Five Simple Rules for the GOP!
By Doug Hagin (11/09/06)
Well, well, quite the election night it was for Democrats, Liberals and Leftists in America as well as around the globe. The GOP lost the House, the Senate, it lost governorships, and today, it seems it lost Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense as well. Now the question is why the right lost, and how not to lose any more ground in 2008. After all, forgetting history leads to, well repetition of that history, and trust me, no Conservative wants a repeat or continuation of this debacle.
The why is very easy to place a finger on. The GOP has met the enemy, and it is the GOP. Face it, far too many Republicans who were elected because they campaigned as Conservatives, failed too often to govern as Conservatives. They came up well short of Conservative ideals on spending, the border and illegal immigration, and on privatizing Social Security. They appeared far too soft and timid to their Conservative base. They refused to use the nuclear option to end the inane Democratic shenanigans on judicial nominees. In short, too often they took their base for granted and tried to get along with Democrats. In other words once given leadership, they failed to lead.
Therefore, after failure on top of failure to stay conservative and lead, they finally pushed their base too far. The result was that the base, or at least enough of the base, stayed home on election day, and now we have Speaker Pelosi to deal with because of it. As JB Williams illustrates in his newest column, there are more registered Republicans than Democrats in America. Therefore, Democrats cannot, by the logic of mathematics pull off an election night coup without Republican help. Now that help came in significant numbers, and it came for one reason. Republicans are fed up with Republicans who will not stay conservative and who will not lead. Moreover, if anyone thought 2006 was bad, just wait until 2008! Unless, that is, the GOP gets its act together and learns from history.
It has been proven repeatedly that the GOP does very well when it moves right and stays there. When it does not, well, not so much. Therefore, here, is a very simple, but obviously much needed dose of common sense for the GOP leadership and strategists. Yes, I know they might question why they should take advice from a Texas columnist who has never, and will never seek political office.
However, I did not just get my butt handed to me did I? Therefore, Ken Mehlman, Karl Rove, and other GOP “leaders” listen up! Here are the rules to be followed if the GOP wishes to regain power.
Number one- Accept that no matter what you do, or say, or stand for, the Democrats are not and will not ever be your friends. You cannot move to the center, or center-left, or anywhere else enough to appease Democrats. They will never say nice things about you, or like you, or want to really seek common ground with you. They will still call you racist, bigot, sexist, insensitive, lily-White, Party of the Rich, and homophobe. They will never reach across the aisle and embrace your tax cuts, or spending cuts, or any other Conservative ideals that you hold dear. Republicans call the Democrats the party of opposition for a very good reason.
Rule number two- Democrats see you as their political enemy, accept this fact of political life for goodness sake! They have different ideals and goals and intentions for America than you do. To them you are the enemy. An enemy to be defeated at all costs. It is past time Republicans accepted this and started viewing Democrats in the same way. They are your enemies politically and will remain so until Hell freezes over and they switch parties!
Rule number three- No matter how much you watch every word that emerges from your mouth the media will NEVER be on your side. Stop this moronic and cowardly tactic of being ever so careful not to say anything too controversial or too idealistic. Look, we all know the media is not on the side of Republicans, so why twist ourselves in knots trying to stay in the guidelines of “sensitivity”? Say what you mean like you mean it and then stick to it!
Rule number four- Do not waffle, do not act timid, and do not flip-flop! Your base, the folks who gave you control of all three branches of government want leaders, not wimps! The GOP cannot be all things to all people. It must have some core ideals that it does not retreat from! Trying to convert those who traditionally have not favored the GOP is a noble cause. Sacrificing the principles of Conservatism to do it, however, is a recipe for, well review the election and figure it out!
Rule number five- DO NOT, I mean DO NOT EVER, take the support of your base for granted! Yes, you base gets that not voting for you means Democrats will win elections. Your base also gets that a party has to win to set the Agenda. Increasingly, though, the Republican base has felt like it was given a choice between Liberal Democrats and indecisive Republicans. There is a reason the GOP dominated every election since 1994. The candidates were Conservative, they campaigned on common sense conservative ideology, and they won, over and again!
If you ran as Conservatives, campaigned as Conservatives, were elected as Conservatives, then why in the world would you not govern as Conservatives? This is not rocket science; this is very simple and straightforward. Face it, y’all tried and tried to get to the dance, then forgot the most basic rule. You forgot to dance with the one who brought you!
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