Monday, November 10, 2008
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Smart Ideas and a New Contract...
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
9:30 AM
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The Republican Party and the conservative movement are at a crossroads.
On one hand, some thinkers seem to believe conservatism has essentially lost the battle of ideas, and thus, to survive, conservatives must seek to support a more conservative brand of liberalism. They have ceded the war, and, in essence, are hoping to negotiate the best deal possible.
On the other hand, some conservatives fail to accept the world has changed. They choose to bury their heads in the sand, and continue partying like it's 1999. These conservatives pose almost as big a danger as the former group.
... Neither group has the answer.
One thing we probably can all agree on is that to win elections again, the GOP must embrace the Internet and technology. As such, I have joined in an effort to encourage the next GOP Chairman to modernize the party and to embrace technology.
But tactics are not enough. To win the future, conservatives must -- in my opinion -- also find ways to make our timeless classical liberal principles relevant to the 21st century. This, in my estimation, is the most important intellectual discussion we can engage in for the next months (or possibly years). And since we are in the brainstorming phase of this process, let me throw it open to you: If we were creating a new contract with America, what 10 bullet points would you include?
Following are a few of my thoughts...
- The GOP must become the Party of science and math. This might include new energy ideas, a major investment in educating our children to compete with China in science and math, space exploration, etc.
- The GOP simply cannot continue to lose the Hispanic vote to the degree we lost it in 2008. I am not suggesting we support Amnesty. Instead, I am making a factual statement based on math.
- The GOP must embrace the future. Part of this means accepting that some industries and jobs will go away as high-tech jobs and industries arise. We must develop smart ideas regarding how workers can be re-trained and given the technological information to improve their lives -- not just survive the changes.
These are just a few rough ideas, of course. My hope and expectation is that this conversation will take place on every conservative blog -- and in every conservative think tank -- for the next several months.
Who knows? Maybe some of the ideas that we think of right here at Townhall will one day be implemented...
(Note: Obviously, these initiatives must be implemented in a manner which rewards success and utilizes the competitive advantage that a Free Market economy gives this nation over other countries.)
Now, a word about the state of the party and the conservative movement (two separate entities which occasionally overlap): In many ways we are in better shape than we were when Goldwater lost in 1964. At that time, we had no effective think tanks; the notion that we could have conservatives in the media was nonexistent, etc. It would be silly to long for those days again.
However, in 1964 we did have a coherent intellectual belief system -- something we are lacking today. This, of course, must be corrected.
It would be naive to believe that any one person can solve this problem. The rise of the conservative movement relied on intellectuals like F.A. Hayek and Buckley, activists like Weyrich and Schlafly, and politicians like Goldwater and Reagan. As such, anyone looking for a single leader, be it Jindal or Palin -- or someone else -- to lead us to the "promised land" would be quixotic.
Instead, this effort will require all of us. We cannot postpone this discussion in hopes a savior will rise to lead us toward something we must find ourselves.
Leaders will emerge; they always do. The question is will we be ready?
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As I see it, the party's problem comes on voter perceptions. Even with the internet, talk radio and cable news, the vast majority of voters still get their information from the legacy media (ABC, CBS, NBC & print newspapers) or their friends (who do the same). That is not good for Republicans and conservatives.
The legacy media, being 85% Democrats, with the assistance of their friends on the left, created the characacher of a Republican Party that is mean spirited, war mongering, inflexible, big business supporters and are uncaring. The term “right wing” has become especially egregious. This branding must be changed and the sooner the better.
This demonization has been successful because Republicans Party members and their supporters have failed to respond adequately, if at all. It seems the consensus is that if Republicans ignore that hate speech, it will go away and it is too outrageous for anyone to believe. Wrong.
Republicans need to spend more time answering questions and explaining the conservative position through the legacy media. All the face time on cable news is great, but cable news shows do not reach very many voters compared to the legacy media. For example, here in the Tampa bay area, there is the Fox affiliate on channel 13 (local news) and Fox News Channel on cable channel 37 (national news). Republicans need to have a lot more quality face time with Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charles Gibson.
The message Republicans need to convey is:
Conservatism by its very nature is compassionate and moderate. We are the party of individual freedom and community safety. Capitalism is the cornerstone of what made this country possible. Capitalism does not automatically translate to greed. And, finally, that class warfare or envy is a losing proposition.
Maybe Hispanics and other minorities will reach out to us.
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On the specifics I agree with Matt, but I think getting the ground game up to speed fast is critical.
On the main points -
1. Science and Math (imperative)
2. Hispanics (do the math...)
3. Energy policy (drilling and more drilling)
4. Industrial policy
5. Free trade (it's a matter of positioning it)
6. Fiscal responsibility (shouldn't give up on that one).
I've posted my reasoning on my blog, not trying to get in a plug, it's just too long to re-type.
http://nonsensibleshoes.blogspot.com/
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Wrong way to get [group]'s vote:
- Change our core beliefs and policies to match what they say they want (or what we think they want)
Right way to get [group]'s vote:
- Find concrete ways to demonstrate to [group]s exactly how conservative policies will benefit them. We may need new verbiage in some cases. For example, "A rising tide lifts all boats" is a wonderful illustration, but it has been derided so often and so nastily that, to lifelong Democrats, it's a poisoned phrase.
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The United Nations Millenium Declaration, to be implemented by 2015:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
"Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people."
2. Achieve universal primary education
(Good bye parents' right to educate their own children...)
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
(Guaranteed, global right to an abortion)
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
I wouldn't ask for any New Contracts, if I were conservative right now. I would ask how we can avoid the Smart Ideas and New Contracts.
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In my experience (substantial) your description of Hispanics is accurate. The title, "Hispanic", was created by the Liberals as a "wedge" to separate those people with a New World Spanish ethnicity from the White "Melting Pot" majority. This was done for two reasons, first: to create a false race, "Hispanic" and by doing that, second: convince them they were a minority and only Democrats cared about them. The Republicans let that happen uncontested. The notion that language and culture creates a different race that thinks different from the rest of us is preposterous. Case in point--My Grand daughter is Hispanic, she is from Argentina. Her Mother , my daughter-in-law, is 4th generation Argentine Italian. Her Father, my son, is of English heritage. She is White, speaks English, Spanish and Italian but was raised in Argentina and still lives there. In America she would be labeled "Hispanic" for political exploitation. We are fool fodder for the Socialist implementation of Karl Marx blather. Our new leader must be heated, passionate, and combative--to succeed he will need a vocal, determined army of followers that are willing to demand a return to our Constitutional values or resort to street violence. |
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You said: Warrior talks about "crafting a message". Note the quotation marks. I did not make that statement, so you must be quoting someone else. I am on record as stating I dislike Politicians use of the phrase "gave a speech". Why is it they cannot just "talk to the people" or "I will discuss my programs with the people". To "give a speech" is too canned--it sounds like a recital of facts someone else compiled and the Politician trained to deliver. We have seen how that approach has engendered the notion, "he/she gives a good speech" but there is often no reference to the content. In fact, the content is relegated to a position of unimportance. Only "off the cuff" gaffs receive any critical play. |
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For decades the Democrats were the party of the hourly worker and the Republicans were the party of management and owners. I believe it is now time to abandon the large company executives and focus on small businesses and hourly workers. The corporations have proved that they play both sides of the fence because they can. Honestly, they don't need representation because they buy theirs. The parties should be reserved for individuals that depend on the system our founding fathers put in place in 1783. The Democrats have sold out to the extremists on the left - the common American has been left in the dust. Individuals in this nation lead their daily lives based on conservative ideas. Small businesses address decisions from a conservative mind set. Employees of small businesses see the owner having to make hard money decisions every day so there is less worker vs. management fighting. Small business is the power of this country and the way we can get out of our current economic problems. Most workers can envision owning their own business and the New Republican party should focus on this.
#1 Campaign rule - start talking to Americans - not groups. We're not black, white, hispanic, european, worker, or management - we are Americans. Even in the campaign we are being demographed, polled, and placed into little categories (young, old, retired, executive, hourly, married, single parent, etc.) STOP IT! Talk to us as Americans not a category. We all know what it is like to attend school, to look for a job, to ask someone out for a date, to have heartache, to be scared about tomorrow. We ALL have common ground - we can be united if the STUPID POLITICIANS will stop being political and be common - so you can understand us. We understand the politicians just fine - they don't understand us commoners. |
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Without a leader to represent and battle for the conservative ideas...we go no where. The fact is we have a a lot of elected "leaders" who are really clueless and ineffective...such as Bounier.
We need a Newt.
We need a Palin.
We need a Jindal.
We need these people to focus the weak republicans and keep them aligned on the larger goal of regaining power.
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Hispanics are conservatives.
They see big government as intimidating and corrupt. Their families are the most important thing to them. They have no interest in government handouts because they want to earn their way. They do not prescribe to the "entitlement" mindset that plagues this country. They believe in the American dream just like our ancestors did when they immigrated to this country.
I am describing Hispanics in Texas. I can not speak for California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, or Nevada but I suspect its about the same.
Hispanics see the Democratic Party as the party that looks out for the little guy. (Truman or Kennedy Democrats.) We need to convince them that the "New" Democratic Party is interested in their vote, and nothing more.
HISPANICS WILL PLAY AN IMPORTANT AND GROWING ROLE IN STATE AND NATIONAL ELECTIONS. AND, THEIR WORK ETHIC AND DESIRE TO SUCCEED IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS.
HISPANICS WILL HAVE THE ROLE AS WHAT WE REFERRED TO IN 1980 AS "REAGAN DEMOCRATS"! |
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I am most concerned about any United Nations Conventions and Treaties that the New Administration would sign.
Once ratified, these would become the supreme law of the land, if I am correct. They would be above state law and Supreme Court decisions. Conservatives of any bent need to search out what kind of UN treaties are waiting in the wings, and pass amendments quickly to block their intent, before they are signed.
One horrifying example is the Rights of the Child Convention, which guarantees all children have a right to an "education," the content of which any red blooded American would find completely repressive.
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/k2crc.htm
(with particular attention to article 29).
If anyone is going to inform me that an amendment is no defense, I would ask humbly what defense there is for this dreadful prospect.
Another threat is local gov'ts signing on with internat'l organizations.
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=7377
(with particular attention to Local Agenda 21).
Ultimately, this is an environmental compact with local gov'ts, which is committed to the Earth Charter and the Melbourne Principles.*
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=802
This came to my attention because my own small town is participating in this program. Is yours?
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=772
*Please search these abominable Socialist documents soon. |
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Gotta agree with MOST of what Lewis has to say.
My blog: http://tomsconservativeblog.blogspot.com/ |
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There has been a lot of talk on here so far ABOUT minorities, especially hispanics, but nothing about ACTUALLY TALKING TO minorities.
Warrior talks about "crafting a message". That sounds like you are creating ad copy to sell a product. Are we snake oil salesman?
The first question is to ask every recent hispanic and other immigrants is WHY did they come to America. Is it economic? Is it political freedom? Education? Finding out the WHY is very important.
In a government for and by the people, immigrants have to understand they ARE, by definition THE GOVERNMENT. So what do THEY want in THEIR government that creates the opportunities THEY want in order to achieve the realization of THEIR goals in immigrating to America.
That means TALKING to hispanics, street by street, block by block, town by town, county by county, state by state and illustrating to them HOW the republican party can work in achieving those goals. |
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As long as the African American and Hispanic American minorities are allowed and encouraged to organize along racial and ethnic lines and Caucasian Americans are not allowed to or have no interest in doing so, the Republican Party is going to be at a decided disadvantage. |
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The Republican Party has goals that differ from those of the conservative movement. A political party has a primary goal of influence, relative to control over the execution of the political process. Conservatives, as a philosophy are concerned with the relative success of the endevors of society.
Two distinct differences: parties must be willing to utilize a variety of means to gain their goal, political philosophies also deal with more aspects of society than the political process (re: culture war).
The common ground can be in the method in which both lay down tactics to achieve their respective goals. This basic method is the market place of ideas. Rather than gaining votes, convince voters of the correctness of your position. This is a difficult process and not always certain. It depends on an assumption of the intelligence of the citizens and their use of logical analysis to reach a decision. The conservative movement gains support and the agreement of people within society to act in certain ways. The conservative movment can gain attain their goal on abortions without any law being passed. The party gains votes, but also reduces the number of issues which need to be contended.
