Resuscitating the GOP
by Joseph C. PhillipsA popular topic of conversation these days is what ails the Republican Party. Everyone from barbershop pundits and opinion writers to former Bush administration officials have waded in with opinions and cures.
More than a few have proffered that the problem with the Republican Party is that it has moved too far from the political center and given too much sway to the fringe right. They hold that in order to survive and become vibrant again the Grand Old Party must jettison (or at least silence) the far right and must begin appealing to the moderate wing of the party. In other words the party must become even more like Democrats. I suspect this brilliant advice was dreamed up by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid while doing shots of Tequila in some smart bar in Georgetown. They never dreamed Republicans would be so daft as to actually consider it.
Giving voice to a version of this madness, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, spoke to a group of corporate security executives and warned that the ills of the party could be traced to the repeating of the far right mantra. Powell went on to say, “Americans do want to pay taxes for services,” he continued, “Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less.”
With all due respect to the general, I beg to differ. I have never heard anyone bemoan the fact that their tax burden is not heavy enough. Americans don’t want to pay more taxes they want other people to pay more taxes. And this is the problem with the generals’ prescription. “Americans” are prone to want many things. However, what people want is not the pertinent question. The issue is–do the people have a right to those things they want and, assuming that they do, is government the best vehicle for meeting those wants. This has and I suspect will always be the primary bold letter demarcation between conservative thinking and that of new liberals. Conservative principles hold that the purpose of government is to protect liberty; that the purpose of law is justice and that the free market is more effective in the allocation of scarce resources. New Liberals on the other hand accept as true that rights flow from the state; that the purpose of government is the distribution of equality and that a bureaucracy made up of really really smart people is better than the free market at dispensing goods and services(to say nothing of virtue).
But I digress.
Just so we are clear: When Powell and others looking misty-eyed to the center talk about the conservative tilt to the party and the party fringe they are not only pointing the finger at tax cutting Republicans, but social conservatives that oppose abortion and homosexual marriage as well.
Of course the issue of homosexual marriage was not thrust upon the American people by the far right. It was the far left that took it upon themselves to remake society’s oldest social institution and normalize homosexuality in our society. When the people were unwilling they were demonized and the issue suddenly became a “wedge issue.” Abortion too is no more a wedge than any other issue. Indeed the question of the sanctity of life goes to the very heart of our understanding of rights and the purpose of government. You can be certain that a government that will not secure the right to life cares not one whit about your liberty or your property.
This blaming of the fringe might hold more sway if Republicans had been booted from power because they were too socially conservative. The truth, however, is quite different. It was not the opposition to abortion or homosexual marriage that pushed republicans from power. Rather it was the Republican failure to articulate a sensible fiscal policy beyond the oxymoron of big government conservatism. The party was shown the door because they promised smaller government and delivered both larger government and larger deficits; they promised free markets and instead protected corporate interests, they promised reform and delivered lip service. In other words the culprit was the rejection of conservative principles in favor of new liberalism.
The Republican Party will not be revived by compromising core principles. If limited government, free markets, personal freedom, American exceptionalism and traditional values are principles republicans can no longer stand up and fight for there can be no resurgence of the party – no resuscitation. The epitaph has already been written.
Joseph C. Phillips is the author of “He Talk Like a White Boy” available wherever books are sold.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Got a Tip?
178 Comments
In other words: the only thing that can save the Republican Party is conservatism. Always nice to hear someone still falls on the Right side of things.
We need to send all the RINHOS, Pachyderm(in)!
Elephantastic sense of humor. Tusk-tusk to anyone who disagrees.
Also proposed: a 22 month gestation period for commenting Commies.
Excellent. Colin Powell was in favor of those things that oppose the core principles that make the Republican party different from the Democrat. Abortion, affirmative action and "eat the rich." I have yet to figure out what his conservative principles might have been. And those he claimed to believe in he did in apparent defiance of his own principles, as he has told us in his revisionist version of the Iraq War. Like Obama's, Powell's principles are whichever way the left winds blow. We can compromise on means, but if we compromise on principles, we will be out of office for a very long time. Democrat Lite is a recipe for disaster for the resurgence of the Republican party.
Yes of course you should keep doing what you're doing. Conservative delusion is alive and well.
Dude, that was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Soooooo, are ya busy? We need some leaders like you in the Beltway!
If the GOP listens to this meme from the Left they will find third party emerging. I am not for this move, and it will give us another four years of hell from the Left. However, the GOP needs to listen to the voices of the people ASAP, and not from the voices who certainly desire their demise, or this third party will emerge!
Moves like the Obama Administration on California regarding the SEIU should be screamed from the GOP non-stop. The same could be said about the tripling of the debt, and a thousand other issues that do not involve social issues at all. All the American public is hearing is crickets chirping, or some of this infighting going on in the GOP.
I cannot agree with you more over the social issues. WE of the Conservatives stripe did not pick up these issues to whack someone over the head with, but found them to be encroaching upon our children as an ideology being taught in schools, or in the various media forms. We do not object to people being homosexuals. We just object to it being taught as a subject, or to kindergarten aged children. Call us crazy, but we sort of think it is more important that the kiddies can read, write and add versus know about sexual preferences!
By the way, feel free to digress as much as you like. Your digressing was splendid!
Well said Mr. Phillips. Let's hope that the powers that be listen to you.
Ya know? You are right stupid, John McCain was a true conservative and we all now how well that turned out,
Hey – the GOP is doing a great job…!
The hourly reports here on 'Star Trek' prove your inward-collapsing black hole of a dogmatic platform is
really 'in touch' with Americans…and thanks for all the Janeanne Garafolo smear tactics — we're sure that's good practice for the GOP — four years from now after the next Democratic conquest!!!
Certainly the War Crimes Tribunal in Spain is gonna amp up the GOP popularity big-time too!
