In my previous post I quoted the governor of Minnesota John Pawlenty about how he thought the Republicans need to merge the “Country Club with the Sam’s Club crowd.” I liked that phrase so much I googled it.
Below is a link to an article by David Brooks. One of my favorite writers.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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This guy is singing my tune. It’s nice to see I’m not alone in thinking that there is something wrong with the Republican Party. In the path it has chosen. I have previously blogged about him and the idea of a new path for The Republican party. In the article above Mr. Brooks highlights a collaborative effort by two younger writers who wrote the book “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.” The two young writers are Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. David Brooks writes about the motivation for that book comes from the Pawlenty quote. The internet does indeed make the world smaller.
Below is a quote from David’s article that I couldn’t pass by.
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“What all these ideas, from the sober to the speculative, have in common is a vision of working-class independence — from bosses, from bureaucracy, from entrenched interests of all kinds,” Douthat and Salam write. This is not compassionate conservatism (which flattered the mind of the compassionate donor), it’s hard-work conservatism, which uses government to increase the odds that self-discipline and effort will pay off.
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How cool is that. Using the government to “facilitate” the success of conservative principles like hard work self-discipline. The key that will make it work is found in the simple notion of Freedom. Douthat and Salam talked of freedom from bosses bureaucracy and entrenched interests of all kinds. I would include unions in that. As in my previous blog I talked of the enhanced freedom the internet is bringing to it’s users. That the internet can be the tool that allows people to become free of those bosses among others. We need not use the libertarian idea that government is bad. Tear it down. Let’s be more Reagan like. Let us introduce conservative solutions and let them work their magic. Let’s work with what we have (make do, make it now, make it work). Changes as to governments size and scope will be a natural reaction to our conservative ideas. The people will begin to demand those changes as they get a taste of that freedom. Much as I blogged about the youth taking for granted the new freedoms of the internet and how they would fight any changes to that freedom. That’s the kind of conservative working class ethic I’m pushing. The British Conservatives have done just that. Overcoming the inertia of the Country Club crowd will be the trick. This will have to be a revolution from the “bottom up” as a friend of mine says, a battle of David’s. The outcome will take time and hinge upon the number of David’s willing to come forward to lead.
The recent pew poll shows our dilemma. The number one issue we as Republicans have is the price of gasoline, our conservative common sense answer to that is to produce more oil as we push for alternatives. The poll showed the vast majority (over 80%) in favor of drilling vs. using a redistribution of wealth (taxes and regulation) to get out of the problem. While all the “guerilla” efforts by the Republican’s including Newt Gingrich’s “Drill Here” petition have changed the majority view about drilling the one group that actually showed declining support for drilling was the Republican. The groups that one thinks of as the Democrat base, (young, college, women) all increased their support of drilling by double digits, some in the 20’s. The Republicans actually showed a decline.
What is wrong here? Are we just too old to change our minds? Are our synapses too fried? Perhaps we think it’s a conspiracy by the left to trick us. We’ve been tricked in the past. Is it our distrust of the leadership and or of government in general. Maybe we just like being in the minority. It allows us to bitch without worrying about the consequences. What ever it is, it seems to be based in the negative. Our guerilla war is based in the positive. It is working. Ronald Reagan was based in the positive, his ideas worked. My simple conclusion is that our leaders need to become more positive more of a can do type of leadership, our party needs to be the vehicle of change for the better. I’ve also blogged in the past the idea that sometimes a person just has to strike out on their own, use God’s gifts and come up with their own ideas. I’ve been trying to do just that, build my own idea of what the party should be and see if anyone will agree. See if I can fit my ideas into what some others think. David Brooks and I hope the authors of “The Grand New Party” are forming a nucleus into which I can fit my ideas. That book is going on my reading list. Well I’m through for now, off to Amazon on line (Ain’t the internet cool?) then off to work. (Ain’t bosses a bitch) lol.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
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Link from John Boehner on upcoming battle starting today (Tuesday), over drilling.
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http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=96485
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Too much going on in my fantasy. Here is some more guerilla stuff.
Below is a link to what Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell put in a press release on the 7th. The Senate was on CSPAN yesterday. The Dems all of a sudden are all for drilling etc. Gee maybe they saw the pew poll above. Lol. Both our leaders in the House and Senate are on board with this “little” guerilla war. Now if we can keep to our conservative ideas and compromise only on the mechanics, we will have won a battle. Our first battle that we can build upon. Build a coalition on. Now if we can keep ourselves out of the way, we have a chance. Talk to your republican friends about getting behind this effort. The Democrats are more than willing to take this issue away too in their election day rush to the middle.
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http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=300175&start=1
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Mitch wrote a great press release. He kept it to short slogans which captured the ideas better than long winded oratory.
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‘We need to take up and pass legislation that not only makes a statement, but which makes a difference’
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He repeated that again. Again and Again would have been fine with me. Lol
Another
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“Find More, Use Less.’
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The fireworks will soon be happening. John Boehner our leader in the House will be firing on all cylinders today as the House opens back up for business. Call your Congressmen. Email them talk to their wives. Well maybe not that. Lol. What the heck why not if you can.
Mitch McConnell in the Senate has already begun as the Senate was in session yesterday. I would also tune into CSPAN and see if we can boost their ratings which would send a message also. Again talk to your republican friends. I know a bunch that will be saying that this is too little too late, that this will not help. Remind them that Ron Reagan was known not for his pessimistic attitude. Point out the “can do” optimism in the above quotes. Show how the negativism of the Dems is front and center and should be attacked and exposed.
Again Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
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1 comment:
Well I dont know!
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