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"Conservatism tends to be pragmatic while liberalism tends to be idealistic, but on the immigration issue conservatives are not being pragmatic. We have to accept reality and find a way to deal with it in a manner that is consistent with conservatism."
That conservative-consistent manner would be by enforcing the laws. Punish employers who hire illegals and send the illegals home when they are located. Actually, just dealing with the criminal employers would take care of it.
As conservatives, we need to start winning back voters by supporting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, including the idea that we're all equal under the law. People shouldn't get special rights (think hate crime laws - what a joke) or be pandered to just because they're of a certain sex, race or religion.
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"Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth."...Ronald Reagan
Amen. |
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Both parties are owned by the Globalist CFR....now they are deeply entrenched and surround Obama as they did Bush too.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId= 80686 |
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Rockefeller CFR Globalists have killed the Republican party. The CFR Globalists own both parties and have for a long time. We need to purge the Globalists and their CFR bigotry from
the party. What good will it be if we save the Republican party yet lose our country to European Socialism and CFR Globalism?????
Below is the only ROADMAP left to help TRUE CONSERVATIVES find their way back with INTEGRITY to the core beliefs of our Conservative Founders:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/11/paul.republican/inde x.html
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We should talk soon; please email me through the links on my website:
http://www.citizensforhealthreform.com
http://www.healthforusall.com
Citizens unite! Thanks |
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I read an article about Barack Obama kicking conservative reporters off his plane; "There's no room." Good job Barrack! If only Senator McCain had had so much sense. Democrats have been pummeling us for decades and have effectively identified us as their enemy. But what if we turned the tables on them? What if, when they say, "we want a fairness doctrine to make Rush Limbaugh give liberals half his airtime" we say, "Outstanding! And your bloody liberal college professors can be regulated to provide a conservative voice." When they say with a sarcastic chuckle, "they're trying to say we want to teach kindergartners about homosexuality," and then in the same breath say it's necessary, we call them on it: You're trying to dictate your "progressive morality." As they attack us as being the "religious right." |
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When you accede to talking about specific proposals for a program, you have acquiesced to its need. Here is the approach that needs to be taken. Identify all that is bad with the current system. Identify when and why it went bad. Reverse all the bad decisions and make profound changes to eliminate the deleterious problem causes. Move to a free and competitive medical market. Attack medical school programs and methods of teaching. Do away with tenure and fire as needed to remove Socialist influences. Reward excellence and shame extravagance. Create a National Civilian Inspector General program that can evaluate, fire, and fix problems in the various hospitals, clinics, and Doctors Offices. I have more. |
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Newt is my favorite but if he honestly believes the way to get more Republican support is to talk about Mathematics and Science achievement and more computer technology involvement; he has lost it. He may as well talk about repositioning the planets in our galaxy. Here are some thoughts: 1. Attack abortion as a selfish motivation for murder and show pictures to prove it. Moral right is sell-able. 2.Get the government hand out of the taxpayers pocket--portray it as armed robbery and un-American. 3. Create jobs for people who want to work and criticize healthy people that don't want to work. Grants should be reviewed for elimination and converted to loans.4. Identify and prosecute anyone working to destroy our country or its economy. 5. Abolish the Dept of Education and attack the Teachers unions. 6. Do away with college tenure, no other job has it. 7. Break up the banking monopoly and do away with the Federal Reserve. 8. Limit the assets any mutual fund can control to dampen their ability to move the market. 9. Outlaw any real attempt at creating a commodity cartel. 10. Return the word Representative to our Senate and Congress by liquidating caucuses and making Party loyalty oaths unlawful. I have more. |
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How about a platform that is 'by the people and for the people'?
Freedom (limited government)
Personal Responsibility
Citizen Empowerment
Have citizen groups mobilize to recraft
all our major sectors: health, economy,energy, education etc....
Deregulate, drastically reduce bureaucracy, shift
dollars to enhancing quality of life and productivity
Several of us are working diligently on health reform; we'll let you know what we come up with!
http://www.citizensforhealthreform.com (soon will be
http://www.nationalallianceforhealthreform.org)
http://www.healthforusall.com |
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Energy Policy. This issue has faded with the recent drop in prices, but someday will return. The groundwork should be laid now to capitalize on the future energy crisis which will result from democrat energy policy. The all of the above approach resonates and needs to be consistently raised.
We have to show how the democrats say one thing and do another. They say they will allow drilling, but put so many regulatory hurdles in the way, that nothing is ever accomplished. They say that we need to "look" at nuclear power, but again make it impossible to go anywhere. We have to shine the light on the truth of their energy policy which is essentially you can't do anything that works.
We need to energy to jobs. We know oil works and drilling will create jobs. We know nuclear power works and it will create jobs. The green solutions preferred by the democrats are great and should be pursued, but not to the exclusion of proven sources of power.
The "man on the moon in 10 years" analogy needs to be exposed for the false parallel it is. Had we failed to get that man on the moon in the alloted time, it would have had no impact on the economy. It was a great goal with no consequences if it was not met. If the "green power" ideas don't pan out and we have put all our eggs in that basket we will have a huge problem down the road.
The other problem with the analogy is that a 10 year goal has to be rooted in that which is actually achievable. If someone were to say "well we can put a man in the Andromeda galaxy in 10 years because we were able to put a man on the moon in 10 years" he would have no credibility.
President will push the green power idea with this bad anolgy and it needs to be countered. |
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So what is the message that needs to be crafted. I don't exactly know, but have some thoughts.
Education. Education is vital for improvement and we need to explain how we can actually improve it. We need to show how Democrat educational ideas have led to the abysmal failures that we see in most schools. We need to highlight the successes of Conservative ideas like vouchers. McCain did this a bit in one debate, but didn't push it enough. We have to explain effectivly that pouring money into schools isn't the answer. Countries around the world and even private schools in the US do far more with less money. The idea that throwing money at the problem will solve it has to be destroyed.
Values. There is a large portion of minority populations that are conservative in their values. Again look at the results of prop 8 where both hispanics and blacks voted in higher percentages for the amendment than whites did. The disparate impact that abortion has on the black community should be a powerful message if communicated properly.
Economic Prosperity. We need to show how liberal programs mire people in mediocrity and how conservative principles create the environmnet for advancement. This will not reach all, those happy with stability and not eager to sacrifice for more will prefer the Democrat party, but there are people in every group who have the ambition and drive to succed. These are the ones who need to be reached with these ideas. |
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I am not trying to say that we need to treat people differently based on their racial or ethinc background, but it is necessary to communicate in a different manner.
Conservatism offers a better life for the pauper as well as the millionaire, but the reasons it does so are different for the two. You don't convince the pauper to vote conservative by telling him that you want to lower the rich guys taxes. You have to show the pauper how conservative principles can work on his circumstances to make his life better.
The same holds true for blacks and hispanics. They should not be singled out for disparate or preferential treatment, but their economic and social background has to be considered when the message is crafted. Ignoring the life experience that shapes an individual prevents effective communication with that individual. |
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Not only does conservatism need to find a better way to address the hispanic demographic time bomb which will make Republicans a permanent minority if hispanics are driven to the democrat party, but it is also vital to find a way to reach out to the black minority.
Even in elections less historic than this one, blacks vote something like 90% Democrat. This means that in any national election the Democrats have a guaranteed 10% of the vote before any issues are even considered. This is not because blacks as a group are opposed to conservative principles. Look at the prop 8 voting in California where blacks were the group most in favor of the proposition.
If Republicans could obtain 60-70% of the black vote, it would mean a 3.5%-5% increase for Republicans and decrease for Democrats. This shift would dramatically increase the odds that a Republican could win any given national election.
So what is the problem? Why do blacks vote so consistently Democrat. I think the problem is that the Republican is perceived as anti-black. This is perception rather than reality, but if the perception is not changed, the fact that it is false doesn't matter. The perception has to be changed and that means that Republicans have to communicate effectively that they aren't racist, and that their policies will help the black community more than the Democrats.
It is necessary to reach this portion of the populace in order to build a lasting, effective party. |
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Minorities are the losers in this election.
That will come to light when all the promises of the Messiah goes to just the chosen few..
Watch just Watch!
Mexican Americans will be the biggest losers, because they listened to the Dazzling BS of Obummer. |
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To that end it is important to identify what conservatism wants with immigration. While some conservatives may be simply hostile to hispanics, hopefully they are a distinct minority. The key issue with immigration is that assimilation is important. There should not be a vast section of the population which is here and here to stay, but nevertheless is not integrated into the rest of society.
How can we work to integrate hispanics into our society? If we can provide for them the opportunity to succeed, and they see the opportunity for advancement in this country, then conservatism will have a strong appeal.
Certainly some will have the same entitlement mentality that whites do, but it isn't necessary to win them all, just a significant number of them.
To paraphrase one of the earlier posters, we aren't going to move 20 million pepole out of the country. It simply will not happen. We have to find an effective way to deal with those people. Ignoring them and threatening to kick them all out is simply shooting ourselves in the foot. |
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Conservatism will not achieve lasting success if Democrats are able to achieve monolithic support from large minority groups. If Democrats manage to come anywhere near gaining the same level of support from the Hispanic community as they get from the Black community, Republicans will soon be unable to win national elections.
Kicking all the illegals out of the country is not the answer. Such an effort will not succeed; it is nothing more than a fantasy which is divorced from reality. More problematic is the fact that doing so will drive Hispanics into the Democrat fold. Conservatives can't spit in their faces for years, strengthen the Democrat party while doing so, and expect to some day down the road regain the power to kick the illegals out of the country.
Conservatism tends to be pragmatic while liberalism tends to be idealistic, but on the immigration issue conservatives are not being pragmatic. We have to accept reality and find a way to deal with it in a manner that is consistent with conservatism. |
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and commit to taking action on it:
http://mymnmanifesto.blogtownhall.com/ |
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1. Hold the budget flat for 2 years.
2. Adopt the FairTax.
3. Abolish the Dept. of Education.
4. Get the government out of health care.
5. Win the Iraq war.
6. Stop illegal immigration.
7. Phase out entitlements completely.
8. Adopt free markets. Have you noticed that the internet doesn't need bailed out?
9. Appoint judges who acknowledge that the Constitution means what it says.
10. Winning the new Cold War of Terror being waged against us by China and Russia.
Minor modifications for 2012. |
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should be extended to people who register to vote under their own power. There should be no thrid party entities involved in voter registration. Only people able to get to the registration location and to the polls under their own power or with the assistance of a close realtive should be allowed to vote. Third unrelated parties should not be involved with voter registration or with voter activity at any level from registration to voting. This has become such a problem in this country that we can no longer have full confidence in our elections. Until approximately 1850 only property owners were allowed to vote - when one actually has something at stake - one takes greater care in selecting elected officials.
In many states the same corrupt officials are voted in over and over again proving insufficient brain power goes into selecting our politicians. |
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When the Republicans controled the House and Senate the Democrats were refered to as the MINORITY party and were no longer in power. So if you are a minority party you do not have any power and the majority can vote AGAINST your interests. The Democrats now control the House and Senate and are considered the majority party and the republicans are considered the minority power i.e. they no longer have any power.
The wealthiest americans, that 1% of the population that controls roughly 40% of the entire wealth of the nation is a MINORITY party. This means if the majority of americans are ALLOWED the vote, they have the ability to vote their wealth away. If you follow the history of voting in america you will see that the origins of the country did not allow everyone to vote. You had to be "landed", you had to be a legal owner of land in order to vote.
In order to protect their wealth from being taxed away by the majority they had to expand their party and bring in elements of the masses to support them and support the idea of protecting THEIR wealth from taxation.
I am wealthy and do not want to see my income wealth taxed away and I also want to preserve my wealth so I can pass it on to my children. I do not want the wealth I inherited and also created taxed away. So I am constantly telling people who earn 20 times per year less then me why they should vote for people who will protect my wealth. I am forced to do this as a form of self preservation. |
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I think we need to change the office of the Secretary of State in each state to an office held by one Dem and one Republican. We cannot survive voter fraud. |
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1. Build a bench like Pense, Cantor, DeMint, Coburn, Palin, Jindal and allow them to speak out for the national Party. 2. Make Newt the RNC Chair and allow him to put out the ideas to reinvigorate the Party. 3. Allow Mike Steele to recruit new ,younger , more diverse candidates. He is a go to guy. 4. Make sure every GOP member goes on Talk Radio daily. Make sure they are on CSPAN daily. Write Opeds weekly in as many a MSM paper as they can. Agree on 4-5 principles that are Reaganlike updated. Communicate with every special interest group they can as well as make these ideas national. 5. Do not, not ,not go across the aisle anymore. Defeat liberal socialist pacifist ideas with better capitalistic, free, libertarian, conservative ideas. Do not allow RINO's to speak nationally for the Party. That is the way to defeat. |
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the majority of the Hispanic vote to win. We need the center Dems, the Reagan Dixiecrats, to win.