Torture…gun worhip…the 'freeing of Iraq' (to eat at McDonald's)…the bogus 9/11 – Patriot Act – Terror color charts…AND the never-ending People Like Us xenophobia seen here every day — does this all point to a GOP landslide???
Oh yeah – it really does ….MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
There's nothing to fix ! The GOP, as well as all Republicans, are perfect people who gave us a perfectly AWFUL
30 years – including your Skull-and-Bones NAFTA boy Clinton — don't fix what you can't break!
Glenn! You sound so much DUMBER in blog form!
Funny thing is, every time conservatives get in power, they do the same things. Nixon ran an Imperial Presidency and maintained that "if the President does it, it's not against the law." He froze prices and "gasp!" opened relations with Red China. Ronald Reagan increased taxes (after he cut them) and expanded the size of government and the National Debt, and believed that the Executive Branch was above the Judicial and Legislative branches (Iran Contra Affair). He also made friends with (Gasp!) Gorbachev. And he did nothing about abortion. George the First raised taxes. He made friends with Saddam Hussein before he unmade friends with him. He did nothing about abortion. George W. Bush raised the national debt, insisted the Executive Branch was above the Judicial and Legislative branches, created the largest bureaucracy in history (The Homeland Security Agency) and took the term "crony capitalism" and administrative incompetence to new heights. He prevented other countries from getting funding for abortion, and made sure that unused embryos are thrown away rather than be used to prevent disease.
So how many times do we need to elect Republicans to office before conservatives realize that the Republican party not only does not represent their interests, but is only interested in naked power? That each time they are elected, a greater share of our individual freedoms are whittled away? You'd be better off forming a new party than reforming the shipwreck that is the current Republican party.
I'm not sure the GOP can be resuscitated. The press has murdered the party. Unrelenting attacks since 1980 have taken their toll. Sure, the conservatives have gotten presidents elected (Reagan, Bush pere, Bush fils) but at what price? Until the propaganda media is destroyed, defanged or relegated to the back burner as one political party's mouthpiece (which is what it has become), this is a one party nation thanks to the Useful Idiots (some of whom like to troll around here on BH).
A prime example of the media bias is the current flap over Edwards. Sure the media are reporting it with high dudgeon now it was brought out by the National Enquirer, but contrast that to John McCain's NON AFFAIR that hit the FRONT PAGE of the NY Times. That should tell anyone with a functioning neuron all they need to know about what's going on in America right now. Problem is, as Einstein said, there are only two infinities — space and stupidity.
We know you're the phony Glenn Beck. The real one can form a coherent sentence, and likely has no need to use CAPITAL LETTERS and EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!! to make non-points as brilliantly as you have. Skin and bones Obama is even worse than Skull and Bones Clinton, but at least Clinton understood free trade.
How many names do you post und TEHSTUPID? Good job recycling lefty talking points with absolutely no logic, facts or anything else useful to back them up.
Obviously you get your information from lefty movies rather than genuine documents. Nixon never said anything of the kind, his made-up movie character did. But he did freeze wages and prices, and the economy went into the tank (did you actually think Nixon was a conservative?). You have just repeated the same boring leftist talking-points that we've all heard, but they are usually spoken or written better. The closest you got to making any sense is the very reason that the article is so correct. Republican, particularly RINO'S, lost sight of conservative principles and started acting exactly like the Democrats who held power way too long. We won't repeat that mistake. We don't take advice from the very people who would love to see the Republicans stay out of power, forever. Thank you, you may now return to the Daily Kos.
With all due respect, do you think that if we conservatives left the Republican Party and formed our own party, the MSM would suddenly be struck with an attack of fairness? They hate us because they hate us, so this is time to regain control of the party, not come up with a new name and a permanent split in the party which can only benefit the Democrats.The elections of Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton demonstrate how well the change of a name works out.
Great post Joseph! Freedom is and American ideal that must be pushed back to the fore in the Republican Party, for the sake of the Republic. Colin Powell was a “conservative” for five minutes when he worked for Reagan, other than that short stint he’s a big government loving liberal, through both Bush’s and a partial Clinton. Do not listen to Washington pundits or politicians, they love government the bigger the better. Our next candidate must have the courage of his or her convictions, and real passion in conservative ideals, like Ronald Reagan.
I agree and disagree with this very well written memo. First where I agree is we must stick to Conservative principles; ie the Founding Principles and the document it spawned (the Constituion for our liberal friends who are unfamiliar with it). Small government charged with protecting it's citizenry, states rights (as outlined in the 10th ammendment) free market, and the right to self determination (even the right to fail) are staples of the great American experiment and without these pillars we fall. It's simple as that, opposition to any of these principles is by it's very definition un-American and it's not an insult to say so, it's a simple fact.
When Colin Powell endorsed Obama, he lost any right he had to enter into this debate. The end. Go play with your new friends a-hole.
Moreover, how the heck can anyone claim that the party that just nominated the King of Rinos moved too far to the right?
The Republicans lost because they spent like drunken democrats, because they stink at getting their message out, because they failed to defend conservatism at every opportunity during the past eight years, and because they got themselves into scandal after scandal.
To our "leadership": banish the corrupt, ignore the Rinos, learn to market the message, grow a set, and stop whining.
Where I disagree is "the fringe Right" is indeed a cancer on the Conservative movement. By fringe Right I mean those who seek to legislate morality. Part of the freedoms we have in our great nation is the right to set our own values and our own morality, no I'm not making a lazy relativist point here there is in fact a right and wrong but it is up to the individual to pursue whatever morality or ethics they choose so long as it is within the boundary of law. If you want to disagree with abortion, great give me an argument other than it's moral weight tell me the damage it does to the mother's body, define where life begins because murder is in fact illegal. If you want to disagree with gay marriage fine, give me a legal basis not "boys kissing is gross". As a Democratic Republic we are nothing but a nation of laws and when we abandon those laws and pursue a legislated morality we become a theocracy much like the one our forefathers fled from. We have our battles to fight but we must fight them with law and logic not emotion based around our own morality, if we do not than we are no better than the liberals we oppose.
