The WaPo’s article on the GOP, led by Boehner, trying to massage their image, really agitated me, and now I am going to vent. Actually, I am going to rant.

Rant on:
Boehner and the party leadership trying to polish the party’s image is akin to polishing a rotten apple. It still isn’t going to sell. Not as long as the insulated from the base and spineless Rino’s in the party have any say over this so called new image.
A new image will never change the opposition of the committed left; to them it is a sign of weakness to be pounced on (as in “see, they needed to moderate their extremist positions to reconnect with the Amercian people, but don’t be fooled, they still hate you.”)
A new image won’t garner support from the welfare class, those that don’t pay attention to politics, only to who can give them more in benefits and handouts. History is on the side of the Dems on this one, as it is Dem pressure on the GOP that got them the Medicare prescription drug program, the Education bill from W’s first term, and now, the promise of amnesty for 12 million people whos first act in this country was to break the law. The “gimme” class knows who butters their bread.

That leaves the common-sense middle Americans, and the committed conservatives.
Committed conservatives fear that any change in the image of the GOP will leave them out in the margins of the party. And it will. A party searching for “new ideas” instead of standing up for tried and proven principles, will leave its base out in the cold, and the base knows it.

And last but not least, the common-sense middle Americans will see re-packaging as just that, repackaging. It will further reinforce the idea that the two parties are Coke and Pepsi, with little real difference other than image and marketing. And these folks are the swing voters, those who aren’t willfully apathetic, not entirely ignorant of the issues, and can be convinced by reason of the logic of a particular issue. Or occasionally fooled by clever deception, but that is a rant on the MSM, saved for some other time. Problem is, Dems have a hammerlock on saying whatever it takes to win, and most of us don’t want to see the GOP become just like them, for the same reason…to keep or regain their grip on power for powers sake.

The GOP is screwed, short term, probably longer, unless it gets back to doing what the voters who elected them want them to do.

From the local and state level to the national stage, fear of being on the wrong side of a issue, of looking bad while standing up for princlples, is killing the party.
What else explains supporting onerous child seat laws (Wisconsin has one that mandates children up to 9 year and 80 lbs. be put in them) other than fear of appearing to be callous to children dying?
Or supporting anti-smoking legislation that infringes on the rights of property and business owners?
Or going along with anti-capitalist, leftist driven propaganda on the environment, for fear of appearing to support dirty air and water, or worse, global warming.
Or sticking a finger in the eye of every immigrant who EVER came here by following the rules, out of fear of being labeled as a racist, casting the much vaunted “rule of law” into the dustbin without so much as a whimper.

How about this, GOP?
State your Principles, follow your principles, and only support policies that move the country (or your little corner of it) closer to those princlples.

I guess I am asking too much… I feel used and jaded.
/Rant off.

ps I thought this would make me feel better. It didn’t. Pardon me while I go kick my dog around the yard, and sorry for the bloviating.

OneEyedJack on June 1, 2007 at 10:30 AM