As a matter of fact, as a thank you, and an example of how the Republican party wishes that Hispanics more readily assimilate into our culture to reap the full reward of our unique American experience, we should put a plank in the '12 platform demanding English as our only language.
Screw the Hispanics - more than 75% of Americans support this.
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Republicans have killed the party through their own greed. They wanted cheap foreign labor (with which to stab their fellow (poorer) American workers in the back).
Now that they have their cheap foreign labor, many of whom are now citizens, that cheap foreign labor has a new sugar daddy: the democrats who bribe them for votes by promising to confiscate the wealth of the rich to give to the poor (themselves). They will unionize and the WSJ will get its just desserts.
It is likley that Lantinos will be pulling the lever for dems for decades to come unless they get a sudden rush of morality and patriotism. That looks to be doubtful (just look at life south of the border).
Latinos tend to put their ethno-centricity ahead of the welfare of the US which indicates they are (as many have suspected) a bad immigrant pool to select from. But, since they are here in such large numbers now: what to do, and well, tough luck.
The Latino message is basically, "If you don't let us complete the WASP genocide in America, we won't vote for you".
And, this cheery prospect delights the democrats who welcome it heartily and wish to speed it along.
It didn't take long for the latinos to learn what blacks had learned long ago: If I vote for a democrat I make more money FROM government through taxation of the rich.
So why be dumb?
Why have morals?
There are a good two dozen names to call those at the Wall Street Journal, and those in the GOP who promoted this, but they are so vile and so disgusting that they wouldn't get posted and my keyboard would melt before I got them typed out.
The word TREASON meets most of those descriptive criteria.
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Instead of pinning our hopes on a canidate, I rather pin my hopes on a conservative platform and find someone who can Articulate it. They also have to believe and understand why it is good for everyone in America.
What made Reagan so good is he could answer a difficult question in a way that may everyone understand he was right.
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We HAVE to be or we will die as a Party. The Republican party needs a "make-over" while keeping the core principals that Reagan expressed so well. Small government, strong military, low taxes, a respect for life, jobs, jobs, jobs, a good energy policy that free's us from foreign sources, and most importantly A COMPLETE OVERHAUL OF OUR TAX POLICY! A flat tax something like Forbes and Huckabee worked out. We have to get this done! Too bad Bush didn't try to accomplish a flat tax policy instead of pushing the privatization of Social Security. We need to be totally inclusive but we should also uphold the rule of law in this country. We need to cut spending drastically and veto any pork barrel projects. Get back to basics or we will not survive! Start talking about things that are so important to our families across the nation. Sarah Palin is the only one who was able to connect with the average American because she IS an average American. The good old boys (millionaire's) club has tanked our party and we need to build it back from the ground up. I am furious at what has happened to our credibility as conservatives. It's sickening! Newt Gingrich is a good candidate to take over the party but I would never vote for him for President. He has more baggage than Grand Central. Sarah Palin is my choice for 2012. Bobby Jindal is great but a tad young. Mitt Romney? I don't know. We need to get started, NOW! |
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aren't changed at the ballot box. They're changed at the idiot box.
FOX news, talk radio, and the conservative blogosphere ain't gonna cut it. Targeted commercials on MTV, BET, Univision, CBS, Comedy Central,...
Or how about bus ads with poignant quotes from the Founding Fathers, or park bench ads with quotes from historical Republican or conservative icons? Billboards? Those are, at least, inexpensive.
Libs have all popular media, 24-7-365. It's actually kind of remarkable that McCain/Palin got 47% all things considered. Regardless, the only way to counter what is said between commercials is to have commercials, be it in the form of PSA's, or advertising a book by a conservative author (during Oprah), or cartoon commercials on Saturday mornings.
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Don't sweat Desert, "the former conservative" in all his musings on this thread has rattled off about 25 issues, all of which he takes the liberal view...yet he calls us the robots...I guess he had an extra serving of the cool aide! |
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How about an amendment which says that any person receiving national healthcare cannot be euthanized.
How about an amendment which says that no child may be forced to attend any publicly funded school, or any school with a gov't curriculum.
What the devil is anyone talking about the Republican Party for? Don't let them censor your speech, kill the inferm or seize your children.
Couldn't we just save the country? |
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I don't need a "recovery path" from conservatism. I do not need to listen to talk radio to know what my beliefs are (although is IS fun).
You don't get it, Dweller. Some of us are not content just to "dwell". We want to live in a society that recognizes our freedom to strive for a better life for ourselves and our children.
Conservative values, even the fiscal ones, are geared toward the middle class. And sorry, buddy, there ain't nothin' wrong with Kansas. |
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but I pray you're wrong becuase it is wrong for Obama to get away with what he is doing. |
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I'm not going to put all my hopes (oops sorry, didn't mean to use a naughty word) in Souter
ruling against O. Since when has the rule of law meant anything to the SCOTUS libs, he will find a "penumbra" next to the one that gives a woman the right to terminate her "punishment".
I do pray that he will determine correctly but I dunno' we are in this pickle because, we are in the Hands of an Angry God (and I don't need any snarky lectures from God haters, I'm talking to
my "family") Our woes will continue til we
see the error of our rebellious ways, doing that which is right in our own eyes and scorning the great GIFT of Freedom God gave our Founders and their posterity. We are no different than the
Israelites of old.
Having said that, don't you think he's already
told us by sealing the record, and hiding from
any questions just like Lurch did with his
mil. papers. Actions speak louder than words in my book. |
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Coming up with ideas is the hard part. First thing we need to do is make sure the fairness doctrine does not pass. We need to bombard our representatives like we did with the amnesty bill. One thing I am doing is educating my kids early. They are 11 and 9; and I have started explaining to them what conservativism means. I talk to them about what they are learning at school and I am quick to point out when they are being misinformed.
For instance, last week I was reading my 9 year olds Social Studies book, which was impying there was a national right to vote. I explained to my 9 year old that the constitution does not explicitly ensure the right to vote. Instead, voting is a priviledge. These are just a few ideas, but we obviously need to do much more. |
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The liberals over time have taken over education. Learning the consitution is not required. Basic economics is not available in our local school district and probably not available in many district. Teachers are quick to inpart their point of view.
Children are idealistic! It breaks their heart when they hear of poor or unisured people and are basically told it is the fault of greedy Business and Republicans. Kids eat that up.
We need to figure out how to educate students about economics and the consitution. When you don't understand economics or the consitution you can be tricked into thinking that gov't is the answer.
How do we start the education. I was thinking about starting an economics club that goes around to organizations (like Boy/Girl's Scouts)and talk about these subjects and invite them to additional classes. I would need help to make a sizable impact. We need thinking people to vote. Feel free to post idea's
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I agree 100%. We need to articulate conservative ideas that will draw people to the conservative movement (like Reagan did). There is no need to focus on one specific group. People of any race or gender will be drawn to conservatism if we educate them on it's values. |
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pure and simple. And the reason I mention religion at all is to say that you fake yours and it isn't a nice picture. As far as Sarah Palin goes, you don't even have the decency to call her by her name - and that says even more about what a disgusting Bigot you are. |
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So your advice for us conservatives is to read a left wing nut like Thomas Frank? Geeesh, you wasted a few hours of your time today on this site. The guys over at Daily Kos will show you lots of love though...Good thing you watched Bill O'Reilly the other night....ROFLMAO!! |
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Wow. You started reading history, huh? World history too. Mmmm yeah. Those history books, boy, they will convert ya everytime, man. Uh huh, nothing like reading to make a man edumakated and see the light you betcha. Hey, it's pure coincidence that you are indirectly presenting the lefty meme that conservatives don't read books. Ya got us, dude, fer sher. All those years living in the desert as a hermit until your epiphany about reading history. Ooooooh. Now you descend from the mountaintop to clue us all in on how we should take it from you that since WE haven't been reading history you are now here to enlighten us. LOL
Do all you lefties have a messiah complex now? Sorry guy, one messiah at a time. But you are entertaining. |
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You say you were once a Repbulican and a conservative. Which is a give away for a serial left wing poster on all conservative sites. Your views espoused here are no where near conservatism.
What is your true reason for being on this site pretending to be an ex-conserv/repub when the views you express are far leftwingnut in nature with posts usually seen on the Daily Kos or posted on here by robots hired by the Obama Campaign by posters such as the infamous Sarah Jane?
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Regarding reading the Daily Kos, I have no clue about that site. Checked it out one time and it seemed like a mirror image of Negative Conservatism. All that stuff is is strategy and negativity. I have no interest but its funny how you all are obsessed about that site as if townhall is any better!
Ever since Bill O’Reilly started mentioning the Daily Kos every other day it seems as if no one can make an honest observation about the failures of Conservatism without being labeled as an implant from the Daily Kos. You all are robots who have no clue about honest dissentions, debate or thinking. Something is either true or false regardless of its source. This propagandist’s technique of labels things only serves to close your minds. Don’t you ever wonder why Conservative media try’s to close your mind? They attack the media, journalism, our institutions of higher learning, other counties such as France, etc. Why??? To keep you stupid; if you think Rush or Hannity is the only source for truth & that all these others are bad, evil, etc. then it closes your mind. And how can you get along with your spouse, your family, your friends, etc. if you tune out everything they have to offer. Conservatism is, as savage says, a mental disorder too when taken to extremes. Rush makes hundreds of millions, so does Hannity, O’Reilly, etc. They are not simply men like you with opinions; they are paid to keep you listening. Don’t take them too serious, it’s bad for your life.
Many of you have no idea what or why you really believe what you do cause it sure ain’t based on reality or results. It seems like it’s a feel good emotional based club more than an honest practical forum to exchange ideas or govern a country that benefits a majority of it citizens. Read the book, “What’s a matter with Kansas” to get started on your conservative recovery path… |
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And then I started reading European history, world history, etc. And it came like a lightening bolt to me that all these Conservative radio guys & pundits are all a bunch of highly paid manipulative professional propagandists. The idea is to paint a picture of us vs. them as if other human beings don’t have the same God created instincts and needs. Yes, there are nuts, criminals, etc. but a society cannot mold itself & punish the majority because of a few who will take advantage. So once I got that figured out I stopped seeing the world through this negative Conservative looking glass and it all opened up.
Conservatives like to get on board after the fact, after progress, but during the struggle for progress whether it’s economic, social or global they resist. And then 10 years later when what was resisted seems obviously the good moral position, they claim how they hold the same values. Right now before you is the perfect example; illegal immigration. In 20 years, after Obama reworks the immigrations system, after these people are part of us, when their kids fall in love with ours, we will all be telling ourselves that yes, they are good people too. And whether you know it or not they are genetically half European so what are you all worked up over in the first place?
But what about now, when it counts to stand up for the correct moral ethical policy, where are you conservatives? On the wrong side of history. Blacks don’t vote democrat because they’re lazy or whatever you all think, they vote democrat because the democrats, for all their mistakes, at least embrace a culture of empathy towards real human struggle. Republicans love trotting out a token but if you’re not a conservative then you don’t count. What inhumane mental process is that? |
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Total dishonesty regarding ACORN!
Do you really think Mickey Mouse or Nacho Cheese showed up and voted? The victim of that scandal was acorn themselves who paid these folks commissions for faking registrations. This was not about stealing an election; it was a bunch of people in a commission based job ripping off their own employer!
What if a car salesman could claim they sold cars when they never did and still get paid a commission? We’d see that everyday if it was possible. Same thing except obviously faking a car sale would be a lot harder to pull on your employer. But a stack of hundreds of papers, easy!
Yet day after day all the Conservative radio liars would try to get the base worked up over something they all know was false.
Once again, Conservatives basically fabricating an issue and trying to politicize something that is irrelevant to anyone except the acorn people who got ripped off!
