I’ve been remiss in posting winners from teh Watcher’s Council, so here are the last two weeks’ results. November 28, 2008 Winning Council Submissions First place with 2 2/3 points! – The Colossus of Rhodey – Culture of Whine (a……

What unites us, then? We need to get back to those First Principles of fiscal responsibility (which we blew when we had the opportunity), smaller government (which we betrayed with the K Street Project and other lobbyist pandering), national security, free market economics, federalism, and lower taxes. If we can agree to pursue those as priorities, and if we can rebuild our credibility on those goals, then we can convince moderates to once again support Republicans, especially if the Democrats run off the rails in the next two years.

I’m in agreement with that. But I think there are TWO things at work. One, Republicans spend way too much time squabbling amongst themselves. And two, we’ve allowed the left to define our brand instead of doing it for ourselves.

Republicanism should be viewed as a big umbrella. It’s precepts are fairly basic ones, so one would think there’d be lots of room for like-thinkers under that umbrella.

Republican Principles

I’m a Republican Because…

I BELIEVE the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.

I BELIEVE in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.

I BELIEVE free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.

I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.

I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations, and that the best government is that which governs least.

I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.

I BELIEVE Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.

I BELIEVE Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.

FINALLY, I believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.
http://www.gop.com/about/imarepublicanbecause.htm

The problem we run into is that we’ve been looking at Republicanism as a pyramid, with SoCons at “the base”. If we use the umbrella model instead, we see that they have no more right to hold the handle and lead the way than any other groups or individuals that stand beneath the our large umbrella of core principles.

Meanwhile, all the Independents and Moderates see is the loud and blustering SoCons leading us around in circles. And the left capitalizes on that big time, using it to define us to the public.

RINO-hunting, I believe, is a knee-jerk reaction to our leadership having made “deals with the devil”. And I’m not talking about “bipartisanship” in general, but rather “bipartisanship” which fails to uphold our most basic principles. These principles should be the litmus test of whether we work together across the aisle, or fight tooth and nail.

If you ask me, I think what we need to do now is campaign a new model out to the public, replace the pyramid with the umbrella, and define ourselves by our core principles. In order to shorten our message down to a memorable sound-bite… we need to stress the meaning of Liberty (Individualism) as opposed to Collectivism. The brevity and clarity of that message, shows us two umbrellas… and it’s not hard at that point to decide which one a patriot would rather stand under.

Republicans have been put in the political wilderness, and it is important to use this period to reinvigorate the GOP. Scapegoating particularly now does not help because in this electoral year, there were “headwinds” that precluded any Republican from being elected President — a financial meltdown that created economic anxieties that have historically favored the Democrats and did this year; a financial bailout that muddied the waters of what was a Reaganesque economic message delivered by McCain and Palin on the campaign trail; the unpopularity of Bush, which is unfair but which is the result of unceasing attack by the Left and Bush not using the bully pulpit to defend his Administration; money and more money, some of it illegal, that Obama had; and media bias that was absurdly in the tank for Obama and that operated effectively day-in, day-out as a propaganda machine for Democrats (e.g., Obama, the tax cutter).

The “tailwinds” that should work for us of strong military and national security, strong values and strong economy based on freedom and oppportunity did not blow for us ths year because of the unusual economic situation that arose. Before the financial meltdown, McCain was ahaead in the polls; after the meltdown, the economic anxieties, the money and the media bias trumped all.

The media bias is not going away. The money advantage that Obama had is probably not going away. The unpopularity of Bush will fade, but the media will cover for Obama and the Democrats. So it is important, if we are to be successful, not to engage in internecine intra-party fights and scapegoating, but to identify what we stand for and stand on it from day one against Obama and the Democrats.

Talk about airy blather….

I note that embryonic stem-cell research, gay marriage, & abortion among other socially conservative issues. are not on your list of things which unite us and attract moderates. You, yourself, are thus confirming Whitman’s very point!

