governor Jindal stated his vision in Charlotte: "...free individuals, taking risks, building businesses, inventing things from thin air, and passing immutable values from one generation to the next ... that is the root of America's greatness."
Are party members listening and willing to change, not their principles, but their approach to promoting those principles? We will know soon enough, but predictions of the party's demise are as premature as they were for Democrats during the Reagan-Bush electoral successes of 1980, '84 and '88.
Republicans aren't dead yet, but changes are essential for the GOP to get off life support. They can start by reading Gov. Jindal's speech.
They said RIP DNC in 2004 and we all know how that turned out...unfortunately. I just think that a transition of the GOP to 100 percent conservative is our best option. Michele Bachmann/Rick Santorum in 2016 would guarantee our success. I am sure that I will get hate posts because some FREEPERS hate conservative good people like Bachmann/Santorum just as the GOP Elite does. UGH!!!!!
To me it is.
That is a truth that all too many Americans have forgotten! Americans need to hear that message.
I just think that a transition of the GOP to 100 percent conservative is our best option.
I agree with you. If republicans become like democrats then we will have no representation. Half the country seems to be liberal so let the democrats have them. The rest of us choose to be conservatives and we want representation.
Its hard to get positive coverage when the MSM has devolved into left wing propaganda organs and the commentators are Obama sycophants. Yet all the politically correct nonsense will not protect the American people from the disastrous economic and social policies the Left is implementing. Eventually the truth, however ugly, will win out.
Well, I love conservatives and have been a staunch one for 45 years. That being said, you are incorrect about Santorum. Excellent man, citizen, father and husband. Poor candidate. This is not “hate”. It is reality.
This is a basic Axelrod strategy. He and the Obama’s know that they cannot run on their dismal record so they demonize the opposition and do whatever they can to destroy it. The GOP has a huge target on its back. The tactic worked in 2012...they will renew it for 2014 and beyond.
very well said
There shall continue to be an entity called “the Republican party”, just as there is now an entity called “the United States of America”. Hollow shells of what they once were, and neither still guided by the principles for which they once stood. It got to be “impractical” to live by the percepts attributed to a “bunch of dead white men”, as this is an evolving world, doncha know.
There is a tide in the affairs of men, that taken at its flood, leads to fortune. But failure to take advantage of that tide leaves the vessel stranded upon mud flats, or dashed upon rocks that would otherwise would have been easily floated over.
We have seen opportunities afforded that have been lost by hesitation, or an effort to please others who do not have our best interests in mind.
Is it too late to consider the alternative of seceding from these now empty and unsatisfactory institutions? Neither seem good candidates for resuscitation.
I, for one, declare a nation of Self. On that remote island, I can play “John Galt”, beholden to none other, and treating all round me like a foreign land, which it has become. I can still negotiate diplomatically, but there is no such thing any more as an undying allegiance or unbreakable union.
Obama et al. are trying to divide/ destroy the GOP so that they can own the House in 2014. We need to FILL the House and the Senate. We must never, never, ever let THEM define US.
In before the DU trolls, Ron Paul kooks, the ‘Third Party Will Save Us’ cranks, faux conservative Concern Trolls, the Downfall of The Republic Chroniclers, and the I’ve Never Lifted A Finger To Get Involved Politically But I’m Going To Bitch Anyway And Justify It By Saying I’ve Gone Galt.
Oh wait, I’m too late. My how low the mighty Free Republic has fallen.
The Republican Party will continue on pretty much as it is for so long as the Democrat rulers feel they need a sham opposition. It is like Venezuela, now. The Left is not in complete control but close. The Republican Party is no more than the Designated Opposition Department of the Democrat Party.
BUMP.
The GOP is not dead. The action has just moved somewhere else. Those who claim to support the Constitution need to quit focusing on the Presidency and Washington DC and recognize that.
The States are the road to Liberty.
LOL!
There are still some good posters here, but there are a lot of people so negative and aggressive in attacking others that you’d think they’d been sent by DU to make conservatives look nutz and project the idea that there’s no hope. These people never offer any constructive solutions themselves, of course.
Reagan didn’t make conservatism a force by simply sniping from the sidelines and condemning everybody who didn’t agree with his every thought, but by offering his vision and inviting people to join it. He was quite firm in defending it, but very generous in sharing it. Jindal is right about the need for a serious change in our approach.
The GOP is a party, not a movement. The GOP has one focus, get elected, (or re-elected). Republicans are quite comfortable with the minority role. Their concern at this point is two fold.
1 - They realize being a permanent minority will lead to be gerrymandered to oblivion.
2 - They need to take a majority in the House to get the good committees.
That’s it. That’s their focus, and their concern. Yeah, they’re dead.
Did we suffer through the “don’t criticize the Democrats” era with Bush? It seems to me like they don’t get criticized enough, and if they do, it doesn’t seem like the Democrats aren’t penalized for their bad behavior, just swept under the rug. I feel if that happens more often, and they’re punished, then the behavior will stop or decline.
Am I wrong?
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