This type of stuff, along with the failure of conservatism to actually govern when they had all 3 federal branches, is why I left. To doubt my sincerity is also part of your robotic mental disease; it’s inconceivable to you that I was once as brainwashed as you all. But I was until employer after employer would screw us workers. And I would think to myself, here I am this business friendly hard worker, I’m one of you so why are you screwing me & my coworkers every chance you get? I would actually defend our employers and my co-workers would look at me like I was crazy! Yet they were all good people so I wondering why I was so different then my buddies at work. I started reading the political & economic history of our country starting in the late 1800’s, the need for and the rise of the labor movement, the sweatshops where people worked 80 hours a week for nothing but slave wages. |
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Desert is not or has never been a conservative. Look out anytime someone says " I used to be a conservative, but..." the goes on to state they believe any of the following, supply side economincs is bad on any level or is responsible for the subprime lending problems, Anyone who thinks Bush has governed as a fiscal conservative, Anyone that thinks governement is the answer to any of the questions such as health care, the automobile industry, the oil industry, etc, anyone who mentions Clinton getting impeached is a bad thing or that "Gore won the popular vote"
Add to that the class warfare statements and we are dealing with no conservative.
Town Hall friends, You have just been inundated by a serial left wing poster/propogandist.
Memo to desert, you guys won this time fair and square (acorn withstanding), congrats, but the election is over, and us true conservatives really don't need any help from you or your kind to get us back on the right track. You can now return to your regular blog over at the Daily Kos |
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An honest anyalis of what went wrong MUST include the airhead.
And pleae, don't bring religion into this. I did not. You don't like it that Princess Sarugh is left out inthe cold, and is 50% of the Mac and cheesewiz team. She's not even on the big shot GOP cruise ship. Mitt is. |
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I’m not sure where you are coming from, unless you are a rich man why do you hold views that are against you own interests and that of your family, your children? That, to me, is the weirdest aspect of Conservatism, an infection I used to also have. There is an entire cabal of true believers who get wrapped up in theory that has not benefited them and then you all vote against your own best interest as a working class person. Whether a company makes 1% profit or 20% should make no difference to you because while most Americans own some shares over 90% of the value of the market is owned by a relatively few. So you should be more concerned with job stability for the average man.
Do you know why OH went for Obama? Because grown men with skills and families to support used to be able to get a $20 an hour job any day of the week. Now all they can find are $8 jobs. Conservatives should drop all this GDP manipulation & deal with reality. When a country is being decimated of its jobs the government has a governing obligation to stop it using laws, taxes and public pressure. Instead the Conservatives watched our nation lose its economic infrastructure but allowed the super wealthy to juice the GDP to give us the illusion of growth. There was almost none outside of the artificial housing industry, another debt induced growth illusion. |
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Where are you getting that garbage of statistics twisted into a political point of view? Copy & pasting something that flies in the face of reality is silly, I can log on to Heritage Foundation and read all their garbage too! And aren't they the ones who claimed cigarettes didn't cause cancer many decades ago? They are not a source of anything that contributes to an honest debate.
You seem to not personally know a lot but what has happened is that the social contract between citizens & business has been dismantled & most of the gains have gone to the top. No democracy can survive that. And then we were flooded with cheap money & borrowed to compensate for the gap in wages and living expenses. So yes, GDP has often done well but it was borrowed money, not real growth as we had in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s.
The last recovery is widely known as the jobless recovery because while GDP recovered, few jobs were created. The wealthy, instead of creating jobs & paying workers a fair share, horded the money. There are many books written on the new gilded age barons created over the last 8 years. And none of it was organic wealth creation; it was all financial manipulations based on 30 to 1 leverage, CDS, etc. Insanity! So while GDP grew, it all went to a few % of the people. That is not an economic model for long term sustainability because as Henry Ford taught us, if no one can buy my cars than how will I succeed. So he paid his workers double what the going rate was back then, much to the displeasure of the business community. |
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Way to go! Excellent short course tutorial on Reagan, supply side economics etc. Who cares if the Desert Rat is convinced. You are educating the uninitiated. Thank you. |
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Good point. Please keep in mind when I and probably all the other Reaganauts speak of doing things that Reagan would do we allow for paticular exceptions, which were due to particular circumstances that existed at the time. |
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Desert is not or has never been a conservative. Look out anytime someone says " I used to be a conservative, but..." the goes on to state they believe any of the following, supply side economincs is bad on any level or is responsible for the subprime lending problems, Anyone who thinks Bush has governed as a fiscal conservative, Anyone that thinks governement is the answer to any of the questions such as health care, the automobile industry, the oil industry, etc, anyone who mentions Clinton getting impeached is a bad thing or that "Gore won the popular vote"
Town Hall friends, You have just been inundated by a serial left wing poster/propogandist.
Memo to desert, you guys won this time fair and square (acorn withstanding), congrats, but the election is over, and us true conservatives really don't need any help from you or your kind to get us back on the right track. You can now return to your regular blog over at the Daily Kos. |
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The successes of the Reagan years had less to do with tax cuts than with the policies Reagan and the Fed adopted for dealing with inflation and interest rates.
Please note that Reagan had to RAISE taxes several times during his tenure, but to this day interest rates and inflation are held in check by the model created by Reagan and the Fed. |
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Interest Rates. In 1980 the interest rate on a 30-year mortgage was 15 percent; this rate rose to its all-time peak of 18.9 percent in 1981. The prime rate steadily fell over the subsequent six years to a low of 8.2 percent in 1987 as the inflationary expectation component of interest rates fell sharply. The prime rate hit its 20-year low in 1993 at 6.0 percent. The Treasury Bill rate also fell dramatically in the 1980s--from 14 percent in 1981 to 7 percent in 1988. In the 1990s, interest rates have continued to migrate gradually downward, as shown in Figure 5.
Savings. The savings rate did not rise in the 1980s, as supply-side advocates had predicted. In fact, in the 1980s the personal savings rate fell from 8 percent to 6.5 percent. [16]In the 1990s the average savings rate has fallen even further to an average of 4.9 percent [17]--although the rate of decline has slowed |
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Productivity. For real wages to rise, productivity must rise. Over the past 30 years there has been a secular downward trend in U.S. productivity growth. Under Reagan, productivity grew at a 1.5 percent annual rate, as shown in Figure 4. This was lower than in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s but much higher than in the post-Reagan years. Under Clinton, productivity has increased at an annual rate of just 0.3 percent per year--the worst presidential performance since that of Herbert Hoover.
Inflation. The central economic evil that Ronald Reagan inherited in 1981 from Jimmy Carter was three years of double-digit inflation. In 1980 the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 13.5 percent. By Reagan's second year in office, the inflation rate fell by more than half to 6.2 percent. In 1988, Reagan's last year in office, the CPI had fallen to 4.1 percent. Figure 5 shows the inflation and interest rate trend |
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Employment. From 1981 through 1989 the U.S. economy produced 17 million new jobs, or roughly 2 million new jobs each year. Contrary to the Clinton administration's claims of vast job gains in the 1990s, the United States has averaged only 1.3 million new jobs per year in the post-Reagan years. The labor force United States has averaged only 1.3 million new jobs expanded by 1.7 percent per year between 1981 and 1989, but by just 1.2 percent per year between 1990 and 1995. [15]
Hours Worked. Table 1 confirms that hours worked per adult aged 20-64 grew much faster in the 1980s than in the pre -or post-Reagan years.
Unemployment Rate. When Reagan took office in 1981, the unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. In the recession of 1981-82, that rate peaked at 9.7 percent, but it fell continuously for the next seven years. When Reagan left office, the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. This reduction in joblessness was a clear triumph of the Reagan program. Figure 3 shows that in the pre-Reagan years, the unemployment rate trended upward; in the Reagan years, the unemployment rate trended downward; and in the post-Reagan years, the unemployment rate has fluctuated up and down but today remains virtually unchanged from the 1989 rate.
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Economic Growth per Working-Age Adult. When we adjust the economic growth rates to take account of demographic changes, we find that the expansion in the Reagan years looks even better and that the 1970s' performance looks worse. GDP growth per adult aged 20-64 in the Reagan years grew twice as rapidly, on average, as it did in the pre- and post-Reagan years.
Median Household Incomes. Real median household income rose by $4,000 in the Reagan years--from $37,868 in 1981 to $42,049 in 1989, as shown in Figure 2. This improvement was a stark reversal of the income trends in the late 1970s and the 1990s: median family income was unchanged in the eight pre-Reagan years, and incomes have fallen by $1,438 in the anti-supply-side 1990s, following the 1990 and 1993 tax hikes. [14] Most of the declines in take-home pay occurred on George Bush's watch. Under Bill Clinton's tenure, there has been zero income growth in median household income.
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Economic Growth. The average annual growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) from 1981 to 1989 was 3.2 percent per year, compared with 2.8 percent from 1974 to 1981 and 2.1 percent from 1989 to 1995. The 3.2 percent growth rate for the Reagan years includes the recession of the early 1980s, which was a side effect of reversing Carter's high-inflation policies, and the seven expansion years, 1983-89. During the economic expansion alone, the economy grew by a robust annual rate of 3.8 percent. By the end of the Reagan years, the American economy was almost one-third larger than it was when they began. [13] Figure 1 shows the economic growth rate by president since World War II. That rate was higher in the 1980s than in the 1950s and 1970s but was substantially lower than the rapid economic growth rate of more than 4 percent per year in the 1960s. The Kennedy income tax rate cuts of 30 percent that were enacted in 1964 generated several years of 5 percent annual real growth. |
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You cannot be serious about being a one time conservative. You getting your talking points from Moveon.org or Daily Kos.
Gallon of Gas:
Most service stations are independently owned and operated and take in between 7 and 10 cents for every gallon they sell, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Taxes: The government takes about 40 cents right off the top, with about 18 cents going to the feds. State taxes vary widely, but the national average is about 22 cents a gallon.
Transportation: Getting the gas from refineries to service stations via trucks or pipelines - and the cost of storing it in large tanks - eats up another 23 to 26 cents per gallon.
Refining: About 24 cents a gallon goes to refining companies like Valero (VLO, Fortune 500), Sunoco (SUN, Fortune 500) or Frontier (FTO, Fortune 500) that specialize in turning crude oil into gas. Some companies like ExxonMobil (XOM, Fortune 500), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and ConocoPhillips (COP, Fortune 500) also have refining operations.
Crude oil: This is the most expensive part of a gallon of gas. Of every gallon of gas $2.07 from every gallon of gas goes to producers of crude.
Your number of .25 cents per gallon is just the refining cost. Which as you can see is just one of many costs associated with a gallon of gas. The Government makes more "profit" on a gallon of gas than the oil companies do.
Union Automobile makers average cost per labor hour is 70-75 dollars PER HOUR. Toyota, Honda labor costs in the US is 48 dollars per HOUR. You are right, the unions really are helping Ford,Chrysler, GM...silly me...
Healthcare? Free market forces in healthcare would reduce the costs much more than any governmnet mandates. Ask England and Canada how socialized healthcare is going there.
Come back when you have a grasp on reality...
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Now the nuts are out, talking about Obama’s Crimes! Do you really think the federal government, under Bush’s Attorney General, has not thoroughly vetted ever person that ran for President? You sound like the 911 conspiracy nuts! There is a microfilmed newspaper of all births during that week in Hawaii that has Obama listed. Now what? His hippie mom had the foresight & connections to doctor the records of the hospital, the newspaper and government? And don’t you think someone else would have done the Hawaii trip for Obama. He is followed 24/7 and would never put the spotlight ion himself, someone else would if your crazy theories had any merit!!!!
If Republican want to be a legitimate party of respect you need to get rid of the nuts that make claims of false citizenship for Obama, palling around with terrorist, Anti-Christ, Sleeper cell, America hater, Socialist, Marxist….
How about focusing on the problems & solutions of actual governing? Stuff like owning the failure of supply side deregulation to grow the economy but instead created the biggest government bailout ever? Ironically you tru cons didn’t want to do support the bailout that you policies led to! I guess it’s better to let the country go bankrupt. Is that a Conservative value? How about owning the reality that 50 million uninsured is a moral/systematic failure? Or a war that has killed well over 100K Iraq’s and almost 5K Americans? Conservatism has failed. To say that we need tru Conservatives now is like former USSR believers saying “You know, if we only had real communists in charge it would’ve actually worked”!!!!
