A Republican Resurgence? Not with this party!

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele vowed a few months ago that the GOP was going to go after President Barrack Obama more aggressively regardless of his popularity and claimed the Party has turned the corner predicting a Republican resurgence. A Republican Resurgence he says? Uh…not with the clowns in the Party now…

Now, apparently a lot of people within the Party do not think it is such a good idea to attack the most popular Democrat and would go after less popular Democrats to show their muscle. This next quote is actually a decent line from Steele.

"They suggest that instead we should go after Nancy Pelosi, whom nobody likes. Or Harry Reid, whom nobody knows. Or this Tim Geithner fellow, whom nobody believes. Or maybe even Barney Frank, whom nobody understands," said Steele.

After traveling around the country, Steele claims he has seen a stronger party than the one portrayed in Washington and credited last month’s “Tea Party” protests with providing a boost to the party’s grassroots. “This change comes in a tea bag,” Steele declared. Oh…what a yawner…sorry, but I just can’t get energized by this…

First off, if Steele thinks the Tea Parties is a reflection of the grass roots of the Republican Party he is more out of touch with Americans than I previously thought….unless he thinks Libertarians are grass root Republicans.

The “Tea Parties” from my experience was largely bi-partisan. I know several people who attended and out of that group there were Democrats, Independents, Libertarians and Republicans with Independents and Libertarians making up the majority. There were even people who voted for Obama that was not happy with their change!

Anyways, Steele also had this to say.

“Our success will not be found in dusting off old campaign manuals from the 70’s and 80’s,” he said. “Our success will be found in speaking directly to the American people about a rebirth of the American Dream for this generation and generations to come.”

Well Mr. Steele, perhaps you should dust off those old manuals from the 70’s and 80’s and learn the principles of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan since this was the last time the Party actually had a platform worth standing on…

Here is an idea for the Republican Party…Instead of worrying about which Democrats to point your fingers at and attack, how about coming up with some issues to run on that matter! You could start with the FairTax.

Oh yes…and while I am on the RNC. Please quit calling me and asking…no begging is a better word… for donations and support! I believe both Parties have things so messed up we may never get it right again!

It’s Those Damn Southerners… They’re ruining the Republican Party!

The latest polls show that more and more Americans now consider themselves conservative, so why is it the Republican Party’s popularity is not on the rise and they continue losing voters? Ohio Republican Senator George Voinovich has the answer.

According to him, it is because of all those damn Southerners in the party. That’s right, Southerners are to blame for the Republican’s problems. Voinovich told the Columbus Dispatch the party is being taken over by Southerners like South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn.

Isn’t that just like a good Republican, if you are not pointing fingers at Democrats just point them at each other. It has to be someone else’s fault. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact the Republican Party has lost its way, has no real platform to stand on and lacks any original ideas. I mean lets face it; the only thing the Republicans have to offer is they are not Democrats, while they then try to act more like Democrats!

It looks like quite the resurgence to me!

CPAC 2009: Can Libertarians re-shape the GOP?

I left CPAC 2009 with a feeling that the conservative movement is stronger than ever, but the Republican Party may no longer hold the monopoly on the grass roots effort of the movement. Which is something that I suspected to be true for several years as more and more conservatives like myself left the party that abandoned their core base principles of smaller government, less spending and less government interference.

There seemed to be a huge Libertarian influence at the convention, with several Libertarian organizations such as the Cato Institute, Young Americans for Liberty, Campaign for Liberty and Ron Paul who gave a speech at the conference. One attendee told me the speech was powerful and the atmosphere inside the ballroom was electrifying. Paul had an impromptu book signing in the exhibit hall following the speech that was also well attended.
Saturday Afternoon I met and spoke with a volunteer for the Campaign for Liberty. She told me they were very happy with the impact they were making at CPAC. They held a “Tea Party” at Lafayette Park Friday afternoon with an estimated crowd of 200-300 people, which was pretty high for purely Internet activism.

On Friday night CPAC attendees squeezed into a crowded Hampton Room to see the Liberty Forum and others watched the forum on a screen in the hallway. The panel was made up of Ron Paul, Judge Napolitano, Tom Woods Bruce Fein, Mark Mix and Larry Pratt. The group defended free markets, civil liberties and non-interventionist foreign policy, with each speaker giving his unique perspective on limited constitutional government and individual rights.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Libertarian influence to me was the fact that Ron Paul finished third with 14 percent in the straw poll asking: Who would you vote for as the next republican nominee for president behind Mitt Romney with 20 percent and La. Gov. Bobby Jindal with 14 percent.