A good starting point for determining where you stand on the future of the Republican Party can be reduced to this one multiple-choice question: “Republicans are losing right now primarily because of ________.” (a) social liberals, social conservativ…

Speaking of which: RINO’s use the same logic as gun controllers to excuse their messes. Just as gun controllers invariably cause crime rates to spike in their states, and then claim it’s the neighboring states, without gun control (and incidentally, with low crime), that cause the problem, RINO’s invariably lead to long-term Democrat dominance in their states–and then blame social conservatives thousands of miles away.

For anyone who thinks pro-abortion politics is a silver bullet for Republicans, why don’t you ask US Senator Rick Lazio about that?

kangjie on November 14, 2008 at 11:19 PM

But, but there is a Thesaurus!

What unites us, then? We need to get back to those First Principles of fiscal responsibility, smaller government, national security, free market economics, federalism, and lower taxes.

Retain the integrity of The Constitution.

Republicans and esp. RINO’s are to often confused with their principles and beliefs, wobbling around like a bug caught in a spider web. What I loved about Ronald Reagan was his delightful adherence to his ideology, and his ability to face the MSM and deliver powerful blow after powerful blow to their nonsense… Taking a stand on principle is attractive, esp. if you find the principle agreeable to your own way of living life.

Republicans need to study up on what it means to be a Republican. GW Bush blew it big time with his spending and willingness to move big government programs forward. Strong on National Defense, strong on Liberal Socialist programs. Bad combination trying to please both sides of the isle!

He is a draft dodger, and has said things such as “Our failure has been not to Nagasaki them.” (speaking on Iraq), and “I say if somebody robs you, shoot ‘em. I’d like all thieves killed. And all rapists. And carjackers. No more graffiti. No more…”

Now, I think we handled the insurgency with kidgloves for too long (esp after Abu Ghraib) – but nuking Iraq? I don’t see too many conservatives supporting that.

And while I wouldn’t shed too many tears over a thief being shot after breaking into your home – ‘all thieves being killed’ is something I can’t get behind.

A hungry person steals a loaf of bread and we should kill them? WTF? That packet of post-it’s you took home from work? Death sentence.

I don’t know if there is a perfect conservative out there. Let’s kick everyone out of the party. Then we’ll win fer sure!

Good detailization (?) (opposite of a summary)

I think the word that you are looking for is exposition. :-)

It’s completely legitimate to look at the records of candidates like Huckabee and McCain and decide whether their positions are too nutty to vote for them in good conscience. Bushism and RINOism hosed this country big-time with election deception and a death grip on Republican politics. Liberals like Arnold are especially destructive when they come in as non-entities posing as conservatives.

It’s not just issues; it’s the larger picture painted by actions and the results that follow. Too many conservatives have seen enough, and the RINOs are quaking at the thought of Palin. There have been no real choices for quite a while. We know what we’re getting with the liberal Democrat Party. It’s the RINOs in the Republican Party who are denying the electorate another choice.

The nation is on the brink of ruin, and it’s ridiculous to place all blame for Obama on foolish voters who wanted a strong laxative to cleanse the government of RINOs.

What unites us, then? We need to get back to those First Principles of fiscal responsibility (which we blew when we had the opportunity), smaller government (which we betrayed with the K Street Project and other lobbyist pandering), national security, free market economics, federalism, and lower taxes. If we can agree to pursue those as priorities, and if we can rebuild our credibility on those goals, then we can convince moderates to once again support Republicans, especially if the Democrats run off the rails in the next two years.

If we can agree to those, there will still be those in the Republican party who will be mortified to hobnob with nasty, narrow-minded evangelical pro-lifers and other assorted Neanderthals. I wonder why they don’t save everyone a lot of angst and just become Democrats.

Our central thesis was simple: The Republican Party had been taken hostage by “social fundamentalists,” the people who base their votes on such social issues as abortion, gay rights and stem cell research.

I have never known a single person who based their votes only on social issues. Straw man.

Reagan didn’t lie to get elected. He told people what he wanted to do and, once elected, he did what he said he’d do.

STOP LYING and there will be no controversy.