The reality of the terrible results under Conservative federal control encompasses many more variables then you tru Conservatives comprehend. And the fact that you don’t even comprehend that those variables exist, let alone adjust your ideology, is reason enough to conclude that conservatives are disconnected from reality & should not be elected for the foreseeable future. |
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And those solutions will require spending on things you may not agree with. And visa versa for your opponents. And political favors, etc. that is the real world. It’s like buying flowers for a woman, as stupid as you think it is it really does make her happy. Conservative do not understand that there are other realities besides your small minded perspectives that thinks life is nothing more then a problem that can be solved using linear thinking.
Do I like speed limits? No. But if we got rid of them all then there will be idiots who abuse it and kill people. So we need laws (regulation). Now we need a way to enforce them (government) or else they mean nothing and we still would get innocent people killed on a lawless road. So we need cops who actually do their job. What if they took bribes on the road? Would that help? I could go on and on. But what conservatives have done is elect people (cops) who didn’t believe in the laws so they never enforced them. And then they say, look, government can’t do anything effectively. Well that’s because they put people in positions that didn’t believe in the mission in the first place. Yet you all keep saying we need true conservatives. We put Conservatives in total control and they screwed it up worse then the liberals and now you say we need real conservatives? Grow up, are you all mad? There is no such thing. The truest we ever got was the class of 1994 and by 1998 they lost their vision in a mad race to impeach Clinton for playing with his Willy! And Newt was having his own affair the entire time!!! Gore won the pop vote and were it not for 911 security fears there is no doubt 2004 would have gone to the Dems. Conservatives have been living on borrowed time and still have no clue. Pathetic. I whipped you all and need to move on… Good Day to you all regardless of how mentally challenged you are in relationship to reality!!!!! |
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And pension/healthcare costs have been a factor. That is not a union problem; it is the result of a healthcare system that is bankrupting the country in general. We pay more than any other country in the world as a % of GDP even though 50 million have no insurance because of no governmental regulations or controls. Car manufactures in other countries don’t have to pay a dime for healthcare because most countries have nationalized healthcare. And live longer by the way… for all you who always think we have the best system in the world. In a globalized world where all the machines and medicines are universal it’s very equivalent. But talk radio will never tell you the truth, only about some lady who had to wait for a knee replacement. Truth is that for life saving situations, there is no wait. Educate yourselves, turn off talk radio liars!
Finally Bush was conservative, can you not read??? All the agencies were run by his conservative appointments. It was the Republican Congress who spent. Bush went along because they made him for political purposes regarding supporting the war. This pure Conservative fantasy you all live in will never happen because of human nature and reality. Once again, REP had total control and didn’t practice it! Why? It wasn’t because they don’t know what a conservative is, it’s because in the real world there are limitations, temptations, political obligations, etc. Get wise!!! How many here could get their entire family to go along with only your ideas? None of you. Yet you live in this illusion that you can get hundreds of elected people to all think the same way and run the government as your small minds dictate!
Pure Conservatism as you believe it to be does not exist, it’s an idea that can help you process things but cannot ever be counted on to govern in a world where real problems exist and need to be solved. |
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Dose of Reality makes no sense, I don’t even know what he’s talking about. The only coherent things but misguided things on his list are as follow:
The cost of producing a gallon of gas; OPEC based oil is widely accepted as costing well under $5 a barrel to make and the final cost to make a gallon of OPEC sourced fuel is 25 cents a gallon. Of course if the contract, as was the case due to a incompetent world governing process, is traded up to 40 times between producer and refiner it’s going to cost us all a lot more so that traders could make a fortune doing nothing but punching keys on a keyboard. But the truck driver who actually works and contributes to society, screw him and steal out resources I suppose is your point. Gulf oil is substantially more, probably 75cents to make that same gallon of gas. The oil industry is secretive and cooks their books, like everyone does, to look as best as it can in the eyes of the public. So these record profits are probably under reported since the population is already up in arms. I’m sure much of their profits are sheltered and deferred under layers of loopholes.
Unions did not kill the auto industry, that’s a talk radio lie told so many times you all believe it. Insiders in the industry have written much about this. The bottom line is that the bean counters took over design from the engineers and artists. They would veto all sorts of nice features, better reliable designs and body designs to save literally pennies on every unit with the belief that they could make a few hundred more per car on the same number of units sold. But when sales dropped off they lost more than they could comprehend. They completely forgot that buying a car is an act of love; nobody needs a new car so we buy for love. When the bean counters didn’t let the artists create vehicles we would wanted, not needed, they ruined the industry. Unions had nothing to do with management’s refusal to make cars that people wanted. |
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like everyone else don't ya think Newt?
Like where it states that anyone running for office of the Presidency must be a Natural Born Citizen. How about enforcing that, and have a ruling by Justice Souter who has the court case that was brought by Phillip Berg, Attny. At Law that he MUST provide a valid Hawaii birth certificate, or have gone through a Naturalization process back into the United states through the Department of immigration and naturalization by his mother after his stepfather adopted him in Indonesia so he could attend school there, as a dual Citizenship is not allowed. t
Obama's mother never did that, so essentially, even if he were born in Hawaii, when he was adopted in Indonesia, he lost his U.S. Citizenship status and has not reapplied for it to this day.
So all these new plans may sound promising, but until we get the old standard of obeying the laws of the land established again, and make it mandatory that the Constitution be followed, there's nothing else in place which could effect any of it. Changes need to happen all around for it to even be considered.
Oh for any of you doubting what I said about Obama not being a U.S. Citizen, go here for the truth.
obamacrimes.com
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Socialistic tendencies of the democratic party
But as a former Democrat, I can tell you Norman Thomas isn't the only man who has drawn this parallel to socialism with the present administration, because back in 1936, Mr. Democrat himself, Al Smith, the great American, came before the American people and charged that the leadership of his Party was taking the Party of Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland down the road under the banners of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin. And he walked away from his Party, and he never returned til the day he died -- because to this day, the leadership of that Party has been taking that Party, that honorable Party, down the road in the image of the labor Socialist Party of England.
Now it doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed to the -- or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? And such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, unalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.
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On government beauracrcies...
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. So, governments' programs, once launched, never disappear.
Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth.
Federal employees -- federal employees number two and a half million; and federal, state, and local, one out of six of the nation's work force employed by government. These proliferating bureaus with their thousands of regulations have cost us many of our constitutional safeguards. How many of us realize that today federal agents can invade a man's property without a warrant? They can impose a fine without a formal hearing, let alone a trial by jury? And they can seize and sell his property at auction to enforce the payment of that fine. In Chico County, Arkansas, James Wier over-planted his rice allotment. The government obtained a 17,000 dollar judgment. And a U.S. marshal sold his 960-acre farm at auction. The government said it was necessary as a warning to others to make the system work.
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Hey, good job. You fooled me at first. I see now that you are a lefty Trojan Horse posting here as a saboteur. That's what I get for being so open and tolerant and willing to listen to others who have different points of view. But as we say in Reaganville, "Trust, but verify." C'est la vie. |
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Social Security
But we're against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments to those people who depend on them for a livelihood. They've called it "insurance" to us in a hundred million pieces of literature. But then they appeared before the Supreme Court and they testified it was a welfare program. They only use the term "insurance" to sell it to the people. And they said Social Security dues are a tax for the general use of the government, and the government has used that tax. There is no fund, because Robert Byers, the actuarial head, appeared before a congressional committee and admitted that Social Security as of this moment is 298 billion dollars in the hole. But he said there should be no cause for worry because as long as they have the power to tax, they could always take away from the people whatever they needed to bail them out of trouble. And they're doing just that. |
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Socialism vs Capitalism continued
Well, I, for one, resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me, the free men and women of this country, as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government" -- this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.
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socialism vs capitalism
In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the "Great Society," or as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a greater government activity in the affairs of the people. But they've been a little more explicit in the past and among themselves; and all of the things I now will quote have appeared in print. These are not Republican accusations. For example, they have voices that say, "The cold war will end through our acceptance of a not undemocratic socialism." Another voice says, "The profit motive has become outmoded. It must be replaced by the incentives of the welfare state." Or, "Our traditional system of individual freedom is incapable of solving the complex problems of the 20th century." Senator Fulbright has said at Stanford University that the Constitution is outmoded. He referred to the President as "our moral teacher and our leader," and he says he is "hobbled in his task by the restrictions of power imposed on him by this antiquated document." He must "be freed," so that he "can do for us" what he knows "is best." And Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as "meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government."
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How about acknowledging the basic principles of conservatism. Perhaps, just perhaps if there weren't so many "rocket scientists" in the party trying to tweak the message, we could attract and hold more in our ranks.
Ideas are fine but foundation, values, principles and conviction to those core values must come first. If some of our wishy-washy officials in office would show more than token allegiance to this fact, more of them would retain their seats in congress. |
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On America's fight for freedom
As for the peace that we would preserve, I wonder who among us would like to approach the wife or mother whose husband or son has died in South Vietnam and ask them if they think this is a peace that should be maintained indefinitely. Do they mean peace, or do they mean we just want to be left in peace? There can be no real peace while one American is dying some place in the world for the rest of us. We're at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it's been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening. Well I think it's time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers.
Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to." And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.
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On taxes/Government Spending.
But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn't something on which we can base our hopes for the future. No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income. Today, 37 cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector's share, and yet our government continues to spend 17 million dollars a day more than the government takes in. We haven't balanced our budget 28 out of the last 34 years. We've raised our debt limit three times in the last twelve months, and now our national debt is one and a half times bigger than all the combined debts of all the nations of the world. We have 15 billion dollars in gold in our treasury; we don't own an ounce. Foreign dollar claims are 27.3 billion dollars. And we've just had announced that the dollar of 1939 will now purchase 45 cents in its total value.
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You need to read and re-read and re-read until what Dose of Reality said sinks in. You are way off the mark. |
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I think you need to go re-read your Wealth of Nations. It's more applicable now than it ever was. Wen Jiabao has said that Adam Smith's principles were what allowed the increase in wealth in China. Globalization makes conservative principles all the more necessary for competitiveness.
But I see that you've bought the big Progressive lie that classical economics just can't apply with technology. It was the same lie that the Wilsonian Progressives used during the last Progressive era. After 2 Depressions, America need a dose of Coolidge Conservatism to save them. |
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We cannot tolerate the intolerance of differences in race, religion, and sexuality that we've seen from Republicans in the past few years. Conservative principles benefit Arabs, Persians, Muslims, Buddhists, and homosexuals just as much as they do straight English Protestant men. We need their vote, and we can't get it if we demonize them.
Everything in our platform needs to be about expanding and protecting freedom. We cannot be for restricting the rights of people that don't look or act like us. They benefit from conservative principles as much as we do. We need their vote. |
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Reagan’s positive energy has already been universally adopted while his economic ideology is no longer adequate or needed. So going back to Reagan is dumb in terms of governing and policy; even Obama tried to tell you that. What do you think he meant when always saying we need 21st century solutions for 21st century problems. He wasn't an empty suit; he was the better man in this race, left or right. Conservatives need to be honest and actually work hard to create a governing model that fits the real world. But that is impossibility for at least a few years. The left will make some mistakes, all parties do. And when they do that will be the platform that a new Conservative movement can run on as long as it’s legitimate. In the age of the internet the old tactics of personal smears and lies will not work anymore. We can find the truth instantly so charges of palling around with terrorists, socialism, etc. are a stupid way to run a campaign. You hero, Hannity, helped you lode this election by setting such a terrible dishonest tone based on lies and irrelevancies. No one in their right mind thinks Obama is an America hater or communist or secret terrorist sympathizer. You guys, along with Hannity, are so stupid trying to scare the old folks. It was insulting! |
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For your own good my fellow Conservatives, please stop this idea of promoting a Reagan Conservative dream world. You spend to much time listening to that crazy jerk off Sean Hannity. That’s not how to win because most of you don’t even know what it means! Reagan granted amnesty, rasied taxes, hung out with Democrats, etc. You all use his name and yet any Conservative now, like Arnold, who actually lives it is not Conservative enough for you wingnuts!!!
