A Litany of Defeat

From a Litany of Defeat, comes a cascade of opportunities.

The Dems won big in the last election. The litany was; now with this power we can create the change we have always wanted, change that will make America better.
Even before the elections this litany was ever present. Give us the power and we will change things for the better. Barney Frank and his ilk forced banks to liberalize their lending practices to include those who couldn’t pay back the loans. We all saw what happened. Is that an opportunity?

We were given an opportunity to show case a failed liberal program.
In my home state of Michigan we are the poster child of failed Democrat policies. We see what happens to education, employment and individual freedom under these policies. Again we have a cascade of opportunities being served up to us on a silver plate by the Dems.

I have seen the stirring of a few to try to take advantage of this but they are few.
Steny Hoyer took the opportunity during a tribute to Ronald Reagan to quote Reagan in his regard for the IMF. He did this to try to get passage of the War Funding Bill which the Dems doubled the cost of by adding an amendment of over 100 Billion to bail out the IMF. In other words they were using the Republican loyalty to our troops as leverage to slip the IMF funding thru. Not only that but quoting one of our icons to do it.

After Hoyer quoted Reagan the Republicans didn’t say much.

What would the Dems of said if we quoted Rev. King to make our point about Affirmative Action? Ask Jen Gratz, hell as Alvida King for that matter.

Why didn’t we say, “Hell yes Reagan believed in the IMF. He believed in it enough to fund it separately and vote on it separately and not try to pass it on the back of our military and at the expense of our military when they are in harms way. I see you have less faith than Reagan. If you really believe in this do what he did and bring it up for a vote on its own. See what the people think of bailing out foreign banks on its own merit. See how many of this legislature are willing to vote for that.”

Nope that was not said, Boehner did and some other conservatives, but not directly at the time. Later in less public venues and not cohesively. Basically we as conservatives like talking to the quoir.

If we want to take advantage of all these “golden opportunities”, we have to learn how to talk not just to ourselves but to the public that Reagan reached.

He talked to those disaffected and suffering from the weight of liberal policies. There are plenty of Union workers, teachers, and Democrats out there who are looking for a place to hang their frustrations on. We have to learn to out talk the Dems. Our ideas are sound but we have to keep hammering them home. Keep showing viable alternatives to those disaffected. We will go down to defeat in most of what we do, but we should not suffer this quietly.

Newt Gingrich quoted Ronald Reagan also. "My Fellow Republicans... and Independents and Democrats Looking for a Better Future". He did this during a speech to the Republicans. Full text is linked below.

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http://newt.org/tabid/102/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/4312/Dont-Tell-Me-It-Cant-Be-Done.aspx
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The other nugget from Ron Reagan I enjoyed and thought pertinent was the following. "Better than we have ever done before, we have got to quit talking to each other and about each other and go out and communicate to the world that we may be fewer in numbers than we have ever been, but we carry the message they are waiting for."

Bottom line is that we have to minimize our differences and maximize the things we believe in. The article by Gingrich is good at talking about “First Principles”. Read the article for the list of things he says will give us a more unified message that will resonate with us, Independents and Democrats who are all looking for a better way.

Newt’s list is a cascade of opportunities for Republicans if they (we) can learn to stay away from the bickering and look for the common ground between us while keeping our “First Principles”. Try practicing; read through the list and concentrate on what you agree with; not what you don’t. Then allow others to do the same.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

PS all is not lost on the IMF War funding bill. The Senate I think will be open to filibuster and other tactics to get some concessions on the bill. Remember, 32 Dems voted against it even after whie house pressure and only 5 Republicans defected. That says alot right there about dissaffected Dems.

Newt says in quoting FDR, “Don’t tell me it can’t be done.”

Regards, LD