Reforming the Right: A Brand New Image (Part III of V)
Yesterday I presented a series of the best possible election outcomes that may revitalize the GOP.
Jon Henke concludes with his final tactical observations:
Fighting against Democratic schemes to grow government and engineer society is what Republicans do best. Republicans are good as a minority party. Unfortunately, the Right has never figured out how to translate that limited government tendency into a governing agenda.
So, whatever the result of the 2008 election, the best result for the Right is to return to fighting Democrats and stop apologizing for Republicans.
This tactic would seem to be the Maryland model.
But it has not been effective here in Maryland, and I suspect that it won’t work anywhere else in the country either.
For the Republican Party to position itself for a strong run in the next few election cycles, it must clarify its vision, revitalize support and recruit new members to its ranks.
When we say that we are for limited government and under our watch government spending grows faster than hurricane over tropical waters, we should not be surprised by the economic damage caused by such a storm.
There is also political damage: we lose credibility with our constituents.
Our first priority must be to reduce taxes on business, both large and small, to encourage the creation of jobs and wealth among our middle class citizens.
We should not permit the Democrats to capitalize on a sour economy. We know that their economic packages, their control of the legislative bodies, their control of both taxes and spending are the things that have created the real damage here.
We just have not found the means to communicate these things effectively to the public.
We need to find concrete, understandable ways to communicate why our plans translate to more money in our constituents’ pockets.
And we MUST follow through with spending cuts and reducing government waste…and fraud.
We are fighting an economic war.
But it has been so long since we fought a real war on our own soil that Americans have forgotten how to stand at the door of their own homes, armed and ready to protect themselves from marauders or enemy forces.
Today they have no concrete example of the vigilance and personal responsibility required to protect themselves, economically or otherwise….
…especially when they have politicians telling them that they…and their assets…are safe in the hands of their elected officials.
The current economic crisis provides plenty evidence to the contrary.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I agree, and when a Republican gets a little liberal, things go sour. The real divide is Conservatism vs. Liberalism, and of course, most DEMS are liberal. Liberal should be a four letter word. It is negative and the DEMS know it. They even try to change the tag to “Progressive”. But, progressive and liberal are not synonyms.
Spending has to be cut. The Executive Branch can advocate that and vetoe, but the Congress has to legislate conservatively. The only way to do that is to vote the Liberals out. Already Barney Frank is talking about raising taxes. He and his associates have lots of ideas on how to spend your money. And yes, it is “Spreading the Wealth”. But, somehow, I feel that Barney and his friends will keep enough wealth of their own to live well. Even if some of that wealth is through the back door and not taxed.