Read the book with Reagan’s hand written speeches and you’ll see that as appropriate as he was in his era that there is almost nothing that’s applicable here in 2008. He operated in a world where the USSR was in a battle to conquer the world. Now they have relative freedom and markets. Reagan lived in a world that wasn’t globalized; now it is. That changes everything from tax policy to economic theories. Tax cuts spur investments that create jobs… or so they say. But in a global world those investments may be made from our rich to Chinese companies. How does that create jobs in the USA? Reagan’s concerns over the bureaucracies and paperwork was appropriate then, now we have computers that can do in one minute what took half a day in the 70’s so regulation is not the constrictor it once was in terms of cost and productivity. I could go on and on but the point is that Reagan was right in his day and is now irrelevant. Most of what he did bring that was universal has been adopted by all, including Obama; the positive belief in America, hard work, etc. You can’t go back to a Reagan that wouldn’t even be relevant were he running today. |
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Good point. I'm with you, I bet McCain votes Dem 90% of the time. LOL He'll be their darling again. |
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The desert dweller has been out in the heat too long. We really dont need another lefty trying to tell us how to be conservative. I would debate you on your points, but it would take too long to say the obvious...you are demonstrably wrong on each point. But a few points "reader digest style"
1. Government beauracracies never shrink. Name one.
2. Governmnet beauracracies can't do anything better than the private sector, except wage war.
3. Capitolism, WITHOUT undue government interfernece is the only system in the world that allows someone without money, but with brains and determination to change their socia-economic class.
4. If you think it cost .25 cents to produce a gallon of gasoline, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona I would like to sell you.
5. Trillions of dollars spent on the "war on poverty" and we still have poverty. It would have been less expensive to mail those folks a million dollar check, but the reality is those same poor folks would have found a way to be broke again and the same folks that are well off would have found a way to make more money...
6. Labor unions are the reason the US auto business will be extinct in a few years. yeah, lets unionize more of our industires.
7. Who you are calling conservative (Bush) spent more money, created even more governmenet bureacracies than the last three liberal presidents combined. The rebulican controlled congress didnt govern like conservatives and this is why they lost power once again.
Finally, conservatism works everytime it is tried... |
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have a contract..it's called the Constitution.
Unfortunately, over the last century, with increasing arrogance, the fifth column infesting all our institutions has slyly and slowing taken control. Our young are no longer taught that we
are AMERICANS and an exceptional people with an exceptional government, so much so that elected
politicians a la Murtha can insult their "bosses" and win re election and accuse our
military of crimes they haven't committed before they ever were tried. The American people have lost respect for the law of the land, so they
shrug off the corruption rampant within our
institutions, especially government.
The GOP RINO's are not different than the libs now in control. They have no core values except what's in it for them, and let the AMerican wage slaves pay for it.
With out financial system imploding (Soros anyone?) there has to be a better tax system and I agree about the FAIR TAX, but in order to get that we have to hire enough patriotic honest
candidates not of the career political class to do it. And maybe those candidates should follow
Wm Proxmire's method..he did retail politicking so didn't spend a lot of $$$$..right face to face with the people. And resurrect his Golden Fleece Award. |
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Conservatives need to emphasize how cutting taxes empowers everyone. Hey voters, it's your money. Who knows how to spend it better than you? The Gov't? LOL
Hey folks that pay no income tax. You will have more job opportunities, your money will go farther due to increased supply from competion and we will not raise you payroll taxes a dime.
Ladies, are you not liberated? You don't need Uncle Sugar to take care of you. You need Uncle Sugar to get the H**l out of your way.
Hey recipients of government assistance. When was the last time that the government 'help' didn't come with strings attached and a small mountain of paperwork and g-men prying into your personal affairs before you could get help and requiring that you jump through hoops to 'meet the government's criteria' and the time lag, OMG the time lag, before the 'help' arrives? With us you will have lots of opportunities to take control of your own life. You won't need the d**n government.
Sell letting health care cross state lines.... Heck, I could go on for hours. You all get what I am talking about. The Reps have to be serious about reducing government taxes and intrusion and control/limiting freedom of choices. |
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Conservatism in name only is as bad as Republican in name only.
Back to basics is what we need badly. |
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how you take any opportunity to trash Sarah Palin and call her names, as it is very unbecoming a Christian Mormon woman.
Why can't you see that every time you call her dumb things and accuse her of having an affair and her daughter of sleeping with the whole hockey team, plus accuse her not having the experience or knowledge to be vp, you show your ignorance, narrow-mindedness and your jealousy.
By the way, you have never, and will never give any irrefutable evidence of her or her daughters guilt of sleeping around, so you need to give that dead horse a rest. All your whining is very unbecoming, gets old and gives the Mormon a religion a bad name at the same time.
The fact that several posters point this out to you over and over and you ignore it over and over shows me that you are not only stubborn, hard-headed and refuse to see the truth because it isn't you truth want to hear, just makes all the cases agains you all the more solid.
Seek therapy, 2cents..............and hurry!
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Reagan conservatism sounds good to me!
We will see McCain's true beliefs when he votes on issues along with the Democrat dominated senate. Then we will better understand why he lost.
You are dead on when you state we need articulate conservative candidates. |
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Constitution STUPID! And it may just help if the political geniuses infesting the GOP got a clue. Most of the Obamabots that went gaga over him haven't any idea what the Constitution means or what it means to be free men and women. The
America haters, the fifth column that's infested our institutions for almost a century have incrementally dumbed down and stolen the meaning
of what an exceptional government our Founders created with the help of Almighty God. Nowadays we have pols, equally dumbed down and self aggrandizing giving lip service to something they either despise or can't understand.
It might just help if the Gop local, state and nation parties started a program via modern technology of educating the American people.
We have elected politicians in both parties, mostly in the DemonRAT party that sneer at the rule of law and refuse to enforce it, we have judges that make their own laws. One of the Founders said our Republic was constructed and would work only for a moral and righteous people..(paraphrase). We are neither moral or righteous, everyone is doing that which is right in their own eyes..we all are paying for it.
I agree reaching out is stupid, present ideas and solutions, based on the Constitution and
people will understand. And bypass the septic
drive bys. And bypass stupid so called conservative commenter/columnists that think by
rolling over and piddling all over themselves like they've done for over 8 years, the GOP will garner a few gnawed bones. They let libs under the BIG TENT and they've managed to collapse it. |
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Your facts are way off.
First, Reagan was not 40 years ago, he was 25 years ago.
Second, just claiming you're a Conservative doesn't mean you are. That has been the problem with many of the Republicans in the last 12 years.
Conservative principles didn't gut jobs, bankrupt the financial system, or tick the world off--Liberal principles did.
Go troll somewhere else. |
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So reality is that we need to identify them and get them in the system. That’s called governing, not your conservative principled fantasy world of ‘no amnesty’. How do we do that? Not by threatening them with deportation and breaking up their families. You wingnuts are so family oriented its hard to find. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough!!! We need to give them a path, a reason, to come forward. And making them wait 13 years for citizenship, like the bill we had a couple years ago, was solid a practical solution. 13 years of being on your best behavior was a win win for us and them.
The bottom line is that these are human beings with families, some that have lived here for decades. You have 2 choices, give them amnesty or ignore them as we do now. There is no other option in the real world; 20 million people aren’t going anywhere. And yet conservatives cannot accept either one and therefore live in a fantasy world that cannot govern in the real world. And that’s why they will continue to get voted out more and more as the country gets more comfortable with the left. So if Obama does a good job and continues to inoculate the fear that the right has manufactured about the left then the GOP may never recover as you know it. |
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One other thing, Bush got over 40% of Hispanics, now it’s falling and may end up in the teens if you don’t stop your bigotry. And that’s what it is. I know Hispanics that will never vote GOP again; these are church going family type people who work hard and live conservative lives. I’m not sure but they may already be largest minority in this country & are still growing. This was, like it or not, their land in the first place and they ain’t movin’ to Japan so deal with it. We have 300 million; China has over a billion, how about India? Etc. Sheer numbers alone say we need more people to remain a world power over the long term. The best thing this country could do to cement another century of dominance is partner up with Mexico & Canada so that we all could live free and have a population base to thrive in this world. Look at all the oil down south, why are we not doing the obvious, becoming partners. Iraq has proven that you can’t even conquer a small country so voluntarily merging is the only path to remaining the Roman Empire of the new world. But you conspirators are craping about now with fears of a new world order. Retards, whatever union we are in will be based on our laws and constitution; we are the dominant force. You all need to live in strength, not fear that we are going to become Mexico… No way. They will become US because we are the big kahuna!!!
Digressing, Amnesty has become a dirty word but why? Both parties left the border open for cheap labor and you wingnuts want to ruin the lives of those who came here under the default blessings of our federal government? Seal it up tomorrow I say. But if you tried to put 20 million human beings on buses there would be civil war in this country. In addition the entire world community would shun us for forcing a genocide type of relocation of 20 million human beings. |
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With respect to the other consrvatives who have posted excellent points, IMO Screwtape summed it up perfectly. Focus on Reagan conservatism. If the Hispanics, Blacks, Women, whatever's cannot see that conservatism is in their best interest, then the Rep party hasn't done its job conveying the message. We CAN convince enough of them to win consistently. We'll never get all of them or 70+% all of the time until we have shown over time that their best interests are with us. So forget ideas of how to winover this or that group.
We need genuine conservative candidates, who are articulate and to use whatever technologies work in getting the message out to counter the left. No more Bushes please, or McCains et al. Rockefellers and Neo-cons don't have the right ideas. They are the ones hurting the movement/Rep party. Trying to appeal to particular groups just waters down the message. Articulate how conservatism is in everyone's best interest. Reagan did it. Use his campaigns as the blueprint, as Rush calls says. We know what works. Stop all the tea leaf reading and go Reaganesque for victory. Them be Reaganesque while in office. Simple. |
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Arnold, who you all hate, has tried to lead you all down the only road that Conservatives have if they want power again. This isn’t about sticking to your principles after the data shows that they don’t work as predicted and more importantly, they don’t work for the people; it’s about making sure your principles are worth sticking to in the first place. It’s about making sure you can actually govern instead of crafting an appealing message that caters to the rebellious libertarian child in yourself. Because when you win you actually have to govern effectively in a very complicated world full of real problems, not slogans. But problems that can be solved vs. this conservative weird hater idea that nothing can be solved so we gotta always live in a head-trip of negativity!!!
The ultimate irony is that a black alpha male is going to be the one who redeems the very country you all wave the flag for, the country Conservatives have ruined by gutting the jobs, bankrupting the financial system, fighting a dumb war for oil and pissing the world off in the process! |
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In 2008 we are much more productive and have not been given either the financial compensation for our increased productivity or more free time with a cut in pay. Why do Conservatives think it’s OK that only a few get the benefits of all our work? This concept is not socialism, it is standing firm against redistribution from the bottom up. You all think it only goes one way but in truth under conservatives there is redistribution from the working class to the rich. $4 for gas that costs 25 cents a gallon to make is also redistribution! You all are idiots for not standing up for your own best interests or valuing you own lives. Carrying water for rich people is retarded; they can take care of themselves…
We got a Conservative hands off attitude towards the robber barons of the financial world. Did it work? NO because the Governments job is to be a watchdog for the people, not a bed partner for CEO’s and Wall Street. Wall Street is so self interested that they ultimately screwed the Republicans by their greed… Do you all get it? You were screwed by the same folks that you’ve been defending such as oil comp CEO’s making 50 million a year to manage. Not create, not innovate, and not conduct themselves with any loyalty to the people of this country or even those in power that gave them everything they lobbied for!
We had a President who dismissed any input from the left and therefore ruled purely on Conservative principles & ideology and what we ended up with was a divided nation unable to even solve the most basic of problems & an economy in the toilet. |
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I am a former Republican who voted for Obama and did not give one thought to the life issue because it is a moot point that has nothing to do with actually governing. And yet it was Obama, who many wingnuts paint as a supporter of infanticide that constantly spoke of the sacred nature of sex and preached on the stump about being responsible. Conservatives like to defend life in theory only while raiding the people of its wealth.
FACT: 1% of the people received over 40% of all the wealth under conservative rule. Does that mean the other 99% are bums or lazy? Or do we have a systemic problem? When we all work shouldn’t we all be compensated accordingly? If we all went on strike the country would fall apart economically but when we work hard someone else gets it all!!!! Conservatives, once again, are ignorant. In every country where inequality is the norm Democracy fails, corruption rules, crimes rules, a few live behind gates while everyone else’s life is nothing more than a desperate attempt to survive. That is the real state of the world without a tax and/or economic policy that allows the wealth that all workers create to go to only a few. Look at Mexico, Africa, etc. Everywhere in this world that allows wealth to go to only a few is no place you would ever want to live. Our greatest growth as a world power was post WW2 because unions and the consciousness of the culture spread the wealth since we all are the ones who participate in creating it. This warped image of welfare mothers getting paid for nothing has rotted the Conservative mind of its ability to govern according to reality; nobody is promoting something for nothing on the left, they are promoting that if a man works hard all day he should be paid accordingly. In the 50’s one man could buy a home, support a family, fund a pension and live a good secure life. All he had to do was be an honest man and work hard. |
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America is being slowy radicalized in our schools. From elementary to collge classrooms, students are given mostly one point of view. Unfortunately, it will take a generation or more to change this, even to bring it back to "neutral", but conservatives must try to influence the political discourse in education.
