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.
I don't think there are any perfect people and if there were such a thing I would like to think that they would be able to find something better to do with their lives than run for office. That being said we should be able to expect certain things from conservatives, like them not cheating on their wives for example. Not lying to their constiuents and not supporting liberals has to be on that list.
Do you know why these supposed conservatives have no compunctions about stabbing us in the back time after time? It's because they know they know that some people will support them no matter what as long as they mouth certain platitudes. There is nothing more important than actions, and that is the only thing that should earn or lose our votes. Santorum's actions are counter to what he says.
Romney was the last straw for me. I held my nose and voted for him and I still feel dirty for doing so. If the Republican party keeps putting forth RINOs they can do it without my financial support, without my efforts and without my vote.
I have felt less stressed about what the D's and BO are doing in DC the more I focus on local politics. I live in OR major left wing politics but not in my county.
I have been comforted by my neighbors and the local politicians that are like minded in their rejection of DC. I live in the county where my Sheriff told Biden and BO to pound sand as he will not enforce unconstitutional laws.
Keep your registered R status, then you can vote in the primaries and force LOCAL change, that is the ticket. 30 R governors that are not complying with DC on health exchanges. More and more states challenging the unions and right to work status, we are making the change at the grass roots/local level, in the primaries, stay registered as R's. Ignore DC for now.
EVery election cycle they predict one of the major parties doing so poorly as to exclaim that it is the end. It is ALL talk and fluff. It never happens. It is just something for the chattering classes to talk about. However, if the GOP does not listen to its base of conservatives, they WILL find themselves continually losing, maybe even losing their base to a 3rd party. If they do not turn off the Steve Schmidts and the Carl Roves and tell them to take a hike, then many of us will be looking to find a place that conservatives can call home and win. I’m sort of sick of all these surveys sent out that seem to mean nothing. Congress does what it always does and the GOP is always left holding the bag, being blamed for everything and no one has the balls to stand up and tell it like it is. I am so exasperated by the GOP that I am no longer calling myself a republican. When we recently moved, we voted in the republican primary, but we did not register with the party. I’m all for some change in tactics as long as we do not abandon our conservative principles. PERIOD.
The GOP is to the Democrats as the Washington Generals are to the Harlem Globetrotters.
What model do they have in mind? Mexico during the decades when the PRI won all the elections? The Eastern bloc during the Cold War when the Communists were the only party? The one-party South of the first half of the 20th century? Detroit or Chicago on a national scale?
I do agree. My wife and I have told every Repub caller asking for money that we are not giving to the party anymore - to individuals, but not the party. In the last election we didn’t seem to have any outstanding candidates. If they were conservative, they seemed to have trouble with their mouth or brain whenever they got in front of a camera. It was most discouraging. The MSM was laser focused at the national level. Perhaps at the state level we would have more of a chance of flying under their radar. I really do like this Jindal approach for many reasons. A focus at the state level is excellent! Grassroots is where it has to be for conservatives - but we still need more states to be totally Republican controlled before we can effectively fight the Fed leviathan. Still, I really believe our problems are more moral than political. There will never be a political answer to our nation’s problems if we remain and unrepentant, stiff necked, God ignoring people. Partnering with churches could be a good thing but only if we have a pure heart about what we are trying to accomplish. Otherwise it could quickly devolve into manipulation and angry disputes. A call to prayer and repentance by conservative leaders would be a good place to start (let the liberals scream). Tax breaks for private and church run schools or partnering with local businesses to help support them already happens and should be encouraged. We have our work cut out for us but grassroots, it seems, is where we must start. The Tea Party was effective in getting some conservatives elected. If perhaps we were more organized in that regard to support conservative candidates in state elections - ones that really had a chance of winning - maybe that would help, as well.
I agree and then some. If you allow your opponent (including the
MSM) to define you then you will lose no matter what adjustments
you have made. We need to take control of one of the major media
(at least one, that is). I don’t propose that it be turned into another
version of FOX News, but rather, a truly objective source of info.
Liberals cannot do that today because it is no longer in their DNA
if it ever was. If only we played on an evgen playing field I know
we would win the hearts and mindes battle in the long run.
The GOP as it is now is worth nothing. It is a pansy-faced wimp of a party that once was great.
I live in Hollywood, CA. I can attest to the fact that until we get some sort of control on the message via the media we have no chance. The average American is a person easily swayed by what they here on TV, read in print rather online or not and the new wave of social media that minute by minute is used to promote ideas most of which are not in line wit center right nor conservative values.
Second the demographic change has been swift as I look at my state and the GOP has done nothing to make in roads with these people and their beliefs. As much as I do not agree with much of it from the invasion to the cultural dynamics it is now a reality and anything outside a full scale war will not make it any different. It is here, the world evolves and so does our country. You must adapt. Keep your personal principles, be a stand up citizen and pray by example others will follow.
Our work begins now and it will just be a little bit harder... nothing realated to Liberty or Freedom is free... remember!
