There is no shortage of advice to the Republican Party regarding the need to “reach out” to Hispanics, Blacks, women, moderates and younger voters. Conventional wisdom says that the way to do that is to moderate our position on social issues and offer an equal or better program to solve the problems of healthcare, education, energy and the environment. However, they do not answer the two primary questions: Why, and How?
At first glance the question of, why? would appear easy. If the Republican Party is to have any influence over the affairs of state, their candidates have to be elected first. On the other hand, who would benefit, and what would that benefit be, if the Republican Party gained office by catering to voters who would otherwise vote for a socialist/democrat candidate? There would be a definite benefit to the professional Republican politician in advancing his or her career goals. The Republican Party would benefit by increasing its power in the Federal government. But, what about the rank-and-file Republican and the general welfare of the country?
The rank-and-file Republican would benefit only in that the advance toward tyranny might be slowed to a degree and the payment for irresponsible spending might be postponed for a generation or two, but in general, the average republican voter would profit little. The general welfare of the nation would suffer greatly. By moving the Party left in order to attract more moderates, independents, and liberal voters, the only obstacle to the eventual transition from a Constitutional Republic to an Americanized Social Democracy would be removed.
We have faced the threat of federal tyranny throughout our history. Rarely have we succeeded in hindering its progress for more than a short time. The three most notable examples were the revolution of 1800, the Reagan revolution of 1980, and the Gingrich revolution of 1994. In none of these were the principles of the Republican Party altered to attract “moderates” or “liberal voters”. Instead, the American people were reminded of who we are and what we stand for, and in each case the American people responded.
The voters the Republican Party needs to win over is the uninformed voter, whether they be Hispanic, African American, moderate Democrats or Independents. Republicans, especially conservatives need to focus in the next eighteen months on educating the American people on the founding principles that made America the most prosperous and free nation on the globe. Instead of allowing the MSM and the Democrat Party to identify us as the “party of NO” and the “party of the rich”, we need to establish a new image as “the party of the Constitution”.
The first step is to school our Republican leaders and elected representatives in the founding documents. Too may of them are more concerned about increasing their personal power than in defending the liberty of their constituents. The Republican penchant to “go along to get along” has to be jettisoned in favor of a firm stand in defense of our founding principles. All Americans understand the importance of a constitutional government when it is properly explained.
The 2010 race for congressional seats is already shaping up to be a contest between “squishy” Republicans on our side and dedicated socialists on the Democrat side. We need to start now to identify candidates who understand, promote and defend the founding principles. A good example of the problems Republicans will face in 2010 is the Florida Senate race.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, “top GOP officials today took the unusual step of inserting themselves into a party primary, picking a moderate U.S. Senate candidate (Gov. Charlie Crist) over a conservative in Florida.” “…in doing so, the top Republican officials also are aligning themselves with a candidate who has broken with party orthodoxy on environmental and voting rights issues and even appeared with President Obama to support the economic stimulus plan being lambasted by conservatives.”
Running against Crist in the primary will be Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a conservative of Cuban descent. In many ways the Florida race will be a harbinger of just how serious conservatives are going to be in taking back the Congress from the socialists currently in charge. The future of America depends on the 2010 primaries every bit as much as on the general election. It goes without saying that the Republican Party leadership is going to be more concerned with protecting the seats of incumbents that have proven their ineffectiveness than in reforming the party to comply with the principles that have made America great.
Republicans who have shown themselves to place party above country and power above principle need to be challenged and defeated in the primaries. That will only happen if the grass-roots movement that began with the “tea parties” continues into the 2010 primaries.