Sixties radicals who remained radical, largely went into education, as the world of business was distastful to them. They have been on a mission to drag the country to the left by degrading traditional American values.
Conservatves/Republicans must pay attention to what is going on and promote a more balanced point of view. We need a "fairness doctrine" for our schools. |
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But now that we have washing machines those ideas are silly! Reagan’s rantings against big government are no loner the issue since we have the means to make it work, to make it streamlined. So the first step the right needs to do is appoint and elect people who believe in the mission of government but will insert a conservative approach. Electing those who hate government to run it is like promoting someone who hates music to run a record company!!! So Conservatives need to rethink their entire purpose!
Funny thing is that even Obama’s tax plan is less than what existed during some parts of Reagan’s control. So calling him a socialist didn’t sell! Not because you all didn’t say it enough, because it wasn’t true!!!
Digressing, Bush appointed Conservatives to his cabinet, to all the federal agencies such as the SEC, Educ dept, EPA, treasury, attorney general, etc. Every position was run by and large with conservatives principles as best as they could be implemented in the real world. And what was the result? Tax policy that did not created jobs even though supply side Trickle down theory told you all it would. But we did get huge deficits and huge institutional investors, who basically operated almost tax free under a capitol gain structure that unintended promoted day trading our markets into instability, traded oil up to $150 in a world where no shortage ever existed, etc. So Trickle down did not work. That is reality.
We got a military under Rummy who fought a war using Conservative principles; privatization, efficiency, no regard for the social reality of the actual people living in the Middle East. Did it work?
Total control and not one effort to defend life! Why didn’t the Republicans introduce legislation to require a few weeks of counseling and adoption options to every couple or woman who wanted an abortion? Conservatives speak of life like it’s a litmus test but do nothing to actually promote it when you had power! |
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Conservatives are in such a state of denial regarding competent governing that it’s painful! Whenever a theory is put to test and fails than it needs to be honestly reviewed & appropriately addressed. Conservatives had total federal control. Bush is often used as a scapegoat who wasn’t conservative enough but that is a fantasy. So off the bat you all are not being honest. Sure, he pushed a few things the wingnuts didn’t like, so what! He still governed as a Conservative as best as could be done IN THE REAL WORLD. The spending was all congress. If he would have vetoed his own party one by one they would have joined the populist position against the war. Your own party & its internal hypocrisy forced Bush to go along with the spending. How? Why? Because beyond all your silly small government talking points is the real world where Conservatives are just as susceptible to temptation & corruption as anyone in your liberal nightmares. So honesty requires you Conservatives to stop this small Government crap & update your ideology. What you need are not Palin type idiots who bring you all to political orgasms rehashing Reagan’s tired old irrelevant speeches! That was 40 years ago in another world & the challenges he addressed are no longer applicable. Even the craziest Liberal understands that bureaucracies are inefficient. That war has been won.
What we need is not this false debate about small Gov, lower taxes, etc. That is a debate for another time in human history, one that will never be again unless we nuke the planet and start over living in local tribes!!!! The real issue is to accept government and make it work better and cheaper. With the technology invented over the last 40 years this is possible and something Reagan could never have factored in. So following his ideology is like wearing the same pants for an entire week because you once have to hand wash everything! |
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With all due respect. If the GOP thinks they can continue to import cheap labor for their donors at the expense of the citizens, they will. I will not vote for that again. If we continue to play the game of "the other guy is worse", we will lose our country. Sorry, but I will not participate in that game any longer. The GOP power brokers think we will vote for "anybody but a Democrat" so they can continue to ignore securing the border and enforcing the laws. I will not vote for any amnesty supporter. We either believe in the rule of law or we don't. If it takes crushing the GOP so a new party representing American citizens can arise, so be it. |
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I know you don't want to hear this, but the democrates go voters becsue that team was much smarter than the dumb and dumber team we GOP put up. Really. A lot of CONSERVATIVES did not vote for McCAin because he was a democrat in R clothing. Then add to the mix the dim bulb for veep nom, and you had a disaster ready to happen. If Mac decided to take his dirt nap, cheese whiz would have been president. Too many of us were NOT comfty with that prospect.
Truth hurts. Sorry. |
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that our leadership have some personal morals? I'd truly like someone who's never cheated on their husband or wife. I'd like someone who really is squeeky clean. Gosh, and it is too much to ask that that leader not play the "I'm a christian and your not' card?
As we GOP'ers regroup and find our way through this wilderness, can we do it right? |
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A piece in the WSJ by Scott Rasmussen explains that Obama won because he stole the Conservative position of cutting taxes. According to Rasmussen, 39% believed that Obama would cut their taxes compared to only 11% believing McCain would do so. Rasmussen’s article also goes on to say that the Candidate who is perceived to be most likely to cut taxes has won the Presidential election every time in the last 40 years.
If you combine that knowledge with the fact that most Americans were against the "bailout", thus believing that government is the problem not the solution, you can come to the same conclusion that headlines Mr. Rasmussen’s article: "THE POLLS SHOW THAT REAGANISM IS NOT DEAD"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122628429302812557.html |
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I agree with the need for a new contract, and it needs to be presented before O becomes President.Some ideas 1) Tell the American people Republicans did wrong and acted like dems, and we will always fight for a balanced budget in the future. 2) no more earmarks, and we will publicize all future ones and call them what they are 3) education- content based not time based, a radical change 4)real energy change- nuclear and drilling. I tried to get Thad Cochran to listen to a way to save millions of gallons a day, but he would not even listen 5)tell the American people what we will filibuster now, beforehand, and stick to it. many more to follow. |
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This is so easy it's not even funny:
>> Quit social engineering. State's rights.
>> Economics is the most important. Fiscal responsibility. The deficit is more important than military spending.
>> War isn't noble. It's a necessary evil. It's become old men sending young men to die in wars they would be too cowardly to fight themselves.
>> Remind people that the government (the biggest 'corporation' on the planet), spends trillions every year with nothing to show for it.
>> Desperation doesn't work in relationships and it doesn't work in politics. Quit focusing on social groups like Hispanics. People are people, and we all appreciate the same message.
>> Freedom is an optimistic, young concept. Present it that way and quit acting like you're ashamed of it.
>> Charismatic Ron Pauls. |
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Between Medeved and Lewis, Townhall.com touts just the breed of Republican that Conservatives are concerned about. |
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"The Blacks generally vote Democrat (around 80 percent) and will never change. The Jewish vote is usually very heavily Democrat (around 75 percent) and will never change.
Why waste time on either bloc?"
I find this to be very disturbing coming from a "conservative". Part of being a conservative is GROWING the party. I believe that we can spread our conservative values to all groups of minorities. This does not mean we compromise on our values, it means we spread the message of our values to like-minded peoples regardless of race.
The idea that we should give up on certain minority groups is exactly why we are in the position we are in now. The message that we have given up on the African-American vote tells them that they are justified in voting for the Dems because we don't even care enough about them to court their vote. God Forbid it!
The Conservative message of opportunity, family values, pro-life, pro marriage, strong national defense, and government responsible to the people at the closest level is for all people. It is our fault for not reaching out to them. Giving up on them will make it worse. |
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Interesting choice of words, Matt: "To win the future, conservatives must -- in my opinion -- also find ways to make our timeless classical liberal principles relevant to the 21st century." It's what did not make your knee-jerk list that informs the most. Leave this stuff to the big boys. If the legitimate leadership (not the current establishment illuminati) can't figure it out, then the GOP will continue to flounder. |
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We do not need a new Contract, what we do need is to conserve the true Conservative ideas that always proved to work. Bush did not embody them and we are now suffering for it. Now is the time to return to the formidable power that is conservatism.
Economics is the key. Obama represents the old liberalism of investment of capital for nonproductive purposes: government interventionism, welfare redistribution, taxation reform; and, above all, regulatory agencies that will lead to what Milton Friedman once termed the establishment of "positions of power" by a beauacracy is controlled by individuals with agendas that are not always in the best interest of those they serve.
In an article by John Cassidy we can see that Obama is leading us toward a behavioural economics: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21491. One that will nudge people throught he use of a Libertarian Paternalism: "A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people's behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives."
This sort of liberal paternalist intervention will lead toward a benign dictatorship. Is this what we want? We need to understand Obama's real intentions and let our people know exactly what he intends to do. Republicans cannot sit idly by and worry about our own fractiousness, we must get on with the business of opposing the liberal agendas that would reform our government into a socialist system that might enslave us all for years to come in a vision of paternal utopianism. |
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We need to go back to the old way of teaching. I was watching the news the other day and saw that a third grade teacher was reading to her class, why was she? Them kids should have been reading to her. Even if they only had one book they could have passed it on to the next reader, as we used to do when I was in school.
Get back to teaching American history the way it really is not the way some one wants it to be like.
If the schools would teach science and actually do hands on training then the kids then they would learn more.
When I was in school when we studied history we had to read I think that is why a lot of kids do not know how, as teachers read to the kids instead of kids getting to practice so they learn to read.
As far as taxes go the fair tax is the best way to go.It would free up more money out of peoples check to spend the way they see fit, not the way the gov thinks it should be.
Just my thoughts on the subject, quit catering to the ones that want to pander the kids. Let them learn that it takes hard work to make it in school.
We need to get back to giving real grades to kids so that parents can really see how their kids are doing in school, instead of the s,us they give now, because little Johnny might get his self esteem hurt because he did not make as good a grade as, Mary did.
penny |
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We've got to shift to a more federalist tack.
It appeals to social moderates ("we want to get the government out of your lives, and leave those issues to the local communities and individuals"). Very hands off - which younger, well-educated social moderates will appreciate. We turned them off this election because we came off too dogmatically about the social issues.
It also appeals to the hard core conservatives of our base who are sick and tired of the spiraling size of the government, and the economic burdens that go along with it.
How we get the hispanic vote back, I don't know. You'd have thought that our stance on social issues would have gotten more of them, but apparently our stance on immigration just came off as too racist for them. We've got to change that tone if we want to have a future as a party. |
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I know in this crowd I will get the boot over this, but it seems to me that on the subject of social responsibilities (and yes I mean government, too) and the issues of poverty, Republicans have cliché lines rather than thoughtful solutions. I think of Frank Luntz's tag line: "It is not what you say, it is what they hear." Unless conservatives have a thoughtful, substantive solution to the issues of poverty and workforce development beyond mindless conservative talking points of "It isn't Government’s responsibility" and "The poor just have to choose not to be poor," we will not win the youth vote, nor thoughtful voters of any age. I am not for spreading the wealth, but investing in the untrained and poorly educated workforce, especially moving the poor into the workforce...neither am I for taxing our way out of poverty (which never will happen), but creating result oriented investments in solutions that move people out of poverty toward self-sufficiency. I could never quite understand why conservatives don't see this as THEIR issue on both the practical level and the national interest level. Creating solutions to help as many as possible enjoy the blessings and benefits of our country helps us all. And voters will be attracted to well thought through solutions and reasonable use of tax dollars to bring about the best results. |
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Is timeless. We don't need to "redefine" conservatism.
The problems conservatism has today is that we have not permeated the popular culture, the institutions of higher learning or the media (either old or new). We really dont have any influential pop culture figures such as a conservative Micheal Moore, we dont have many influential conservative universities or even conservatives at liberal universtities, we have Fox News and a couple of newspapers carrying the water as far as giving a conservative perspective on current events. Even online we have a smaller footprint as conservatives as our liberal counterparts. Until we address the media onslaught of liberals on the general populace everyday in every medium,or the liberals indocrinating our youth in government run schools controlled by teacher labor unions, we are going to have a tough/uphill battle.
The simple message about conservatism and what we believe will still win today when delivered on message and by a true conservative. Reagan gave "the speech" in 1964 and if you listen to it, it would be as relevant today as back then. It is uncanny to listen to him speak about smaller government, rail against the entitlement culture, even then he talked about social security and the governements ability to tax and spend without limits.
