Hey GOP: The Goal Is To Win, Right
ByKyle Stone wrote a terrific piece today in the American Thinker showing how the GOP must not disintegrate into a “Southern” party. Over the past few weeks, I have spent some time reevaluating where and how the GOP will get back into power. I have to say that I see Stone’s point crystal clear. The Republican Party became popular under Reagan and Eisenhower, because they embraced all people who wanted to join them in their vision for America. They didn’t say that their followers had to agree with all of their policies, but just with their central ideas for America. President Obama did this masterfully in the 2008 election by convincing many Americans that he was a post-partisan “change” candidate who believed our country could be great once again. Americans had heard that optimism before from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and bought it once again.
The key to winning in politics, and winning big, is not policy or principles, but guidance and leadership. Southern Republicans are nervous to make the GOP a “Big Tent” party , because they could lose their precious roles as power brokers. The GOP won’t win if they just stand up for their principles, but rather need to find a leader who can inspire America to be great once again. Like Eisenhower after World War II and an unpopular Truman presidency. Like Reagan after the economic difficulties and foreign policy weakness under Jimmy Carter.
Everyone wants to point to health care or the deficit as the reasons for President Obama’s current drop in the polls. but that is wrong. The reason Obama is tanking with the public is for his LACK OF LEADERSHIP. Nobody feels confident that our president really wants America to be great. He never speaks of the great job our troops are doing and have done in Iraq and Afghanistan. He always talks of saving jobs and not creating jobs. He looks at our weaknesses on race now and in the past, rather than our hope to become more diverse and tolerant.
The American people want a leader who will uplift their spirit and give them the tools to create a better life for themselves and their families. They want a leader who will make them proud to be an American, not ashamed of it. Obama was elected because he made Americans feel good about themselves and he inspired them to dream that anything was possible in our country. Now…in his first six months…he taken away America’s desire to aspire to greatness. Most Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction and don’t have much “hope” that the economy will turn around anytime soon. They are scared of Obama’s spending and believe he is bankrupting our country for future generations. Americans are ready to consider what the GOP has to offer, so they need to provide one thing and only one thing to the American people: LEADERSHIP.
Leadership has been hard to find in Washington from the GOP these days as they seem to be holding the ball at the end of the game, hoping they a chance to win it with a field goal in 2010. This is the wrong approach. The GOP must “push the ball” down the field and put a full out attack on the Dems in order to take back Congress and potentially the presidency in 2012. They must come up with an innovative vision that will help Americans see greatness ahead in the 21st century and not constant difficulty.
The party must find politicians in the Northeast and Midwest that can convey its principles in a way that is inclusive and not exclusive. The problem with the Republican Party is that it is afraid to go away from the policies and rhetoric that rally its conservative base in the South. However, conservatism and Republicans were always a party about embracing individual liberty, promoting the individual, and protecting freedom. It has sadly spun into a party that is more worried about regulating who can belong, then reaching out to those looking for a set of ideals to embrace.
The Republican Party of the 21st Century must not be one that sees conservatism as a rejection of the modernization of social mores, but one that embraces the individualism that is a fabric of today’s America. No longer are Americans strapped down to their local communities, but rather connected to all parts of the world through technology and innovation. It is a time where you can as easily talk to someone in Texas as down the block and see an Olympics in China as clear as looking at your neighbors car down the road. Collectivism is dead in America, and Republicans have an opening. President Obama believes in community as a way to deliver prosperity to Americans. However, his community is one of local plants and jobs that come from big manufactures. He doesn’t see the America that is emerging around small business, individual enterprise, and a rejection of large institutions.
America is a country that has rejected newspapers, American car companies, broadcast networks, and corporations all in the past few years. People are afraid to rely on anybody but themselves and are tired of the fear mongering in Washington whether it be over Iraq or the economy. With the power of the Internet, Americans know clearly what’s going on in DC and just want politicians to cut with the crap. They want a no nonsense leader who will shoot straight with them and not act as if they are children. Obama failed to see that Americans weren’t demanding a nanny state, but rather reason and sensibility in Washington. They saw President Bush as too much of a cowboy and wanted a “thinker” in the White House. However, Obama has not been a “cowboy” or a “thinker,” but rather an “idealist.”
