Fiscal responsibility is a hard sell. It’s extremely difficult to compete with promises of ‘free money,’ which is why big-spenders generally win.

Sarah has it right!

Being compassionate is a good thing, we should not abandon it. But we don’t need to depend on government exclusively. More competition to help keep down prices and more open markets can also cut costs. Freezes on government spending in a non essential programs as well as an end to earmarking and wasteful spending can help as well. Encouraging private sector is good as well. I would hate to see compassion become a bad word.

sashal on November 7, 2008 at 5:20 PM

Hello, Manly? Is that you? Can only hope.
Well said. Nice post IMHO

Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006 because voters no longer saw Republicans as the party of limited government.

I strongly disagree with this line of thinking. Though it’s perhaps true that Republicans lost control because conservatives saw Republicans as the party of limited government but not the liberals, moderates, independents and whatever. They lost Congress because America believes the lies liberals tell them.

Ed good points on all.

Only one probelm. Most People (younger) whom are liberal or moderate or whatever in this day and age, do NOT like conservative values.

I really wonder what is going to happen to this country in the coming years.

upinak on November 7, 2008 at 4:34 PM

Youthful liberalism should be treated as a disease, with the cure being education, role-model awareness, and the sharpening of the lines between what is easy, and what’s right.

We have to take hold of the education system. I don’t mean indoctrination, where you teach a child to let someone think for them, rather teaching children to think for themselves in conjunction with rewarding strong ethics and the re-introduction of consequence. When children grow up seeing people making poor choice, yet not receiving a consequence to counteract the poor choice, they grow to understand that there is no negative reaction to compliment the poor choice. Likewise, when you attempt to instruct an adult that has been indoctrinated in such a manner, they will fight you and consider it “injustice” or scream “that’s unconstitutional”.

Common values and ethics are incompatible with liberal ideology. It is extremely illogical to think otherwise. Liberals have twisted our society to think that being responsible for your actions is equivalent to unconstitutionality. If you require an example, google the phrase “punished with a baby”.

Perhaps I’m conservative because of my military service. Perhaps it’s because my parents are conservative. Perhaps it’s because I’m a Christian. I’m part of said generation (age 25). People my age were tricked because selling complacency is easy, up until the point when it is realized that complacency leads to bondage, and by that time it’s too late.

Conservatism lives, but if we keep calling it The Republican Party, we’re gonna lose. And I’m not going to give up. Anyone who has read more than one post on my blog knows that I supported McCain wholeheartedly even though I felt he was wrong for our party. He was our guy. But we’ve lost more than an election and we need to seriously, seriously consider that there is something to be gained by letting rotting things die and be reborn into what they are supposed to be.

The only thing I would add is that the Republican party needs to create a self policing force. This force should be in charge of sweeping our door and when they find dirt and trash getting it OUT of the house tent whatever.

The American gen pop would not have turned their back on the republican party just because some bad apples got in or some once good apples rotted.

Lets make our foundation solid and non-negotiable.

-SMALL GOVERNMENT: Make it clear we don’t want the government to provide for all your needs we instead want to give you enough freedom and lesson the government burden enough for you to maintain your own needs. Our goal is all citizens to be INDEPENDENT PEOPLE not SLAVES. And yes I absolutely support those word use. It should be driven home that to make yourself dependent on the government or someone else is to enslave yourself to that government or person.

-Corruption Free Representative Government: Government corruption and waste should be searched out and attacked vigorously. Every government agency should be picked through and attention brought to the waste and corruption. Force the Liberals to defend these waste and fight the cutbacks. Internal Republican corruption should be crucified openly and brutally. Very simply nations hold and respect a enemies soldiers as POW until the wars over but spies and especially Traitors are usually shot or hung.