Go here to listen http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganatime forchoosing.htm
As it is right now, there is not a single influential conservative leader that will stand up and defend these simple principles anymore. Today, you cannot tell our conservative leaders for the liberal ones we oppose and that is where we do need to start, finding true conservatives to communicate these priniciples.
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because they promised the continuation of the
"gimme lines for Aliens - legal or illegal." And don't forget Obama wants them ALL to have 'drivers licenses' so they can drive legally and be able to buy guns; that's real nice isn't it? They really need guns don't they, especially the criminal element, which is growing ever so rapidly. They always have and always will vote for any party who gives them the most - that is, and always was, the Democrats. Sickening! |
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Newt has put together an Internet based organization this is doing just what you propose, http://www.americansolutions.com/. |
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The #dontgo movement is taking a less talk/more action approach. Unveiling massive new 50 state grassroots structure in the next few months. Follow it for updates. I think organization mechanisms like this are just what we need.
http://dontgomovement.com/media-room/
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In 2004 George W. Bush had the best get out the vote effort ever. Yes it was better than Obama's in 2008. McCain failed to replicate Bush's get out the vote and micro targeting efforts.
What Republicans need to do is realize it is no longer Election Day; it is Election "Month." Have to focus on getting out the vote early. Republicans need to focus on voter registration and opening more volunteer offices nationwide. There should be huge efforts on college campuses and even at the high school level.
Obama won a few red states simply by having a ground operation. There was no reason why we should have lost Indiana. The reason was simple, Obama had several offices and McCain had zero.
As much as I dislike Howard Dean, the Republicans should have a 50 state strategy. NY once had a Republican presence. George H. W. Bush was competitive in NY in 1988. Since then there has been ZERO Republican grass roots effort. We have seen many areas that were once dominated by Republicans go Democratic.
By competing in all 50 states and 435 congressional districts you attract more voters (especially minorities), get the message out and you never know. If a Republican congressional candidate is getting 35% of the vote in most elections, a year like 1994 he just might get 50.1%.
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Are increasing in numbers. Kids educated in the past decade are voting and they look at issues and want a smart answer - or at least an answer that looks smart. Why are conservatives opposed to Gay Marriage? If you say 'The Bible' you'll never convince this group. How does government regulation of business hurt business - many college educated kids see businesses as polluters; they see CEOs as cleaning up with high salaries and stock options; they see businesses laying people off seemingly to improve stock value. These people can be persuaded, but it's going to take some effort. Many of them are out of reach - only getting snippets of info from CNN (which many think is unbiased), from Comedy Central and other outlets that 'look smart.' New ways of reaching these groups - suburban, reasonably well-off folks who think that conservatives are stupid backwater folks clinging to guns and religion or country club despots. Conservative principles have to be explained in a smart, evidence-based, convincing - even funny - manner. |
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It would be unrealistic to imagine the Republicans all becoming conservatives; how ever the concept of the RHINO (Republican In Name Only) needs to be discussed. The RINO Virus has been constantly killing the voices and votes of most conservatives and the practical voters in the party and replaced it with a sickness of "let's try to make the Democrats like us and be more like them ". This political spinelessness needs to be pointed out and not promoted in party leadership like Senator Martinez of Florida was. There have been a series of laughable, moderate, know nothing politicians, that keep me from seriously joining either of these two parties.
I am still a registered Democrat and an Episcopalian from my youth; and like President Reagan said, "I didn't leave them they left me". I vote in their primaries and say a prayer for the remnants of the Episcopal church community and vote for the best conservative I can find. The important bottom line is that we believe in some principles that are: simple, ethical, forthright and cause principled thinking in the political arena that we all can relate too.
When the people who strongly know and believe in something meet those who hardly believe in anything, the believing people usually win. |
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Exactly. Basically we are all saying the same thing. We shouldn't have to go after any voting blocs; we should be a strongly principled party and like minded individuals will come to us.
A good example is the Republican party has done more for civil rights and equality than the Democrats by far. Yet, who do the people who benefited from their actions vote for?
Another example, the Republican administrations have been extremely protective and helpful to Israel. Yet, who do the people who benefited from their actions vote for?
Going after blocs just has not worked. We must be for everyone without predjudice. We have to stand on principle! |
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Here are a couple of ideas for advancing conservative problem solving.
We need to return to the basic principals of Reagan, Goldwater and Hayek. In these troubled economic times we need to stress fiscal soundness as the road to ecomomic health. No family can borrow and spend like our goverment does now. This is a simple messsage all consumers can relate to.
The Dems tend to be anti consumer in their policies. Their energy, environmental,lending, tax and progovernment growth policies are all anti private citizens keeping more of what their labors produce. Conservatives need to exploit this tendency in the opponent party. We are all consumers, everyone of us.
Conservatives need to think about ways of exposing non traditional parties to our methodology and way of problem solving. What if the GOP opened a university or sponsered scolarships to students to attend a university that emphasized conservative economic theory and entrepreneurship along with other areas of study that would promote western civilization and tradition. The current trend is away from this type of thought in education. Conservatives can change that if we create schools that teach ouside of the current box. The Dems control education because we offer no alternative. If we were to identify students who could thrive in such a university environment and scholarship them, I am certain all manner of ethnic groups would have members interested in participating.All parents want their children to get ahead. Deeply discounted education that results in the chance at wealth would be attractive to every ethnic group in the spectrum White, African American, Hispanic, Asian etc.
We need to apply conservative time tested thinking to the modern scene and create attractive solutions to peoples problems.
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All the time in the world to think of some things to improve the party and you came up with these? Wow. No need to mention national defense, huh? And you think more money is needed for education, right? I mean, more than the hundreds of billions of dollars that we throw in the garbage can now! And we need to win more of the hispanic vote...with those ideas? How about you come up with some compelling ideas/issues before writing this nonsense.
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How 'bout reinstating the founding principles, you know, primacy of the individual, rights derive from God and not society, extremely limited government? Do that, and you won't have to "reach out" to anyone. They'll come running to you. |
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Agreed! However, telling what we are and how our view will assist them as a community should be a priority. Simply ignoring the fastes growing segment of our society is a death sentence to any party.
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Below is a link to the original CWA. The main points are still valid. All that needs to be done is update the doc and add some points and it would still be a great platform for the House to run on.
http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html |
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We waste too much time trying to get unattainable votes.
We have to get back to basics: smaller government; protecting the Constitution; less taxes; stronger defense; stop politicing from the bench; less government spending; begin looking after the interests of our country.
Our "leaders" and elected officials have to begin listening to their constituents.
We have to stand on principle or we are nothing but an empty shell. |
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The GOP is the party of math and ideas. We just don't communicate well and the leftist alarmists yell louder than we do.
Reaching out to anyone as a race is a leftist tactic, I will never support such a tactic.
A changing technological scene is not a terror for conservatives, it's the unions and the environmentalists who either don't want change or want us to return to the stone age.
Lastly...we DID NOT LOSE due to the hispanic vote! We LOST due to a lack of conservative voting for McCain! PERIOD!
The GOP needs to put up a conservative candidate then defend him/her as strongly as the left and the MSM (essentially the same thing) attack him/her. Having a liberal candidate for the GOP is a LOSING proposition, as evidenced by the election this year!
While I agree with you overall point here, Matt, the bottom line is that the GOP either returns to conservatism or it will die. |
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better. Who want to succeed. Regardless of race or country of origin.
The debate about immigration, with a few GOP nativists who insisted any compromise on a road to citizenship was defeat, alienated (if you will) Hispanic USA citizens. Hence the reason the GOP did not get a lot of Hispanic support. They sensed they were not welcome and told the GOP to screw itself.
Stopping illegal immigration is fine (and should be done), and more enforcement is critical going forward, but the alternative should be expanded legal immigration, with a goal of assimilation and citizenship. And yes we should offer some path to citizenship for some of those illegals already here. We thrive as a country doing that. We hurt ourselves when we restrict immigration. We also hurt ourselves with a quasi legal gray job market, which is what we have now with illegals. Latinos are not Muslim immigrants (with the demographic problems they brought to Europe), they share our values, want only to succeed and make a better life for their families. |
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Come on people, the post was not about pandering or reaching out. The point was what should we be talking about. And, guess what?
Your not talking about it! |
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The Republican Party must get back to basics if they are to again win the hearts and minds of Americans. They can no longer be Democrat-lite. It is time to regain the essentials of American Conservatism.
Conservatism is Right, and we must go back and examine the core of our beliefs if we are going to win again. I've also got some ideas to share, so stop on by.
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I gleaned from the article that a lot of work needs to be done in several different areas. I read where he said it doesn't necessarily mean Amnesty. 'But reaching out' rubs me the wrong way, since we already cater to them in so many ways such as welfare - which they are taxing to the max, medical treatment - which is causing dozens of hospitals across the country to have to close because they don't pay, gangs forming in the larger cities and causing police forces to have to add more manpower which is more expensive, border Patrol - which costs tens of millions of dollars per year, puts the Agents at risk, and prevents nothing.
There's also a strain on our education programs like never before, and don't you just hate having to 'push 1' if you want to speak English on the telephone? I do.
The other thing is they never have enough! they march in our streets for equal rights (HA!) even though some of them broke our laws to get into the country in the first place.
The only thing I would like to reach out and do is close the border COMPLETELY, round up ALL illegals and send them back, make the ones here legally learn English if they want a job or an education, and make them have to deal with life as the rest of the country's people do - no freaking handouts of any kind because they don't deserve to reap the rewards of hard working Americans over the last 200 years while the women have -a baby a year- just so it can become an American Citizen.
They need to have to assimilate and contribute to America's society themselves, instead of standing in the 'free handout' line waiting for us "TO REACH OUT." |
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I agree with Maggie above, that pandering is not in our best interest. However, I think Matt was talking about reaching out. That means listening to their concerns, and telling them about ours. That is more than necessary, conservatives have been branded in certain communities, we need to brand ourselves to these communities.
Now for a few points of mine…
Energy: It must be the stated policy and goal of conservatives that we be self sufficient in energy production. Step one, drill here, drill now, drill everywhere we can safely. Put a 10% profit tax on all new sources of energy to be used to expand Nuclear, and sustainable energy production. Invest in moving from Oil to another energy source as it becomes producible and sustainable.
Taxes: The current Tax system is an utter failure and must be replaced COMPLETELY! Not modified, REPLACED! We cheat the lower income (who do not pay taxes) and over tax the producers, this must stop. I propose the Fair Tax, others are out there, but it must be stated that this system has got to go! Any arguments to this can be alleviated by saying that the US Government should not be in the business of creating an industry out of whole cloth (point to H&R Block).
Economy: The Government must protect the consumer, but not regulate industry. We need to stand opposed to the bailout. The government is not built to run businesses, and we will kill our country doing so. No bailouts, not now, not ever again!
Military: We support their mission, and wish to bring them home victorious! We support victory in all things!
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The Blacks generally vote Democrat (around 80 percent) and will never change. The Jewish vote is usually very heavily Democrat (around 75 percent) and will never change.
Why waste time on either bloc? |
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No one core set of principals can bring about the change we need. A contract is a contract, it lives for a time and then dies. While this is a step in the right direction, we need to move the discussion forward.
I asked Matt for a list of Core Conservative Principals, he has responded in the Blog below. However, my thought is how do we bind our leaders to these? I think this is important.
As we try to “update” the brand of the Republican party, we need to CLEARLY state what we stand for. And, then STAND FOR IT!
We handed the government over to the Republicans when we thought they were mature enough to handle it. Boy was that a mistake!
They proved themselves more than less than competent. I know for a fact that the current leadership is way less than mature enough. They will put an end to themselves quickly.
However, that does not leave us in a situation to take the system over again! We have a very short time to prove to the American people that we can handle power and use it wisely!
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People keep talking about reaching out to Hispanics, reaching out to Blacks , reaching out to women, etc. The GOP needs a platform that encompasses all like minded individuals. If we keep trying to target voters by race and gender, we'll keep tripping over our own feet. Each time a politician specifically targets the "Hispanic" or the "Black" or the "female" vote, someone is excluded. The idea that we must "reach out" to a specific voting bloc is an indication that these people are considered unique and do not share common values and goals. Keep things simple. Reach out to people who share the values of the conservative movement and their skin color and gender will not matter. |
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