It is time for the GOP to adopt the mantle of the “Party of Reason.” The party that makes decisions based on real world conditions and results, rather than ideology. Their principles should solely align with helping others help themselves. It should get rid of all pork barrel projects, entitlements, and social engineering in favor of promoting enterprise and ambition from ndividuals and the private sector.
It will be interesting to see which presidential candidate emerges in 2012, but Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have to be the front runners. Sarah Palin is a self-made women from Alaska who became an unlikely governor (that didn’t even last her term) and helped boost a sagging McCain campaign by rallying the conservative base. Can she channel her frontier appeal to grab moderates who want more freedom from statism? Mitt Romney is a very successful businessman who knows how to grow jobs in the private sector. However, can he connect with small town voters who are weary of corporations and Wall Street.? Well, it will all depend on messaging and how both candidates as well as others who enter to race connect with Americans desire to limit the current runaway bureaucracy in Washington DC. One thing for sure is the Bible-thumping Southern Republican, doesn’t have a prayer to win. Pun intended. Americans don’t want to be lectured about how to live moral lives, but rather lead to an era of progress and stability by a great President and Congress. It’s time for Americans to stop letting cultural preferences divide us, but rather rally around all that unites us.
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3 Comments
August 7th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Where to start?
The Republican Party, when aligned with conservatism, is naturally a big tent. There is no need to adjust fundamental conservative principles to so-called “modern times.” Let me do my best to explain.
Party’s that do not lead with principles cannot lead at all. Leadership alone is a quality that is neither good nor bad. Who can deny some of the most infamous personalities in history have been terrific leaders? You say Obama is not leading. On the contrary, he is leading a rogue party, at breakneck speed, to radically alter the substance of our underlying laws. For example: taking over the car companies, taking over the banks, not respecting bankruptcy laws, not respecting private property, looking taxing carbon emissions, and seize control of our healthcare system. You see, he could care less if he’s liked so long as he gets his way. It’s the same for any leader without a grounding in moral principles. His first priority is maintaining and expanding his own personal power, like any good dictator.
Which brings us to my other main contention: the GOP cannot eschew moral convictions from its platform. It cannot rebrand itself as “the party of reason” and expect to get 10% of the vote. This is basically the cry of Libertarians, and we see how well they do in national polls. This might seem like an argument for political expediency on my part, but its deeper than that.
A nation, a people that has shifting definitions of right and wrong will inevitably suffer tragic collapse. This has been the story of every past society that started to expedite its priorities by placing too much faith in man’s limited conception of reason, while jettisoning traditional right and wrong. Such action is antithetical to conservatism’s greatest characteristic: prudence. The basis of civilization lies in proper morals because it is these that define man’s relationship to man. I try to make this point every now and then, but it seems that hubris never goes out of fashion.
Always I wonder: are Northeastern Republicans embarrassed because their party supports traditional marriage? Because it stands staunchly against the killing of the unborn? Because they show deference to the Book that provided the basis for Western civilization? Because they invoke God in public discourse and refuse to put man on the same level as angels? To me this all seems like common sense, and the ridiculing of such habits smacks of little historical knowledge and no appreciation, arrogance, lack of courage and conviction, and, finally, poor leadership.
That being said, I don’t want (nor do many conservatives) a priest or preacher as my president. I want an efficient executive, vigilant of the nation’s security, who is not advocating against gays or abortions per se, but leaving those issues to the states where they belong. It is the liberal news media and activist court that make mountains out of local mole hills, dividing the national populace – inclined toward liberty as it is – and creating the wedge issues that allow the party communist organizers to get elected into national office.
Conservative Republicans have nothing to apologize for (and what we may, we’ve done a thousand times over). We have not been the party of slavery, of segregation, discrimination, centralization of power, economic tyranny, political censorship, eugenics, abortion, or authoritarianism. From Jefferson to Lincoln to Taft, to Goldwater, Buckley, and Reagan, we are on the right side of history.
