February 26, 2009 /

Defending Bobby – A Survival Guide For The GOP

Again, I am writing this as a life long Democrat, but a Democrat who cherishes our need for opposing ideas in order to provide the best for our nation. Part of the Republicans biggest problem is their ego, which I mentioned in my previous post. I think another example of this can be seen in […]

Again, I am writing this as a life long Democrat, but a Democrat who cherishes our need for opposing ideas in order to provide the best for our nation.

Part of the Republicans biggest problem is their ego, which I mentioned in my previous post.

I think another example of this can be seen in Bobby Jindal. So much attention has been given to him for the response Tuesday night that we seem to have forgotten the simple fact that it is the Republican response, not the Bobby Jindal response. He was just the messenger. Now we see Republicans and conservatives throwing Bobby under the bus for delivering the message of the RNC.

Perhaps that should send up the warning flags. You take away the big crowds and enthusiastic speaker, you are pretty much left with nothing. That’s what the voters have seen for the past four years and why the Republicans have been getting slammed at the polls.

I too have been lost in the “laugh at Bobby” mentality engulfing our country, but then I realized that it isn’t just Bobby, but the GOP as a whole. Perhaps that’s why Rush Limbaugh went on a rampage yesterday against any Republican criticizing Jindal.

So what should the Republicans do now? Well first off they need to declare war – a war on people like Limbaugh. It doesn’t have to be nasty, but these people need to realize that if the Republican Party is to survive that they need to entertain a wider range of ideas and philosophies. Destroying their own party because some people don’t agree with them isn’t the answer to regaining majority status, but rather the prescription for denying it. If they don’t do this then the GOP is no longer a party, but rather a special interest group.

Another necessity for the healing of the Republican Party is admission, much like the path to recovery for an addict. Bobby Jindal said the other night:

Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust, and rightly so.

Tonight, on behalf of our leaders in Congress and my fellow Republican governors, I say this: Our party is determined to regain your trust.

We will do so by standing up for the principles that we share, the principles you elected us to fight for, the principles that built this in the greatest, most prosperous country on Earth.

Jindal isn’t the first Republican leadership to state this, but rather this has become the standard line for Republican leadership. There is a basic question here that remains unanswered – why? Why did the Republicans do this? Saying “Washington changed us” isn’t good enough. What cause the Republicans to go to Washington and ignore what they consider their sole principal, and how will they prevent this in the future?

Answering this question will also address my previous point – do the Republicans want to be a party or a special interest group? They can easily say that people like Specter, Snowe and Collins are the problem, but that means the Republican is again shrinking the size of their tent.

My reasoning for this failure of Republican beliefs might cause members of the RNC to stroke out, but it seems rather simple. They put party above country, and this was proven by the blind following they gave into of George Bush. The Republicans couldn’t stomach telling the President from their own party no. They haven’t been able to accept this mistake or even acknowledge it, so they are in no position to pull themselves out of minority status either.

I decided to bring these ideas up since CPAC is once again upon us. Why is that? Well because CPAC actually is a special interest group and it just so happens to be the special interest group that has taken over the Republican Party. The Republican Party as a whole can’t be part of CPAC, but must instead declare their support for CPAC along with other ideas. The special interest groups bring in the ideas then the party members decide which ones go best with their political beliefs. And if a member of Congress decides to prescribe to that special interest groups ideas 100% or not at all, so be it. The Republicans need to also remember something else very simple and basic when it comes to our great nation;  we are a nation by the people, for the people, not a nation by the people for the party.

So hopefully Republicans will read this as friendly advice and remember what the father of our nation said:

However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

That was from George Washington’s farewell address on Sep. 17, 1796. Those words head such meaning 213 years later.

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