Careful, troll. Glenn Beck is my Obama. Don't you take his name in vain. I won't bother to comment on your "talking points" Just stop using Beck as your cover, dolt.
Stupid is a good name for you. Bush wasn't conservative, McCain sure as hell wasn't. Specter wasn't even close and good riddance to him. You pinkos would like to think that converatism is over. Hate to break the news to you, but there were nearly 60 Million who DID'T vote for "The One". Your liberal, socialist Democratic congress enjoys an approval rating of less than 10%. So don't go digging the grave yet. Obama's already set records on his new spending. I guess you, as a liberal, would love paying more of your taxes to cover it? Right? So get back on your meds because you're obviously dillusional and please keep thinking what you're thinking because when it turns around, and it will, you'll be devistated. Love to see it.
A little know fact about Colin Powell. He convinced Bush 41 not to invade Iraq and capture Saddam. Just another example of the RINO attitude that pervades the mind of Colin. The 'centrist' cost us alot by convincing old 41 to back off on Saddam when it should have been a no brainer to take the monster out and foster a regime change. Instead we got the War on Terror and 9/11 as a parting gift from Clinton. Then Bush 43 put the RINO in as Secretary of State and screwed conservatives again. Condolessa Rice was the best thing that happened during the 43 administration and now another Clinton has us on the road to appeasement and apology. Gee thanks.
You really are stupid.
I would make the argument that both parties end up abusing power. That's why the founders came up with things like term limits and checks and balances. Accusing only the right of doing it is just being naive(liberal). Obamas power grab after 3 months speaks volumes to me. Eventually, the dems will blow it and the repubs will be back in. Then they'll blow it and so on. Lather, rinse & repeat.
This brings to point the first battle we must fight and that is the retaking of our culture. You'll never win anything without becoming relevant within the culture, for years Conservatives thought things like televison, art, and the media were insignificant weapons against logic and our founding principles but now hopefully we have learned better. We simply must retake the media or at least instill something resembling impartiallity into it. Until we do that we are just swinging at shadows.
Sojourner's another one who's out to dishearten us conservatives. I can picture him in that old Apple commercial where everyone's grey. But in this case the screen doesn't get broken and the light shines in. Keep reading Pravda or the Workers of the World rags because you've obviously been brainwashed. Keep repeating lies. Everything you've put on this board has been a lie.
Right you are Andrew, we couldn’t have run a more liberal Republican than McCain. There is a Battleground poll that that shows the country identifies itself as conservative to the tune of 60%. This needs to be exploited by an able conservative politician, not a RINO, and we can reverse the assault on our Republic by the left.
Re article: Started wrong; ended o.k. I find the fact that your article appeared on a web page that had Ann Coulter's picture on it. Are you not proud? You can keep your luke warm ideas; this conservative will work to move far, far right to the place where our founding father's set the mark, just short of anarchy. Go play with your acorns in the mean time.
I agree, nothings worse than a sanctimonious Washington politician. There are good arguments for and against all of these issues, short of dictating morality, or turning into a theocracy. That doesn’t mean there is not a place in America for Judeo-Christian ideals.
It might finally be time for the Libertarians to take their rightful place in DC.
I don't take the "GOP is dead" talk too seriously because we saw this same exact thing in 2000 and 2004– only then the Dems had the starring role. This happens whenever there is a power shift right or left. One side feeling demoralized and the other crowing (though I truly think the Dems take the sore-winner thing to a new level). Conservatives are doing what they should be doing right now– figuring out where we went wrong and fixing it. I don't think it's remotely close to time to throw our hands up and claim defeat.
American politics has long been a tug-of-war between Republicans and Democrats, and that rope is only so long. We shifted center for 2008 and now see how far left the Democrats went with the slack. It's time to go right again just to pull the Democrats back closer to sanity.
If the GOP does that it'll save itself, the voters like having two familiar choices. If it stays at the center many voters will feel as long as the country is going straight to hell they might as well take the express and vote for the Dems.
I believe invariably that’s what Washington politician want, a diminished Conservative base in the Republican Party, Democrat lite.
The only hope is the American people wake up to the MSM bias.
<< With all due respect, do you think that if we conservatives left the Republican Party and formed our own party, the MSM would suddenly be struck with an attack of fairness?>>
Absolutely not. I suspect, in fact, the Propaganda Media would treat conservatives far WORSE – witness the attacks on Sarah Palin. I just think BEFORE the Republicans and/or Conservatives can get anything accomplished, those who disagree with the Leftist Agenda had better do something to help out the GOP — like using the Internet to boycott products advertised in biased papers (NY Times, WA Post), news magazines (all three – or is US News gone?), television (all of them except Fox). The GOP is swimming upstream against this flood and most Conservatives, Moderates and Republicans who are horrified by what's being done to our country aren't willing to bite the bullet and NOT BUY a product because it advertises on Lefty outlets. I think the only way to beat the Leftist propagandists is to defund them.
Interestingly, the Republican Party did not exist in 1850, yet ten years later, the Whigs were gone and Abraham Lincoln had won the presidency.
Great post. Conservatives will not change. If we stick to our guns(figuratively), we can be in a prime position to retake power. The MSM will be fighting us tooth and nail in 2010 & 2012. Obamas policies will not work, (they cannot) the MSM will do everything in its power to attack and marginalize conservatives. The MSM will do everything it can to prove Obamas policy have worked. We will have the fight of the century on our hands. We need to be ready. Conservatives and Libertarians unite!!!!
In addition to Truth's observation about Nixon, I would point out:
Yes, Reagan was strong-armed into raising taxes every year except for '88. He lamented this fact in 1993: "Congress never cut spending by even one penny" – remember, he thought he'd get $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of raised taxes.
