Posted by
Always To The Right on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 4:39:15 PM
Conservatives have a rocky relationship with the Republican Party.
America has many groups with different priorities, but we live in a
two-party system. Those two parties are the Republicans and Democrats,
and this is not likely to change any time soon. The price of gutting
and replacing one party is decades of political oblivion, and
conservatives cannot afford the time it would take to haul the old GOP
jalopy into the chop shop, strip out the useful parts, and assemble
that sweet turbocharged Conservative Party muscle car they’ve been
dreaming of.
We’re stuck with the Republicans as a political vehicle, like it or
not. Several groups with profound disagreements are crammed into that
vehicle, and everyone wants to be driving it when it makes its big
comeback. The preferred tactic for gaining control of the party
involves trying to kick all your rivals out, while loudly accusing them
of trying to kick you out. Steele is correct to talk about finding
common ground that unites the various bickering factions and
personalities, although his performance so far makes me wonder if he’s
the guy to do it. He’s also right to insist that his party doesn’t
?narrowly speak to one segment of the population.? The trick is to
speak to all of the population, without trying to agree
with all of them. Leadership is based on persuasion. You can only make
that fabled ?big tent? so big… then you’ve got to start inviting people
inside.
. . . one thing, Mr. Steele, Colin Powell kicked himself out. Our children
are being bankrupted by the reckless spending of the man Colin Powell
helped to elect. He owes Republicans, and Americans, an apology for his
betrayal of his ?dear old friend? John McCain, and until he makes it,
he’s irrelevant, and a Democrat. For another thing, the composition of
the Republican Party leadership has absolutely nothing to do
with hungry children. The number of hungry children will remain
precisely the same if Colin Powell, Rush Limbaugh, Olympia Snowe, or
Michael Steele leaves the Republican Party. . . .
The second important step for Republicans is highlighting the fantastic
corruption of the Democrat party. This obviously needs to be
accompanied by a rigorous cleaning up of their own act, . . .
Steele should work to reconcile the differences between fiscal and
social conservatives, because they are both important to the Republican
Party. Social conservatives are crucial to achieving victory, because
they have the passion and energy to make the moral
case against socialism. Socialists don’t try to make their case to
voters on the grounds of pure efficiency - they’d look like fools,
given the history of liberal social programs since the Great Society . . .