-De-Regulate: This is a winner with every American who is either self-employed, owns a business, or has done any research into starting a business or professional career. Very simply go to your local state site and just see the amount of red tape, cost, and just general BS aggravation it takes to get something as insanely simply as a HOT DOG VENDOR. When the Liberals say regulation protects the poor old lady from getting frauded, go do your research and show up with 5 cases of how lil old ladies are still frauded even with the existing regulation. The number of people regulation protects is miniscule to the number of people de-regulation allows to become small businesses and jobs, economic gain. SIMPLE want more business and jobs make it easier to start a business and employee people. Research Benjamin Franklin and how he wired NY for power. Then try to imagine someone today doing such things, the permits, ecological impact test, business, occupational, city, county, state, federal hoops and wow the insurance etc….

-Ole School morals like what took America from a backwater wilderness to the World Power we are. Very simply God, County, Family, In that order. Brief Below:
=God: Lets not push what God or one certain, just as the Founders did GOD (you pick the name or even scientific formula and insert later). But without question we should push GOD and basic morals/civics.
=Country: There is NO excuse for Americans to not be proud of our nation (if they are we should have no shame in requesting if not demanding they LEAVE our nation). Patriotism should be enforced, pushed, and spread. The Lefts ability to turn patriotism into knuckle dragger ideology should be fought to the death. This disease spread by the liberals is causing lack of self respect, pride, and patriotism in our nation and its foundations. Moral equivalence is a direct result of this withering of patriotism. The Republicans should believe in America and fight for and defend her. Let the liberals try to debate why America is not a good just country FORCE THEM TO!
=Family: Family should be expanded to try to bond back the ole nuclear family. Give tax breaks to married couples and more tax breaks to couples having children. If welfare cannot be eliminated then we should make it a sliding scale that pays less if you are not married, and even less if you don’t know the daddy’s name. Paying young girls to have babies and punishing the ones that were married or wrote the daddy’s name in with less or no assistance is what the Liberals destroyed the black family with.

Ya want a big tent lets take our beliefs small government, deregulation, and basic morals then aggressively go after the different groups explaining how those beliefs can help or better their life.

We are in for at least one decade of Obama Deal.

Obama’s strength was being the “right black guy at the right time“. His charisma was mostly MSM (and black community wishing-for-one-of-their-own) manufactured, as his clumsy, ignorant, embarrassingly dull off-the-teleprompter moments reveal.

If he had looked more like his mother, he wouldn’t have had a chance in hell with his level of vacuity and weakness and inexperience. A Dan Quayle with enough melanin can win elections when Race History and a flailing economy are in conjunction.

Political Motivating can be a natural gift, or can be learned and honed.

Palin has the natural version.

(Which is why those who recognize her strengths are trying to destroy her. It is rare to have this ability to connect. while looking good and seeming effortless.)

Half of political (or any) success is being entertaining in how you instruct and inspire and rouse and lead.

Without the ability to first charm people, the didactic and dry “political stuff” doesn’t have a chance of getting accomplished.

The conservative movement needs to find those who can galvanize, not sermonize.

Stop propping it up.

Joan of Argghh on November 7, 2008 at 6:35 PM

I will never stop propping Conservatism up.
“From my cold, dead hands!”
And stop pushing your lousy blog!

We need to promote those things that have universal appeal, like self-determination.

Let’s focus on the inarguable, and leave arguable behind for a while.

Once people rally around liberty, then we’ll have the numbers to influence the rest.

beatcanvas on November 7, 2008 at 6:33 PM

Indeed.
If Obama’s as bad a President as I think he’s going to be, all the GOP candidate in 2012 will have to do will be like Reagan did in 1980 and ask, “Are you better off?”
And the rest will be history.
(This, of course, presupposes that President Obama hasn’t changed or tossed out the Constitution and cancelled all further elections.)

The huge fear of having a Dem majority along with a Dem President have been realized. So no more “boo” tactics from our Republican leaders.

Vote them all out on their ass and start over.

Stop propping it up.

Let’s focus on the inarguable, and leave arguable behind for a while.

Once people rally around liberty, then we’ll have the numbers to influence the rest.

I dont think he could ever be president

Why? I’m not getting this. If there is anybody alive that could make a Lincoln level President it is Newt. Have you looked into his work with American Solutions?