This notwithstanding, remember a couple facts. Reagan presided over the greatest era of peacetime economic growth in our nation's history. Real GDP grew 36%, 35 million jobs were created, and total federal revenues increased from $517 billion in 1980 to over $1 trillion in 1990.
So who paid the taxes? That's the question. I'll provide the answer since I doubt you'll even want to look: the top 1 percent of taxpayers ended up paying more under Ronnie – from 18 percent in 1981 to 28 percent in 1988. On the other hand, who got off easy? Average effective income tax rates were cut far more for lower-income groups than for higher-income groups.
Reagan ain't your villain. Don't paint him to suit your fancy without looking at the big picture.
I want to know, names please, what candidates are on the "I ran as a moderate Republican and won a national election" list. And don't say Bush the HW. He won as Reagan's successor, lost as "kinder-gentler" Goergie. I understand the fact that some Repubs, in state elections need to hold the center while still remaining a conservative. But the idea that Repubs need to marginalize their most powerful, and participatory voting block in order to remain electorally viable is playing right into the hands of the Democrats and MSM. Repubs win when they go rightward. So do Democrats, witness Bill Clinton. His move to the center, was a rightward move. McCain's move to the center was a leftward move. So show me the winners and maybe I'll change my mind.
http://shermansmarch.blogspot.com
YEP. You got it. Now how to retake the Culture? It has to start with boycotting films with Lefty messages and/or Lefty Actors (Tom Hanks, Sean Penn). I use BH (and DHP before it) to check out whether I'm going to get sucker punched by a political message, then, if I am, I don't fork over my ten bucks. Same with TV. I don't watch "Law and Order", "Lie to Me", anything with Janeane Gorillafaro (sic). It would be helpful if there were a web site which listed the advertisers on lefty programs and if we would be strong enough to boycott. I just wonder if we have that much cohesion. So far I haven't seen any indication. And that's exactly how we lost the culture. Heard from James Caviazel lately? Didn't think so. This attractive, excellent actor did "The Passion of Christ" and unless Mel Gibson puts him in all his movies, he's been gray listed. Heston once said there are more conservatives in the closet in H'wood than there are gays. I think he's right. No actor can be Centrist or to the right of center and still work. So they keep their mouths shut and/or spout the party line. We gotta help.
"GOP — four years from now after the next Democratic conquest!!! "
Things will change in two years, not four.
We need to quit nominating the next guy in the seniority line. I winced when McCain won the nomination, but got a sigh of relief with the addition of Sarah Palin. You can tell she scared them to death. She was number 2 on the ticket, but they treated her as though she was for the top spot. You know when the left goes over the edge that we're on the right track. She's in Alaska and they're still going after her because she's now on the national scene and a threat to their lies. We need more like her. Would love to see the left, such as Stupid, Sojourner and Auntie, in therapy because we're getting more life, like her. Jindal would be a good choice and Perry and Stanford, etc. We're not at a shortage, but whenever you have an R after your name, you might as well put a target on your head. But do it like Reagan and bring out their stupidity into the light. It's there, just quit whining and entice the left out in the open. It's very entertaining too.
If we're ever to have a real third party, especially in these modern times with a much larger government and much higher stakes, I'd much rather have it be a People's Labor Party or some such. Draw the real socialists and communists out of the Democrats, split their base, scare the heck out of normal people when they see what was lurking in Democrat ideology, then watch as Republicans are chosen as a party of sanity. When everything shifts back enough that Republicans look centrist, then the Libertarians will have a real shot.
To the media, anything right of Bill Clinton or John McCain IS the fringe right. We'll never get a shred of respect from a bunch of whiny, liberal, perfect hair news readers like Katy Couric. Our representation has gone further left which makes everyone else look like a kook. Hell the left has no problems putting their extreme left-wing kooks out there and the press portrays them as normal. It's a parallel universe I tell ya!
I didn't say "dead", I said MURDERED. A perfect example of how the propaganda media "murders" non Lefties is the difference between how John Edwards was treated and John McCain. Edwards was having an affair (none of my business) which I suspect was pretty much known but none of the propagandists would publish — it took the National Enquirer to publish his tryst with his lady friend. (Of course, the "journalists" all sniffed at the source of the story – being "above" the NE, of course). But John McCain's NON AFFAIR was front page above the fold in the New York Times. Same with Larry Craig. The NE didn't have to break his playing footsie in the toilet stall — the "mainstream" media did it for him. Something must be done about the bias in the national media before there is any hope of really resuscitating the patient. (They pull the plug to the respirator every chance they get!). My opinion is they must be defunded through canceling subscriptions (happening) and boycotting their advertisers. Our local Lefty rag is circling the drain but of their five member ed. board, all five are liberals with one functioning as the conservative because, by her own admission, her parents were conservatives and so she "knows how conservatives think". DUH. This is what you folks are up against. Add in that 49% of the "voters" don't pay any taxes and ACORN committing voter fraud in every state and it's like the Pathologist is already getting ready to post the patient. I don't say the GOP cannot be revived, only that the propaganda media realized the mistakes they've made in the past and aren't about to repeat them.
I'm on board with the whole de-funding concept. I've gone out of my way to avoid buying products that sponsor lefty causes. I hope a whole lot of other people start doing the same thing. We're still babes in the woods on the internet, but we're learning. As bad as things are going to get, I hope they don't get as bad as they did when Lincoln won as a Republican. If they do, I'll be the first to join the new abolitionist party, whatever its name. For now, I simply think the party is in disarray and trying to find itself. I think it will (or at least I pray it will). As I used to teach my law student, you have to learn how to say no and make it sound like yes. Right now, our "leadership" simply continues to sound like fuddy-duddies who don't know any word but "no." We have to say no to Obama's socialist agenda and make it sound like yes by controlling the debate. We need to make it clear that we are not against making everybody wealthy, but the only way to do that is by making it a clear and positive message about how wealth is created. It isn't created by taking it away from someone else. It's about creating genuine wealth rather than equalized poverty, and spreading the genuine wealth around by allowing businesses to succeed or fail without government interference.