What we need are attractive (in the broad sense of the word, though in the Palin sense never hurts) candidates who can articulate an alternative to Democrat (basically Marxist) politics. I’d humbly submit that my colleagues start reading some Hayek and some history, to start.
A final point, because it needs clarification: Reagan was an idealist; Obama is an ideologue. Reagan’s idealism did not divorce him from reality, but gave him optimism; Obama’s ideology blinds him to reality, makes him cynical, and prone to put-downs.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I see your point William, but you don’t see what I am driving at The current conservative movement generated from the South under George W. Bush was one that was very evasive in the lives of Americans. It definitely looked to promote a moral agenda, like regulating broadcast television and the Internet…and “certain” types of people and lifestyles. This “big brother” moralism is not what U.S. citizens want from their government. If people want to protect our children from things we find “personally immoral” then ut is up to them. If a parent has no problem with his child watching “inappropriate” content…who are we to judge. Would you want someone to tell you that your lifestyle is wrong? Maybe parents find value in having their child experience certain things you find “inappropriate.” It is not the job of federal government to tell me what is right and wrong…unless what I am doing is infringing upon the freedom of others. There are tools that protect kids from harmful content on the internet and TV…so parents can block programs and websites they don’t want coming into their home.
As far as leadership, people want a president that inspires them to succeed and make the best our of their lives. President Obama did this during the campaign. You couldn’t help but feel good when you saw thousands of Americans inspired by his message, even though most elements of it I didn’t agree with. He squandered his opportunity to unite us, which is tragic. Americans wanted to be united and lead. Instead Obama is just leading the far left, as you mentioned, and not America. He has become an “idelogue”, because he wants to create his “ideal” America. He wants to change America….while Reagan wanted to reestablish it after statism ruined the country through the War on Poverty. Reagan’s message was all about providing economic opportunity for all Americans…and although he was socially conservative…he did not demand it for Americans to join his movement. He made people of all backgrounds proud to be patriotic and feel good about America. The problem with the left is they want us to go back to the turbulent 60′s…an era when America was embarassed about itself. But this isn’t the 60′s and we aren’t in a Vietnam situation. Let’s not forget that Vietnam was a problem caused by Democrat leadership, so why do right-wingers feel they should defend it. It was a poorly run war…that deserved to end…since it had no central goal or mission.
Republicans need to express freedom for all, strong defense to provide freedom for the oppressed and security for the American people, and a love of liberty. I am Catholic and have faith in God, but I don’t want relgiion doctrine to influence the Constitution. This country was setup on the basis of relgious freedom and people came here to escape prosecution and practice their faith in peace. It is ESSENTIAL that law is based on reason, since faith in what is right and wrong can lead to tyranny. Bruce Springsteen mentioned in a Giants Stadium concert in 1985 that “Faith in your leaders can get you killed.” It is so true. Americans need to doubt and question everything about their government in order for America to work. Heck…we wouldn’t have America if it wasn’t for “questioning” Patriots in Boston who told the British that they could take their tea tax and shove it. Moral right & wrong is never right if statism is the driver.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
“The current conservative movement generated from the South under George W. Bush was one that was very evasive in the lives of Americans. It definitely looked to promote a moral agenda, like regulating broadcast television and the Internet…and “certain” types of people and lifestyles. This “big brother” moralism is not what U.S. citizens want from their government.”
Can you name one instance of big brother moralism imposed by GWB? I can’t.
“As far as leadership, people want a president that inspires them to succeed and make the best our of their lives. President Obama did this during the campaign. You couldn’t help but feel good when you saw thousands of Americans inspired by his message, even though most elements of it I didn’t agree with.”
Actually, I did not find it inspiring. Quite the contrary, I found it alarming that the majority of our citizens were susceptible to such a patent, historically typical demagogue. Seeing my country descend into political hysteria was like living through a Kafka-esque nightmare.
“[Reagan] did not demand it for Americans to join his movement.”
Nor should he have, nor am I advocating any mobilizing Federal power to impose socially conservative doctrine on the United States. The president doesn’t make policy anyhow, though I believe he should speak to social conservatism. It is the primary way he can influence culture, which ultimately drives society’s progress.