November Update from Bartow County Republican Party

There have been some very interesting items coming from the world of politics lately. After Barack Obama won the presidency and the Democrats expanded their majority, there was talk throughout the mainstream media that the Republican Party was dead, and that a new era of Democrat domination was being ushered in. Republicans and conservatives (not always synonymous) were dejected and distraught at what seemed to be an inevitable slide into irrelevance. Democrats, liberals and the MSM (but I repeat myself) were giddy at what seemed to be a thorough rejection of Reaganism by the American people. As I watched the election results pour in, I felt sick as I watched the citizens of this nation seemingly embrace the big government liberal socialism of the Democrats. I looked on in anguish I what I saw as the suicide of our republic at the hands of its own citizens.

Oh, what a difference ten months makes. Recent off-year election results, as well as indicators from major polling firms, would seem to point to the fact that Reaganism is alive and well after all. Then again, maybe Reaganism is a misnomer. What we call Reaganism was not a new philosophy, but a return to the classical roots of our Founding Fathers. Reagan was great not because of his new ideas, but because he realized that there was great wisdom in old ideas; ideas that withstand the passage of time, ideas that hold up through the erosion of our collective memories, like rain which turns mountains into beaches over millennia, because they are rooted in fundamental truths that are unchanging regardless of philosophical and political fads.

These truths were called by our founders natural law, or God's law. In our arrogance we think that we can break God's laws, but find instead that we break ourselves upon them. A few months ago Newsweek declared on its cover that "We Are All Socialists Now", and after the betrayal of free-market principles in the last few months of the Bush administration through TARP and the beginning of the bailouts (not to mention his absolute failure to do anything about non-defense discretionary spending, passage of MediCare Part D and the growth of the government and its entitlement programs), it was hard to argue with that claim. But then the tide began to turn, shocking the political class.

It started with grumbling about the rapid expansion of government into the private sector, the massive "stimulus" bill, a record-breaking 2010 budget and spending increases that made Bush look downright miserly. Then came the TEA Party tax protests on April 15th all around the country, the biggest being at the Capitol Building in Atlanta. Then more TEA Parties kept popping up all over the place, new grassroots organizations popping up like weeds that the Obama team could not kill off. Then there is the plummeting poll numbers for Obama and his subsequent inability to push through his major legislative agenda items despite massive, filibuster-proof majorities in both houses of Congress.

The events of the last few weeks just confirm that the Democrats misread the results of the elections (and that Republicans had better pay attention if they want to capitalize on it...are you listening Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Mitch McConnell et al?). Republicans won decisive victories in the gubernatorial elections in previously Democrat-trending Virginia and in Democrat-stronghold New Jersey. I had to chuckle to myself as I listened to the talking heads, after years of looking at any little set-back as an indictment of the Bush administration, try to spin these results as completely independent of anything to do with Obama. In addition, voters repealed gay marriage in Maine (making pro-traditional marriage referendums 31-0 when the voters are allowed to decide).

In fact, the only straw that the media and Democrats have been clinging to was the Democrat pick-up of New York's 23rd District seat, which has been in Republican hands for over a century (since 1871). Yet if you look at those results in context, it actually confirms the anti-Democrat, anti-socialism, anti-Obama trend. In the NY-23 race, a very liberal Republican named Dede Scozzafava was picked as the Republican candidate by the party elite. This is a candidate that is pro-abortion, pro-union, pro-tax increases, pro-spending, and yet was endorsed by the official party machine and even Newt Gingrich, a man for whom I generally have great admiration, but whom in this instance disappointed me. How in the world can a candidate be endorsed by both Newt Gingrich/GOP party machine, as well as the SEIU, ACORN, and a host of other far-left organizations. This was a case of promoting party power over principle, and it backfired.

Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other GOP heavyweights endorsed Doug Hoffman, who had to run under the Conservative Party banner. Democrat Bill Owens won with 48% of the vote to Hoffman's 46% and Scozzafava's 5% (she had dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democrat). A third party candidate got 46%! That is huge.

What we see here is that elections results are mirroring polls and party registration trends. Recent Gallup, Rasmussen and other major polls show that about 40% of Americans self-identify as conservative, while only 19% self-identify as liberal. Yet only 21% these same people identify themselves as Republican. Why the discrepancy? Because the Republican Party, after the 1994 Republican Revolution engineered by Newt Gingrich with his Contract With America, took power and then fell in love with their power and their perks, and fell into that Beltway mindset. They lost sight of the conservative principles that got them elected. They supported Bush's big-government, big-spending pseudo-conservatism, and became Democrat-lite, and in some cases Democrat-plus. They gave us ethics scandals, collusion in pork-spending, The Bridge to Nowhere, and TARP. Obama and the Democrats have been winning not because the American people support their socialist agenda, but because they Republican Party abandoned conservative principles and left us no banner to rally to.

There has been a backlash against the Democrats and President Obama. People are waking up and seeing that this growing government is ruining the value of the dollar, bankrupting us for generations to come, and weakening our standing in the world. Obama spends his time abroad apologizing for American greatness and accusing us of hubris and imperialism, and Americans, at least those outside of college faculties and coastal elites, don't care for this. Millions of Americans have died for the freedom of others throughout the world and the only land we have taken, or asked for, was that used to bury our fallen soldiers. We have no reason whatsoever to apologize to anyone.

The question now is, will the leadership of the Republican Party take advantage of this reawakening? Will they be willing to give up some and their perks and power and return that power to where it constitutionally belongs, in the hands of the American people (see 10th Amendment)? Americans have grown tired and cynical of both parties, as evidenced by the growing number of self-professed "independents". I was and am one of those. I joined the local Bartow County Republican Party because they are a group of people that understand that our nation is great because we are a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles, on individual freedom, and on free-market capitalism. They understand that without a strict adherence to and knowledge of the Constitution that America will soon follow the Soviet Union and other failed empires into the ash heap of history. They understand that without that dynamic we are just North Cuba. This is a Republican Party I can and will support.

Again I ask, will the national Republican Party hold true to these principles if they regain power? It's not enough to fight against government growth and encroachment when the other party is in power. You have to fight it even when it comes from your own party. It has to be ingrained in your mind, in your very being. Samuel Adams once wrote in a letter "No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."

If Republicans will take up once again take up the banner of liberty and morality they will regain power, and more importantly, restore the strength of our nation. If they do not, and I say this as both an proud American and a member of the local Republican Party, they do not deserve our votes. For my part, I will support those elected officials who support the Constitution, and will fight them when they do not, regardless of party. As Americans that is our duty. I pray we succeed in restoring our government to that envisioned by our Founding Fathers and inspired by Almighty God.