A lot more than you think, are. Look at newspaper subscriptions – DOWN! CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, etc. – Ratings – DOWN! Either people are getting a shorter attention span, or they're tired of being fed opinions disguised as news by pretty faced people.
McCain wasn't appointed, he WON the nomination via the REPUBLICAN voters. I didn't agree with their choice, but once Rudy shot himself in the foot, who else was there? Romney? He looked wishy-washy having been pro-choice, then pro-life. Huckabee – like him a lot, but he didn't have a chance. Ron Paul? he couldn't say two sentences without using the word "Iraq" (most Libertarians went bonkers over Iraq). Frankly, I think the Republicans should run a strong Conservative candidate and see how it turns out.
Kind of like Obama not being able to blame Bush much longer. Everyone says the country is Right of Center — I think it's about time to find out.
When Sarah Palin was nominated, my Lefty feminist neighbor called to say she was going to vote for McCain because of Palin — she was pretty p.o.'d that the party had hung Hillary out to dry, I think — Within two weeks, she had an Obama sticker on her SUV and was one of Palin's most determined critics. Why? The Propaganda Media (my neighbor is smart but ill-informed; she believes the crap the media feeds her).
Until the bias in the media is addressed, you guys are swimming against the tide.
(I say you guys because I'm an Independent – one of the "squishy moderates" Conservatives love to disparage.)
I wish Joseph C. Phillips was heard in a larger forum, as he is brilliant. His is the kind of conservative voice of which we need to hear more.
I liked Romney and he did explain his pro-choice to pro-life switch. Obama's still blaming Bush to push his legislation through. The press will let him continue to do it until it becomes too obvious. I still like Palin, but the media murder of her might have ruined something good. I would like to see her continue to make a presence on the national stage and show people that they were lied to. She's got a few years to do it. Lefties are sheep and I agree with you that they are spoon fed. I had an old – now she's really old because I'm not dating her anymore – girlfriend who is a state worker and she believes everything that is in the monthly union rag. For open minded people, they're not very open minded. Like with the trolls on here. They repeat bullet points from websites or pamphlets. The Repubs aren't ever going to get a fair shake, but must find a way around it. Reagan did it by going around the press. I do think that McCain was appointed but I'm not privey to the inner workings of the nomination process.
Most of the country is conservative or right of center. Even people I've been around who say they're liberal come off as more conservative as me after talking to them for a while. It's a label that's had a stigma stuck to it. Just as liberal has been traded in for "Progressive". It's still red to me.
We are hearing many of the same things as in 1977. Reagan spoke over the press and the rest of the counter culture. Find a devoted freedom loving American and the rest will follow. Boycott anything and everything with a leftist bent, inch by inch everything’s a cinch.
maybe to resuscitate the GOP, conservative leadership should man up and communicate the basic message that the current administration is aiming to deliberately ruin the economy in order to transfer wealth to those who are descended from slav ery?
Obama and his Minions are a gift to Conservatives, admittedly in a Picasso sort of way. They can't take a punch.They can't handle criticism especially with humor and they don't like scrutiny. Their vicious but not Tough. They have feelings but their substance doesn't run deep.They put Party before Country. If we had a honest press in this Country they'd already be hollering cop. They can be beat if we live up and stay true to our Beliefs and Values. Good article Mr. Joseph.
Since when was Bill Clinton a darling of the right? Didn't we … uh … impeach him?
Powell is a prime example of blood being thicker than water. He, like Obama, owes his postion in part to his race. That colors everything he says and does. Banish the RINO'S.
Suck rope, troll.
I am so glad you defined conservative principles: "limited government, free markets, personal freedom, American exceptionalism and traditional values"
That makes it very easy to show exactly why the Republican party has self destructed. When they controlled both the legislative and the executive branches of our government, they did absolutely nothing to advance those principles……as a matter of fact, they did everything they could to destroy those principles. Government was not limited, it expanded, even turning to invasion of citizens rights through illegal wiretaps (reducing our "personal freedom). The "free markets collapsed and were subsidized by putting our children and grandchildren in debt. And " American exceptionalism and traditional values" were expressed by embracing the torture of prisoners……a violation of our own participation in the Geneva Conventions, concerning the humane treatment of prisoners.
This country always trends back to the middle right. After this socialist disaster I expect and we'll see a GOP landslide just around the corner. Watch for the "cap and trade" scam to be shoot down in flames, by DEMOCRATS and then the flood gates to open. The moderate Dems will run for cover and the ship of state will steer back to center left. Make book on it. Since your a liberal borrow $10 from your Mom.
"the party must become even more like Democrats. I suspect this brilliant advice was dreamed up by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid while doing shots of Tequila in some smart bar in Georgetown. They never dreamed Republicans would be so daft as to actually consider it."
Neither did we, Phillips. Neither did we.
How many true blue lefty socialists will do us a favor and jump off a bridge when the House flips in 2010? Less than a million? Half a million? 12?
Your problem WeaponX, is that you only THINK you're being rational. You need to do your homework about our founding fathers.
To argue that "you can't legislate morality" is to parrot stupidity. Every law ever written imposes morality, whether it's paying your taxes or driving 15MPH in a school zone.
The "rights" you feel are threatened are not rights found in any of our founding documents, but invented by activist courts within the past few decades to placate special interests.
Your argument that all morality is merely a personal mantra is the antithesis of conservatism.
Hear, hear! It's like Milton Friedman once said: "If we can't persuade the public that it's desirable to do these things, we have no right to impose them even if we had the power to do it." The attempt to impose conservative morality on the populace is no different than when the other side attempts to do the same. On the right it's traditional marriage and pro-life. On the left it's environmentalism and universal health care coverage.
