Why the GOP losing isn't a bad thing
Nov 8, 2006 13:09:19 GMT -5
Post by Loki on Nov 8, 2006 13:09:19 GMT -5
This thread is dedicated to Tex, and to all the other conservatives who were upset by the Republican defeat on Tuesday.
Guys (and gals, if any are out there) – why so glum? None of you strike me GOPers. Rather, you all tend to strike me as conservatives. McCain and others in the GOP have stated that the party has “lost its way”. Others who were being more blunt pointed out that the GOP was more interested in staying in power than in actually promoting a conservative agenda. The ballooning deficit, the lack of border security, the fact that the government is now bigger than it has ever been, the intrusion of federal oversight into items that by the constitutional supposed to be left to the states, the spend-spend-spend, the lack of troop resources – these are all items that have occurred within the past few years under the current GOP leadership and have true conservatives gagging on their milk and cookies. And these occurred while the GOP had control of all three power centers on Capitol Hill. In other words, they had plenty of opportunity and never took advantage.
Under the new Democratic regime you actually have a better chance of getting conservative issues enacted than you did under the GOP. Froma Harrop had an interesting piece about this the other day. Link is here, if you’re interested. She overstates the “Democrat Plan”, because this election wasn’t about a Democrat plan (the Democrat plan seemed to be “Let the Republicans destroy themselves”), but her points are valid. And if you look at the types of Democrats won in the Midwest/Great Lakes you will see that they are centrists, or have some stances that are considered conservative (Minnesota’s Democrat is a prime example). And here I’m talking primarily about fiscal conservatives – I’m sure most of the religious conservatives know by now the scorn by which the GOP held them when the GOP did not need the Religious base for backing on issues.
Bottom line – Conservatives stopped being represented by the GOP at least six years ago and the party is now as corrupt as the 1994 Democrats that the GOP soundly thumped. Perhaps more so, as the ’94 Dems never paraded on values, while the ’06 GOP made a big point of trying to court values voters with morally reprehensible characters and scandals.
This defeat is a great way for the party to clean house and get rid of the deadwood. Can any of you honestly say that Bob Taft makes conservatives better? Rick Santorum? Kenneth Blackwell? Denny Hastert?
Your party needs to reconcile the differences within itself. Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich (Ohio) are two centrist Republicans that have been blasted by people within the GOP for not being conservative enough. And they were viciously attacked on TV in their home states by people within the Republican party. Think about that for a second. These are two steady Senators who are a boon to your party, who have been attacked not by the opposition, but by the party proper. But these centrists are, for now, the future of your party. As the Dems found out for their party.
I’m wandering a bit, so to drive it back to my main point – Conservatives stopped being represented by the GOP a while ago. This is a time for the corrupt face of the party to be cleaned out and the next generation – one that hopefully will do more than pay lip service to conservative values - to come in.
Guys (and gals, if any are out there) – why so glum? None of you strike me GOPers. Rather, you all tend to strike me as conservatives. McCain and others in the GOP have stated that the party has “lost its way”. Others who were being more blunt pointed out that the GOP was more interested in staying in power than in actually promoting a conservative agenda. The ballooning deficit, the lack of border security, the fact that the government is now bigger than it has ever been, the intrusion of federal oversight into items that by the constitutional supposed to be left to the states, the spend-spend-spend, the lack of troop resources – these are all items that have occurred within the past few years under the current GOP leadership and have true conservatives gagging on their milk and cookies. And these occurred while the GOP had control of all three power centers on Capitol Hill. In other words, they had plenty of opportunity and never took advantage.
Under the new Democratic regime you actually have a better chance of getting conservative issues enacted than you did under the GOP. Froma Harrop had an interesting piece about this the other day. Link is here, if you’re interested. She overstates the “Democrat Plan”, because this election wasn’t about a Democrat plan (the Democrat plan seemed to be “Let the Republicans destroy themselves”), but her points are valid. And if you look at the types of Democrats won in the Midwest/Great Lakes you will see that they are centrists, or have some stances that are considered conservative (Minnesota’s Democrat is a prime example). And here I’m talking primarily about fiscal conservatives – I’m sure most of the religious conservatives know by now the scorn by which the GOP held them when the GOP did not need the Religious base for backing on issues.
Bottom line – Conservatives stopped being represented by the GOP at least six years ago and the party is now as corrupt as the 1994 Democrats that the GOP soundly thumped. Perhaps more so, as the ’94 Dems never paraded on values, while the ’06 GOP made a big point of trying to court values voters with morally reprehensible characters and scandals.
This defeat is a great way for the party to clean house and get rid of the deadwood. Can any of you honestly say that Bob Taft makes conservatives better? Rick Santorum? Kenneth Blackwell? Denny Hastert?
Your party needs to reconcile the differences within itself. Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich (Ohio) are two centrist Republicans that have been blasted by people within the GOP for not being conservative enough. And they were viciously attacked on TV in their home states by people within the Republican party. Think about that for a second. These are two steady Senators who are a boon to your party, who have been attacked not by the opposition, but by the party proper. But these centrists are, for now, the future of your party. As the Dems found out for their party.
I’m wandering a bit, so to drive it back to my main point – Conservatives stopped being represented by the GOP a while ago. This is a time for the corrupt face of the party to be cleaned out and the next generation – one that hopefully will do more than pay lip service to conservative values - to come in.