In the wake of the socialization of 20% of the nation's economy, Libertarians, Reagan/Goldwater Republicans and Tea Party activists (a blend of the aforementioned) are gearing up for the 2010 midterm elections and the 2012 Presidential race.
What follows is a prescription for victory...
1. Forget about Sarah Palin. If you listened to her during the 2008 campaign and today, she is a free-market lightweight with no serious ideas on the issue of taxes, regulations, spending, health care or anything else for that matter. She will get destroyed if she runs and has to intellectually defend her surface-only views on matters that are important to real-Republicans. Rock star novelty acts who use words like "dang" and "youbetcha" are refreshing but not transformative.
2. Identify and defeat every "Bush Republican" who runs in every primary in America. Ronald Reagan's greatest mistake was picking the liberal George H.W. Bush to be V.P. On April 10, 1980 Bush called Reagan's view that drastic reductions in income taxes would lead to more wealth and more government revenue, "Voodoo Economics". He was never a believer in Reagan's Libertarian makeover of the American economy. His son was even worse. Sure we got small cuts in marginal tax rates in 2003 but we also got the most massive increase in domestic welfare spending since the 1960s; thousands of pages of new regulations; a $1.5 trillion prescription drug benefit program that Obama has now added to; new tariffs; restrictions on talented foreign immigrants, etc. etc. All Bush Republicans must be kicked out of office so people like Howard Houchen (Oklahoma) and Marco Rubio (Florida) can lead us back to the 1980s. The simple fact is that today's Republicans have no right to argue against Obama's Socialist agenda when their party helped create the fertile ground from which Socialism grew this decade.
3. Stop talking about gay marriage; where Obama was born; illegal immigration and other social problems.....for now. Reagan used to say that the best family values stemmed from a full-time job. Reagan was anti-abortion and had impeccable standards with those of us who care about morality in government. However, Republicans, by focusing on issues that occupy the outskirts of an unemployment rate of 10%; skyrocketing spending and the nationalization of health care, autos and banking, are missing the bigger picture. If America is going to become France, or worse, it will not matter if Joe and Bill are allowed to marry or if Julio came over here without permits or if Obama was born in a Taliban stronghold somewhere. So, focus on economics, win the elections, create new free-market policies and then when unemployment is back to 3.9% turn your attention to the side issues that you believe to be important.
On behalf of those of us who were abandoned by the Republican Party beginning on January 20, 1989 we wish you well in restoring some sense of small government this November and in 2012.
I absolutely loved this post. I think that the third point is extremely important. I find that in my age group, a lot of people tend to dislike the Republican party because of social issues. I will never forget the adice you gave us in class about trying to make people understand how the growth of government directly affects their liberty.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Maria...
ReplyDeleteI hope the Republicans are willing to do what it takes to win over people who place social issues lower than not having a job...
By far one of your best posts Mr. Chambless. It's informative, revealing and it also calls to action.
ReplyDeleteThat was a great post, but we know that Goldwater and Reagan differed on moral issues. Also, George W. Bush had a pretty rough recession back in 2001, but focused on the private sector and had many successful results. I think we had the best president in W. Since Reagan. At least he had moral courage and stood up for something. 41 wasn't liberal he was a moderate. Neo Con's are not a terrible thing. People that the party needs to quit running are the likes of John McCain and Bob Dole.
ReplyDeleteWhat successful results are you referring to?
ReplyDelete