The Republican Party needs to RETURN to its roots of honest fiscal and social conservancy. Hypocracy is killing politic in America. For the past 8 years, the party expressed itself poorly and has been dominated by the Neocons in the face of a palpable threat. Also, the party needs to have a public face that is acceptable to the American people. Look at Barack and Bill, both very personable gentlemen as portrayed in the public eye, even with their flaws. Ronald Regan, also very personable. On the other hand, George I and George II were portrayed as aloof and 'majestic'. How many times did we hear about King George? I hate to write this, but in this time of 24/7 exposure and 'celebrity', the Party needs a well qualified and appropriate face for public consumption.
The problem isn't with "the fringe Right." The problem is with you. You haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about.
What is a law? A law is a command ordered to the regulation of human behavior. It tells us what we shall or shall not do. That's what law IS.
What is morality? Morality means "conformity to the rules of right conduct." If one is moral, then one acts rightly.
Clearly, both of these are involved in the regulation of human behavior. But how? Well, to cut to the chase due to time and space limitations: either there are rules of right conduct which are prior to and inform the law (the conservative view), or human, positive law itself establishes the rules of right conduct (the leftist view). In either case, it's absolutely idiotic to object to the "legislation of morality." That's what law DOES, in one of the two ways just mentioned. Law legislates morality.
Now you go on to claim that there exists an objective right and wrong, which puts you in the conservative camp on the issue, but that somehow it's inappropriate to judge actions based upon that if the law says otherwise. That, too, is an idiotic position. If the law is supposed to derive from right rules of morality, how stupid is it to ignore the right rules upon which it's supposed to be based and pretend they don't exist or can't be known?
I know what you want to say. You want to say that because men disagree about the right rules of morality upon which our law should be based, therefore we should set aside our beliefs and judge according to…what? What else, exactly, can decide a question which we have posited at the outset turns upon what the right rules of conduct are? How is the amount of damage abortion does to the woman's body related to the intrinsic rightness or wrongness of the act? If I charge a machine gun nest in combat in order to give my buddies a chance to escape and am killed, I am honored as a hero. Evidently, bodily damage is not the essential question involved in matters of morals. The essential question involved in abortion is whether it is an act of murder, or unjustified killing, and the solution to that question rests upon philosophical and theological principles which are prior to all human law.
Moving along, your accusation that those who object to gay marriage do so on the basis that "boys kissing is gross" is nothing but further confirmation of your ignorance. There are extremely sound, rational objections to the oxymoronic notion of gay marriage. The fact that you're not educated enough to understand them, or perhaps don't even know that they exist, doesn't give you a right to put words in peoples' mouths that they never said.
Moreover, our forefathers didn't flee from a theocracy, unless maybe your forefathers are Muslim. Presuming, however, that you mean England, please go ask the history teacher who filled you so full of bull***t it's coming out your ears to provide proof that such a "theocracy" existed there. You will find no proof, because England has had a parliamentary system of government for close to a thousand years. It's true that there was religious persecution there, but religious persecution and a form of government known as "theocracy" are two different things.
Lastly, you have no standing to lecture anyone about the use of logic. What you need to do is go find somewhere where you can get something approaching an education.
If a black man was what the country wanted, I wish it could have been the black man that wrote this article! I hadn't heard of him and researched him and found what he stands for and what he believes, I was very impressed. Please keep writing…and think about running for office Mr. Phillips!
Where's the pie?
You made one of the first classic blunders: never presume that the Republicans are the same as Conservatives on a board filled with Conservatives.
The second and only slightly less known is that you should never assume that we Conservatives are too stupid to realize that Republicans are very often not Conservatives. Of course, if you did your research rather than shooting of your mouth straight from Kos or HuffPo, you'd know better.
Nah, they'll just do what they always do when they're out of power. Threaten to leave the country and then stay here.
This slide CAN be reversed. The key is to cull out wavering "Blue Dog" Dems and concentrate on flipping them or defeating them. Rahm used them and I mean that in a perjoritive way, he USED them to take the House. These people are ex-military, or the Heath Schulers types that are already out of favor with of the Dem leadership, Schuler is already personna non grata in his own party. Obama's fiscal irresponsibility and obvious disdane for protecting our national security, as well as his clear socialist leanings can be exploited. Have you'all seen the RNC ad that shows the 9/11 footage and laced with images of KSM and accomplices. Very effective.
Never forget also that thanks to Carter's fiscal policy, a lot of funny money had been pumped into our economy much like Obama's Fed is doing right now. The inevitable result of so much extra money is high inflation. The only way to remove the excess money from circulation and curb that is to either raise taxes or have brutally high interest rates. What was Reagan supposed to do? He had to get the money out of the economy in order to make it move, and the interest rates were already at credit card levels for just about everything.
Because I see so many (R)s signed onto the current Hate Crimes legislation being passed through Congress at the speed of a bullet, and if that isn't an attempt to legislate morality, I don't know what is …
And answer me this then, when does life begin for certain? Because if no one knows for sure, then hadn't we better error on the side of caution rather than discover some day in the future that untold millions had been slaughtered on the strength of nothing more than the convenience of their mother? However, this is more properly an issue of the states and should be settled there.
On the marriage issue, in order for a culture to support itself, it needs a at least a 1.9 to 2.1 percent fertility rate. Most Western nations are falling well below that number. Even the US is at 1.8 not counting illegal immigrants. By muddying the definition of marriage, are we further diluting our chances of carrying our culture forward by weakening the idea of marriage as a social unit for the idea of procreation?
The way you wrote this post sounds in my head like the Billy Mays of fringe left conspiracy theorists.
"And if you act RIGHT NOW you'll receive this FREE tinfoil hat… Made to BLOCK all those mind control waves broadcast by the GOP!"
http://www.billymaysfacts.com/images/billymays.jp...
Better something closer to anarchy than everyone but me making decisions about how I live my life. Maybe you need someone to hold you hand over every little decision, but I'm a big girl and like to live my own life. Keep your government out of my life thanks. Don't Tread On Me.