I don’t understand you comment about Santorum being completely responsible for Obamacare. How can that be when he was not even in the Senate nor on the scene during that time. In fact, he was travelling through Iowa at that time.
I admit he did not show his best at the debates sometimes. I just wish we had Santorum instead of Obama.
the GOOD COP BAD COP ploy that politicians in DC have routinely played has finally come full circle. Wouldn’t you know it, they’re ALL BAD. Yes, they have really effed the average American and are now fearful of us. They are now maneuvering to disarm the citizen’s and ordering the military to prepare to take over America’s streets. Some career politicians, the real cowards, are even choosing to retire. Their common reason; its time to spend more time with family. Just my opinion but I’d say they are hoping they will be over looked once the SHTF.
Bravo! Why is it that so many of our conservative so-called leaders
fail to grasp what so many of us understand about delivering the
message and correcting the record?
Obviously we would all prefer him to Obama. But there is a certain hubris that allows a man who cannot win to keep putting himself forward.
Actually, e man you saw is who he is. He does not have the persona required to lead at the level of president. For heavens sake he lost his senate seat. has he even won more than one legislative race?
Where is the "Oh Geez" guy?
We've heard this before, but maybe these ideas will get through to the 'pubbies:
1) You can't out-Democrat the Democrats. What Liberal (Communist) voter wants a cheap immitation when they can get the real thing?
2) You want to budget stuff, then do it like it is coming out of YOUR pocket, not ours. Quit writing rubber checks.
3) Hang what the yapping lapdogs of the Liberal media say, RIGHT is never Wrong. Pick up your copy of the Constitution, blow the dust off, and reacquaint yourselves with the separation of powers, the Bill of Rights, and that you don't have to kiss any butts in DC.
4) If you are hearing something on ABCNNBCCBS there is a high probability it is completely bass-ackwards to the truth and reality.
5) If you feel the need to exempt yourselves from some laws, then you shouldn't pass them. We likely don't want to live under them, either.
6) Next time you are back home for a townhall type meeting, ask what concerns people. Don't argue with them, just listen, repeat, LISTEN. If they are spewing Liberal crap, they are probably Liberals and wouldn't vote for you on a bet, but listen to them, too, then listen to people disagree. Conservatives aren't your enemy, so don't be ours.
If you have never run your own business, get out and talk with people who do. Not just the big guys in town, but the little outfits, the ones with only a couple of employees, the owner/operators who really feel the crunch from policy changes, because they have to keep track of them, too--while they are trying to run a business. The big outfits can afford to have an IT department, accountants, and lawyers on staff--for the little guy, it's all food off the table.
7) If you are in the House of Representatives, you have a unique opportunity to help our country by voting against the destructive policies promoted by this administration. Money is the lifeblood of the tumors of governmental stupidity, and you can cut off the flow. Don't give in. Greece once relied on 300 Spartans, we don't have as many of you. You will be vilified in the DC press, and probably nationally. Wear it as a badge of honor. When wicked people revile you, you are doing the right thing--the flak is heaviest over the target.
There is very little of real America inside the Beltway, and most of that is behind glass or under lights in the Smithsonian (or even more likely, in storage).
Now, I'm not expecting much, partly because he who expects nothing is seldom disappointed, and partly because getting a thought into the head of the average elected official is as likely as penetrating the armor on an M-1A1 Abrams with a jack knife, but I am going to say this all in hopes you will see the light and change the course of this nation, away from the economic and philosophical abyss it is headed toward. You are driving, don't wreck, and if they won't let you steer, stand on the brakes.
I was a strong Santorum supporter in the primary race, Bain.
That being said, I agree with you that he would not be a winning Presidential candidate in ‘16 and would include Michelle Bachmann’s chances as being very poor as well.
We need FEARLESS Conservatives to run. Would suggest that Ted Cruz is the only one that measures up at this time.
I feel tainted too Durus. Came around to voting for Mittens after much agonizing soul searching. The comments here on FR were ridiculously accusatory of those of us holdouts.
“A vote for anyone besides Romney is a vote for Obama”.
Yeah right.
The GOP has lost my money and my support. They think that they can use and abuse conservatives by gleaning what they need from us...and then casually throwing us under the bus, all in the name of party “unity”.
I’m done with them until they divorce themselves from Rino-ism and good ol’ boy Establishmentarian-ism...and prove it by their actions.
You know that if Santorum had stuck to what he calls his principles we might not have Obamacare right now?
What this means is that if he had never supported Arlen Specter then Specter might not have won his primary challenge and then not been in place to abandon his party. Santorum recognizes this as a mistake but it isn't just a "whoops my bad, mea culpa, forgive me". It was very public support for a liberal over a conservative that all conservatives at the time saw as a huge sellout. Now one could argue that Arlen might still have won, that another vote could have been found if he hadn't voted, one could argue a whole what ifs. The facts are still that a supposed conservative supported a liberal over another conservative and that liberal was the deciding vote on Obama care. How could you possibly support the man after this? Do you enjoy being stabbed in the back?
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