For millions of Americans, politics has lost meaning. Dissatisfaction with the organization of both parties is growing. More and more Americans are telling pollsters that they are Independent. The way to reclaim the Republican Party is not to seek an illusory “middle ground” between principled conservatism and radical liberalism. The way to bring the GOP back to the national level is to force the party’s leadership to make commitments made over generations.
Much has been said and written recently about what journalists call the “Republican Civil War.” We must remember that whenever Republicans have a partisan conflict, journalists are content to hold our coattails. Of course, there is a fight between establishment Republicans in Washington and many state capitals and the party’s grassroots activists – conservatives, Tea Party and local activists. Whether it’s a bitter Republican Party fight or another tactic to repeal ObamaCare, whether it’s Common Core in education or expanding Medicaid at the state level, there will be differences of opinion. But not every difference of opinion means a difference of principle.
Conservatives hold swift to the founding principles of constitutional government. Conservatives stand for economic freedom, customary family values, and a staunch national defense. Needless to say, the Obama administration is not in favor of either of these things. We call on GOP leaders at every level to provide a robust and effective opposition to this administration.
As conservatives, we must understand that our opponent is not the Republican Party.
Just this week, for example, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus led national committee members to join hundreds of thousands of participants in the annual March for Life.
As a former Ohio statewide Republican elected official, I can attest that I have seen how the party can be a good tool for electing principled conservatives. Once in office, these conservatives can and should push for conservative alternatives to harmful liberal policies.
So Republican leaders must first understand that conservatives will not pledge allegiance to a party machine that takes them for granted and that has only little opposition to liberal initiatives. The novel era of the Internet provides many novel opportunities for conservatives to organize and inform grassroots supporters beyond the dying liberal news media – both print and broadcast. Conservatives will not remain “on board” if their deeply held beliefs are disregarded and their grassroots leaders are rejected. The party elites must come to terms with the fact that the country’s inhabitants are observing and listening to the discussions taking place in the Beltway.
Second, conservatives must be willing to identify and support our true friends and resist those elites who only want to get along by agreeing. Instead of engaging in what the liberal media wants to call a “civil war,” we should be campaigning vigorously for conservative victories at the grassroots. This could have national implications.
For example, the Republican National Committee heard from opponents of Common Core education standards, who are often much better informed about these policies than elites. The RNC has now come out strongly against Common Core. They say if you like ObamaCare, you’ll love ObamaCore. Well, the RNC got word on this. And that is to be commended.
Third, GOP leaders must understand that the path to electoral success requires vigorous and enthusiastic support from conservative citizens. When party elites create inflexible, conservative candidates and principles, they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Ronald Reagan was right to call for a revitalized Republican Party that would raise a “banner of bold colors” rather than simply offering an alternative in pale pastels.
You cannot succeed without committing to, adopting, and promoting the conservative principles and people that Reagan spoke about at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 1977. Early in President Carter’s term, it was clear that he was weakening and failing. The former two-term governor of California said:
Our party must be based on leadership that grows and draws strength from the nation. Every organization is really only an elongated shadow of its members. A political party is a mechanical structure created to advance a cause. Cause, not mechanism, connects and holds the pieces together. Our goal must be to rediscover, consolidate, and reapply America’s spiritual heritage to our national affairs.
As conservatives, we can take the winning message of economic freedom, family values, and robust defense to minority neighborhoods and share our hopes and dreams with novel supporters in churches and synagogues. The current administration is the most hostile to religious freedom in our history. This risks tying us back to ObamaCare and burdening us with its mandates. Our free market economy, our pensions and the future of our children are at risk.
We know from disappointed administration insiders that President Obama’s only concern for our all-volunteer military is radical social experimentation.
Republicans should not shy away from free and open debate. That’s what Democrats did when they signed up to ObamaCare. This is what put them in greatest political danger. Instead, we can fight demanding
for principles and candidates who can win by formulating and defending policies that unite us. Freedom is the cause and unity is the goal.
When Ronald Reagan offered this kind of leadership, there were no red states or blue states. We called them all red-white-blue states. We wanted to win them all and we almost did it. Let’s keep pushing!