There is no doubt the Libertarian influence was one of the big stories of CPAC, even though the mainstream press didn't and will never mention it.

The Republican Party no longer holds the monopoly on conservatism. If the so-called leaders of the party elite are smart enough to recognize this, they will welcome Libertarians in just like they did with the Christian right in the 1980’s.

Calling all disgruntled conservatives to show up and vote in November, not necessarily for McCain.

If a conservative is still a republican after the last 13 years, then he is blind to the fact that the party no longer holds or cares about his views. With that said let me ask a few questions. Are you a disgruntled conservative upset with the Republican Party? I am. Did you sit on your hands and not vote in the mid-term election in 2006? I did. Are you thinking about not voting again? I was…

There really isn't one candidate worth my vote. They are all trying to give me something I don't want...Security. I don't want security. I want freedom, the freedom to succeed or fail on my own accord. I am responsible for my own well being, my own healthcare, and my own security. I do not need the great provider of government or anyone to empower themselves over me by making me dependant on you for things that are my own individual responsibility.

No one will take care of you better than you, not Hillary, not Obama, not McCain, not Huckabee, no one. Open your eyes and realize these politicians and all their free social programs are not for you or to help you because they care. They care about one thing – power, and they use free handouts and social programs to gain power and control over you.

Unfortunately this seems to be a hard concept to grasp. Especially with younger Americans who have been indoctrinated to believe they are entitled to things. There use to be a time in this country when even liberals believed Americans had some kind of responsibility. John F. Kennedy once proclaimed, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Now people are demanding “what can my country do for me while I do nothing for my country!”

Give me health care, prescription drugs. Make them raise my salary or give me lifetime job security. Pay my heating bill. Make oil companies lower the price of gas. Give me a retirement.

Politicians love this new mindset and are more than eager to grab the power to accommodate your needs and wants.

Just listen to these presidential candidates. They never talk about freedom or self-reliance. They only talk about what they will do for you if you give them the power to get it done.

We say it is the “land of the free and home of the brave.” Sure, there are a few left, but more and more we are becoming the “land of the secure and the home of the dependent.” We are turning the United States into an assisted welfare living center!

This nation is in serious trouble folks! It is like a big house infested with termites. The termites spread and grow feeding off the wood holding the house together. Eventually, the house will collapse. Who are the termites in America ? The government dependent; the working taxpayers are the wood holding it together. The politicians set the conditions to allow the termites to grow and spread.

It is really sad…in fact the only candidate that is willing to talk about freedom and independence and is not pandering to the give me crowd is Ron Paul. It is unfortunate that he just doesn’t recognize the threat imposed by Islamic terrorist, or he would be my candidate.

Like many conservatives, I sat out and did not vote in the mid-term elections last November in hopes to send a message to the Republican Party that they needed to return to their founding principles of Buckley, Goldwater and Reagan.

I now regret my decision and hope other conservatives do as well, for our message fell on deaf ears. Instead of staying home, conservatives should have voted for the Libertarian Party candidate on their ballot. This would have sent a message that couldn’t be ignored.

By not voting at all we removed ourselves from the game, and the Republican Party shifted farther to the middle to compensate for lost voters.

You could say conservatives have no one to blame but themselves for John McCain emerging to the front. It doesn’t mean we conservatives should vote for him, but we definitely cannot afford to stay home again and let our message go unheard.

Instead disgruntled conservatives like myself should show up to the polls in force and cast their ballots for the libertarian candidate for president. He won’t win, but the increase in votes for the libertarian candidate will make republicans take notice that there is enough conservative votes in the base for them to win elections. At the same time cast your vote for republican candidates in the Senate and House so liberals will not take control of the White House, Senate, and House, a situation that cannot be allowed to happen.

Columnist David R. Stokes tells us this isn’t the first time the base of the Republican Party has threatened to sit out the election. He says Republicans should ask and take a look at what Richard Nixon would do in 2008. Interesting read, but I’m still not convinced to vote McCain