Gay Conservative

This isn’t a slap at you or your comments, Steve.  But I’m moving this discussion back up top rather than burying it in the comments of my last post.  I’m bothered that some Republicans are resting well thinking, like the House and Senate GOP leadership, that the GOP has done a great job over the past few years.  So, let’s examine the record -

No Child Left Behind:  This unfunded mandate was well-intentioned.  It hoped to achieve results that could have been achieved by school vouchers.  When vouchers were radically opposed by the NEA and Dems, the GOP in Congress gave in and let Bush and Ted Kennedy railroad this through Congress.  Nevermind that the federal government has no role in education, Bush and Kennedy expanded the federal role in education with taxpayer dollars.  Congress, with the support of many GOP members, allowed this to happen.

Medicare:  President Bush, with the support of the GOP Congress, basically created a new entitlement with his Medicare prescription plan.  The cost?  Hundreds of billions over the next decade.  Rather than shrinking the scope of government, Republicans in Congress allowed the President to burden the American taxpayer with this crap.  Thanks GOP.

Immigration:  Fortunately, the “comprehensive” plan to address the issue of illegal immigration never passed through Congress.  That is despite the fact that numerous Republicans (mainly the Senate) voted to allow this legislation.  This legislation would have provided amnesty to illegals despite the lessons we learned under Reagan.  Nevertheless, many GOPers in Congress were willing to support such a move.  Dems quietly supported the measure and were content to allow the GOP expose its divisions over this volatile issue.  It wouldn’t have been much of an issue except for the fact that so many Republicans in the Senate were willing to support the measure.

Earmarks:  How do you justify 13,000+ earmarks under a GOP controlled Congress in 2005?  Those numbers dwarf Dem numbers when they controlled Congress.  The “bridge to nowhere?”  That was sponsored by a Republican.  The number earmarks increased exponentially in Congress under Republican control.

McCain-Feingold:  This tragic usurpation of political free speech was passed on the watch of a GOP Congress and a GOP president.  This measure limited the ability of citizens to support the candidate of their choice and enabled the liberal groups who quickly found ways to skirt the new regulations.  Again – this was a well-intentioned act.  It was an attempt to take the money factor out of politics.  Instead, the support of Republicans in Congress and the signature of Bush allowed liberal groups to seize the upper hand in elections.  Despite the protestations of many true conservatives in Congress, there were enough moderate and liberal Republicans to steamroll this populist, unconstitutional measure through.

And now Republicans in Congress are starting to coalesce around absurd issues like global warming!  And these are folks with a big ole R by their name.  It doesn’t matter if a majority of Republicans oppose these lib policies.  The fact that a “good number” of these Repubs are enabling the Democrats and their agenda is enough to send the conservative base screaming.

So – No.  Republicans in Congress are not on the right track.  Congratulations.  The Republican revolution of 1994 managed to enshrine some of their ideology.  But then they took a step back.  The Republicans tasted power.  They spent money like drunken sailors.  They based policy on opinion polls.  They threw us under the bus and did whatever was politically expedient.

Sorry folks.  If you think that there is nothing wrong with Republicans in Congress, then you have had a taste of the kool-aid.  The conservative base is not so naive.  And they are pissed.  Things won’t get better til the GOP in Congress repents and takes the intitative.

If folks want to keep apologizing for the Republicans – fine.  2008 will be a banner year – for the Democrats.  I’m alarmed by the lack of a sense of urgency.  I’m annoyed that so many conservatives are serving as apologists for RINOs and “sometimes conservatives.”  Yeah – there are some hardcore conservatives left in Congress.  Yes – the GOP revolution brought about some positive, lasting changes (for now).  But if we sit on our asses and assume that everything is hunky-dory, then we are kidding ourselves.

And I still haven’t heard a plausible explanation for how we lost 3 seats in special election House races this year – IN SOLID GOP DISTRICTS.  Tell me how that happens.  Tell me why I shouldn’t worry.

Ladies and gents – let’s not kid ourselves.  The GOP is in deep poop. Republicans lost a seat in the US House in Mississippi last night in a special election.  So what?  I’ll tell you “what.” The district was carried by Bush in 2004 by 25%.  Consider also that Republicans lost a seat in Louisiana that had been GOP for 33 years in another special election weeks earlier.  Or consider that the Republicans lost former GOP Speaker, Denny Hastert’s, seat in another special election this year.  Again, it was a seat in a solid GOP district that Republicans had held for decades.

I’m posting now in response to Rush, Hannity, Levin and others who made a “call to arms” today.  These losses this year in 3 supposedly “safe” GOP seats is an indicator of how far the GOP in Congress has strayed.  Unless the conservatives in Congress disavow the wayward “moderate” tendencies of the RNC and the national party goons, we are doomed.  You would have thought that Congressional Republicans would take a hint when Dems swept into control in 2006.  They didn’t.  Instead, they continue the failed strategy that rendered them a minority.

We WILL lose more seats and assure the Dems of decades of rule unless something is done now!  It’s time to cut to the chase and forget the BS.

Republicans in Congress need to embrace fiscal discipline, disavow global warming crap, dump entitlement programs, speak out against government expansion/regulation and adhere to traditional conservative principles.  Forget the RINOs and “extending a hand across the aisle.”  Conservatives in Congress need to dump party leaders who hold them back and take to the steps of Capitol Hill with a bold, conservative agenda prior to the elections.

We can’t do anything about McCain.  He will be the nominee.  And he is our best hedge against libs for now.  As soon as a Dem is elected to the White House, 2-3 Supreme Court justices will resign and will be replaced by even more liberal nominees.  We can’t take that chance.

But it’s time to stop the hemorrahaging in Congress and make a few gains. How can we not see these three stunning GOP special election losses and not be concerned?  If conservative, Republican congressmen and women do not heed this call – if they stick to the RNC’s strategy and remain silent, then they doom themselves and this nation to failed, liberal rule.  Even if McCain wins in 2008, it will mean little in light of a massive GOP loss in Congress.

I urge every conservative blogger to echo this call and this sentiment.  The Republican base is fed up.  They will sit at home on election day and allow the Dems to overrun the GOP in the elections.  Consider this a warning to all Republicans in Congress – no seat is safe now.  Until you stand up, buck the Rockefeller wing of the GOP and reach out to your true base, you are an endangered species.  You have been warned, and you better take heed.  Let this serve as your “notice.” We’re pissed.

A major political earthquake is about to occur unless you stand on the steps of Capitol Hill and proudly declare your independence from the moderate, status quo wing of the GOP.  You need to vocalize a detailed, conservative agenda. And you better do it now.