Posted by
ScottK on Thursday, November 09, 2006 3:35:12 AM
I decided to begin this blog in the aftermath of the November 2006 elections. As Rickey Ricardo used to say, "you've got a lot of 'splainin to do." Unfortunately, the Republicans were unable to communicate a coherent message to the voters on why they deserve another chance at power. It was a complete exercise in incompetence. I frankly don't care about the kooks on the left who apparently only have two words in their vocabulary, "Bush" and "lied." We are never going to get these people and it's absolutely futile and stupid to try. However, I do care about what we have done to our voters on the right. In our feeble attempt at triangulation, we abandoned our principles. As many other commentators have noted, this election was not a rejection of conservatism. The doctrine of Reagan and Goldwater was not at play in this election. Instead, it was the failed ideas of Republicanism. Our congressional leaders abandoned the conservative principles that got them into power. Our conservative base, especially young people, are either staying home or gravitating towards the Libertarian Party. The simple questions is: why vote for the Republicans when they behave just like the Democrats? In fact, if you look at governmental spending, Republicans were far worse than the Democrats. The number of earmarks increased exponentially. The Republican Party in Congress was simply not ready to lead. We need a new face and a new direction in the Party. We need leaders like Mike Pence, Jeff Flake, John Shaddegg, and other like-minded conservatives to take us back to the roots of conservatism. We have a tremendous opportunity. As incompetent as the Republican leadership is, the Democrats are somehow even worse. It is quite amazing how they continue to make political miscalculations. Now that they control both houses of Congress, they are going to be forced to govern. Their leadership is not ready for this challenge. Two years from now, we need a structured leadership that is ready to take this on. We now have to give the people a reason to put us back in power. The only way to do this is to not be ashamed of our principles. This was masterfully accomplished in 1994 by Newt Gingrich. However, power corrupted many of these otherwise good men. I blame our failure mainly on the congressional Republicans. They lacked leadership ability. As a former political appointee in the President's administration, I obviously support him. Although many of the Administration's proposals expanded the government unnecessarily, he is a principled and good man and I am thankful that we have a man of his character in the Office of the President. This was not the President's fault. He is obviously not popular with the public due to the war. However, the congressional leadership failed to shape the issues of this election. They punted their responsibility to the White House. The White House was not in a political position to carry the water in this election. It was up to the congressional Republicans. They knew it and they failed. As a result, we are going to have to live with Democratic control of the Congress for at least two years. At this point, many Republicans are wondering: where do we go from here? Thankfully, the focus of the public will turn away from politics for about a year until the Presidential primary season begins. During this time, we must reorganize ourselves. As much as I support the President, we must focus on the future. Our party must look to recruit quality candidates who have the tools to win and the character to govern. Candidate recruitment is one of the most important aspects of politics and it mostly goes unnoticed. In order to accomplish this goal, we need leadership who can recruit these candidates. I sincerely hope for the future of conservatism and the future of the Republican Party that we take this opportunity to install new leadership who will not be ashamed of conservatism and will not abandon it once in power.