To sensible conservatives, it is virtually incomprehensible that the Republican Party can’t quite figure out why their prospects for the 2008 election seem so dim. Here’s your first clue, boys and girls: America already has one socialist, tax-and-spend, appeasement-oriented, global warming Kool-aid drinking political party. Who needs two of them?
But that’s just part of it. Spineless obsequiousness–in order to curry liberal media or Democrat party approval–is equally as damning. Just because they characterize every lurch leftward as a move towards “enlightened thinking” or “reasoned insight” doesn’t mean it’s true. It only means you’ve sold out your core constituency for a little light and heat.
As Dr. Phil might say, “how’s that working for you?” It’s not. And no amount of rationalization will help.
Here’s what’ll help: unambiguous conservatism. First, stand up for limited government. Probably nothing rankles conservatives more than your unwillingness to stand against America’s headlong rush towards socialism and all the freedom-killing excesses it entails. Next, stand for border enforcement first, everything else second. The public backlash against last year’s immigration “reform” package makes this the biggest no-brainer of the 2008 campaign.
After that, tell America–in no uncertain terms–that the terrorist threat to our national security is real and ongoing. Tell them that part of the equation for defeating it involves concrete steps towards energy independence, aka domestic energy production. Tell them that if Democrats–and John McCain–prefer killing the American economy in the name of junk science that you’re having no part of it.
Tell the public you believe the Constitution says exactly what our Founding Fathers intended it to say, not what some liberal judge thinks it ought to say. Tell them you believe America is still Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” as opposed to the boiling cauldron of grievances and bigotry Democrats are selling. Tell them America is not supposed to be a giant ATM machine bailing out people for their irresponsible behavior. Tell them life begins at conception, not when feminist doctrine decides its convenient to call a “clump of cells” a baby.
I could go on, but the big picture is clear: as far as their core constituency is concerned, Republicans are an unprincipled lot who’ve sold their collective souls in the mistaken belief that making common cause with radical liberals–under the banner of bipartisanship, no less–is their path to a brighter future. It’s the path to a brighter future, all right–for the Democratic Party.
Can 2008 be salvaged? Not relevant. The fortunes of political parties ebb and flow. Core values are core values. Republicans have alienated their base by abandoning them. Win or lose, Republicans would be wise to make 2008 their “line in the sand” election. No more emulation of, or acquiescing to, Democratic ideology. That way lies madness–and ongoing irrelevancy.
Snap out of it, already.
atahlert@comcast.net
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