Joseph, this is a terrific piece that hits the nail on the head about the GOP's tendency to wander from bedrock principles. So glad to see you writing at Big Hollywood now. Can't wait to see lots more! —all the best, Jane
I know, it's frustrating. High profile Republicans keep talking about reforming the party by "listening more", or updating it to relate to the current generation. It's nonsense. It's like they have Battered Political Party Syndrome. "It's not their fault, it's mine. I should have listened."
They should have just been conservative. And if we're not careful, we're going to blow a prime chance to sweep these socialists out of office right when less government and less taxation is peaking in popularity.
Absolutely Brisco! I see it as a real opportunity to possibly vanquish ‘60s radical Democrats from the field. These are mouthy SOB’s always have been, but thin skinned, Lord have mercy! Square up and they’ll turn and run.
Since 1994, the Republican party leadership was the first to actually balance the budget and get a surplus (ultimately in the late 90's), with Democrats whining the whole way about no compassion. In came GW Bush to the rescue — a more compassionate model, one who ran AGAINST the conservative Contract With America. Bush was as conservative as we could get elected. Now the Democrats are fully in charge. Give them a little power and what do they do? Triple the deficit! Lucky for them there was a bailout, setting a precedent, of their stupid Fannie Mae policies that endangered the banking industry. They have been in control of the spending out of the House of Representatives since 2006. We need to mention this often. They controlled the banking committee and guess what, the banking industry wasn't so healthy after their two year watch. Some of the biggest profiteers off the banking mess that spilled into the rest of the economy were Democrats. We as Republicans need to point out THESE FACTS, not focus on why the Republican party isn't perfect. Why did Saturday Night Live censor out the Sandlers, friends of Nancy Pelosi, who profited from Wachovia? Because they were Democrats. Their complicity is swept under the rug. Republicans need to stop criticizing Republicans. Any who do need to move on. Remove the liberals, and the party has no fundraising. Remove the conservatives, and the party has no grassroots. In the meantime, rebuild, teach others to follow news stories on the internet, activate, give, do grassroots, and run good candidates. It won't happen by magic and certainly not by whining. And what of Colin Powell who thinks "so what" if our President were a Muslim? Of course, the real issue is the media spun him as a Christian. He boycotted the National Day of Prayer and stopped attending Rev. Wright's church and didn't go anywhere during the campaign. It's not that there should be a litmus test, but there is no testing of what people say and what they do if the "D" comes after a name. Because of the double standard alone, Republicans need to stop the friendly fire once and for all. It is utter nonsense. McCain was a horrid candidate who got friendly press (until the primary was over) for being a RINO. He used the word "conservative," but that did not make him one. Every Democrat who blames the economy on Republicans will also have to give them credit for the YEARS of record unemployment, economic growth, and a time when the budget actually was balanced.
Record LOW figures of unemployment. Go ahead, Democrats, do better. Spend less, if you can with your spendaholic base!
You're right. When I heard about the listening tour, it struck me that this is nothing more than a delaying tactic. They don't know what they want to do, so they are roaming the country hoping that something happens to help them.
The real problem, in my opinion, is that the party leadership does not have any idea how to solve the problems the country is facing. That is where the message will come from. . . from offering conservative solutions. Unfortunately, they are stuck in a style of thinking that just doesn't lend itself to problem solving — they are all about slogans and spending. Beyond that they're lost.
I wish I could have five minutes with these guys to give them a list of issues and solutions.
You obviously get your info from Right wingnut blogs. I've seen the tape where Nixon says those words with his own mouth. I also saw the tape where Condi Rice said almost the exact same thing. You remind me of an old right-wing history teacher I had who maintained Christians weren't responsible for the Spanish Inquisition because it didn't fit in with his idea of what Christians were like.
Oh, I'm not saying that it's just the Republicans that do it. However, left-wing groups are letting Obama know when he's not keeping his promises, and are second to none in criticizing Gethner, where conservative groups not only acquiesced but vigorously defended every power grab the Bush Administration made, and only began disowning Bush/Cheney when it was already clear that Republicans were going down to bitter defeat. And only now the conservative voices ring out "but they weren't *real* conservatives!"
EVERYTHING I put on this board is a lie? Who's been brainwashed? You might want to look in a mirror…
Dude, I just realized you were on the Cosby Show. I knew I liked you!
Reagan's also not the saint the Right has made him out to be, either.
Actually, the deficits ballooned during the Reagan years because he assumed much more economic growth than actually occurred. In fact, a study by the House found that Reagan asked for $29.4 billion more in spending than Congress passed.
And all that growth occurred *after* Reagan started raising taxes? By conservative theory, shouldn't the GDP have gone down every year?
And yet here you see article after article equating Democrats with Liberals, and this is an article about how the core of the Republican party is conservative. Go figure.
Refresh my memory–where does the Constitution guarantee the right of a free market? Doesn't the Constitution specifically give the Federal Government the responsibility to regulate patent and trademarks, in effect giving temporary monopolies to inventors (which has now been twisted to give permanent monopolies to corporations)? And doesn't Congress also have the responsibility to regulate interstate commerce? the "free market" argument isn't as clear-cut as you might think.
You also skipped a whole bunch of freedoms from the government that are guaranteed, like freedom of religion (even for Muslims), freedom of speech, freedom from illegal search and seizure, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, being considered innocent until proven guilty–you know, all the ones conservatives think adherence to threaten the security of our great country…
I wish I could've had five minutes with McCain's podium during the Obama debate. Anyone who understands conservative philosophy, macroeconomics, and the Constitution could have gone on the offensive and mopped the floor with that guy. Truthfully, that's the real way to win big against liberal candidates, and that's why McCain was the ideal opponent for a Democratic win.
Maybe Romney could've done it. He seems like he'd be resistant to the temptation of political marketing and spending.
You are missing my point, chances are we probably agree and disagree on the same things where we differ is in our choice of arguement. For years Conservatives have been arguing assisted suicide, abortion, and gay marriage and only turning ourselves into the villain in the process because we are not giving reasoning we are only dictating. Right now our arguement is "because I believe it's wrong" which comes across as preaching when in reality there are much better arguements available, especially on abortion, that use logic and facts. Sure we could legislate things from a moral perspective but what happens when our leadership's morality differs from our own (like now)? This is why our arguements must be grounded in law and substance not feeling and abstract concepts.
We are seeing it now with Obama and these foolish attempts to legislate fairness, diversity, and other truly undefinable concepts but rather than closing the door on baseless legislation we are widening the doorway because Conservatives have began to lose their grip on their emotions. As an example see how you chose to insult me rather than address me even though we are on the same side.
I think normal people are getting the heck scared out of them right now with an intact Democratic party.
And we're only in month five.
By the way how did you get it to allow you to post a comment that long?
Look I'm no dummy in spite of what you appear to think and I am making great effort to not get into a personal tit for tat with you or anyone else who took my statement as a personal afront. I know all laws to an extent are based on an excepted form of morality but mostly around the rule of "first do no harm". This along with protection is the foundation of government. Our forefathers left England when it was you are either part of the Church of England or your in jail, theocracy is defined as government ruled by or subject to religious authority but we are really arguing semantics at this point and you know that.
I do apologize for not impressing you with my education, I did however always believe intellectual elitism was a trait more suited to liberals.
I agree 100% that there is a place for Judeo- Christain values I have personally exercised them my whole life.
Thank you for understanding my point, it seemed to escape from others. I simply want people to understand legislating morality is a slippery slope because they are not concrete concepts which makes them hard to debat, I use the example of trying to legislate fairness which is a moral concept but it's impossible to define. If this sort of legislation somehow becomes the norm than when people whose values are counter to ours are in power we may soon find our values are against the law. I hope that makes sense.
Are you saying the Republicans enabled the credit collapse via Fanny and Freddie? You may want to look that up. While you're at it, check out which party is putting future generations in debt.
I'm sure that if the members of the Geneva convention had known that waterboarding would prevent a terrorist attack on the Library Tower in LA, they would have made a special provision for it.
No Stergeye with all due respect I am being logical and you have reinforced my point while misunderstanding it. I do not feel Christain values threaten my rights, I am a Christain so it's no big deal to me what is a big deal is we would have no recourse in stopping morality based legislation when it ran counter to our values if we were guilty of signing it into law ourselves. Therefore we must have a stronger argument than "I think it's right".
The examples you listed are not morality based. Taxes are a civic responsibility (supposedly) and are even addressed in the 16th ammendment, of course we know they are completely our of control. School zones are a safety issue. The issues I address are the founding principles, read Jefferson and you will see few things are addressed more strongly than the right of liberty and self determination. I certainly do not need a morally corrupt government telling me what I can or cannot watch, listen to, say, write, or pursue any overtures toward that are indeed an assault on my most basic of American rights.
"For years Conservatives have been arguing assisted suicide, abortion, and gay marriage and only turning ourselves into the villain in the process because we are not giving reasoning we are only dictating."
Speak for yourself. I happen to do quite a bit of apologetics argumentation. And I've done so for years.
It is the left that dictates. It's the left that silences opposition with such wonderful counters as "You're a homophobic bigot." If I took your standard, then since Obama won obviously preachin' is the way to go! To hell with this logic stuff.
But I'm not a pragmatist like you.
Oh, and as others have pointed out, just laws must legislate morality. Indeed, if a law legislates something that has no reference to morality, the law is unjust. Easy example: if there was a law that said you must eat broccoli every night, it would be an unjust law–but that just *IS* a law that does not legislate morality.
Yes, I didn't have enough time or space for the whole Constitution.
Is there a right for the government to regulate markets, certainly there is but the divide between regulating and controlling is enormous. Bailouts were controlling. Firing CEOs and regulating pay are controlling. We are now in a situation of increasing state control of private enterprise with the carbon scamming being far and away the most agressive reach in our nation's histroy. We've moved a long way from anti-trust laws and patent enforcement which are what was outlined in the constitution (though I don't believe anti-trust was addressed until the early 1900s) and have over stepped by a great distance. Surely you must acknowledge that.
I had to give you the thumbs up for citing Friedman. He is my economic Dali Llama
Columns like this by Joseph Phillips give me hope that the passing idiocy of self-serving jackholes like Sens. McCrazy, Snarlin Sphincter, and Sec. Colon Pouter will soon fade from relevancy in the Republican Party, if only we in the grassroots would stop listening to the whining soon-to-be-unemployed professional crybabies of the MSM.
You also said: "We are seeing it now with Obama and these foolish attempts to legislate fairness, diversity, and other truly undefinable concepts but rather than closing the door on baseless legislation we are widening the doorway because Conservatives have began to lose their grip on their emotions."
This is the wrong response. Frankly, it's like saying, "A baker is putting poison in the bread. The way to fix this is to close down bakeries." No, the way to fix it is to keep bakers from poisoning the bread.
In short, Liberals are legislating poor morality. That doesn't mean the response should be, "You can't legislate morality." The response has to be, "This is why the morality you're attempting to legislate is a bad idea." You don't cease legislating morality, because then you're left with moral anarchy. Murder, rape, robbery–none of these things can be legislated because they all deal with morality. Sorry if I don't buy that philosophy.
So to sum up, if you said, "You shouldn't legislate immorality" then I'd agree with you.
And yes, people disagree on certain respects as to what is moral and what is immoral. That's why we debate the issues, that's why we vote. And the whole concept is that if they can invoke a bunch of poor morals, we can vote them out later. And vice versa.
Great article! I'm not backing down from my principles, so don't anyone tell me I have to change to be liked. Why is it that everyone expects Conservatives & Christians to change? If people like Powell & other RINOs would leave, we can rebuild our party with real Republicans. Mr. Phillips, would you consider becoming a leader in our party?
You must be logged in to post a comment.