Saturday, December 20, 2008

On Being a Republican

By Alan Caruba

It has been hard to be a Republican this past year and those leading up to the last elections. If Democrats found their voice in their bitter hatred of George W. Bush, his actions over the past four and previous years in office left Republicans breathless as both he and the Republican-held Congress engaged in an orgy of bewildering spending.

As power passed from the Party in 2006, one would have hoped for a more chastened, more sober Republican Party, but the momentum had shifted and the Democrats found a charismatic candidate in Barack Obama.

The choice of John McCain, though opposed in many Republican and conservative circles for his inclination to vote with Democrats, his pro-immigration position, his espousal of global warming falsehoods, left us with a choice between two candidates for whom no Republican could vote for without distaste and disdain. The introduction to the political scene of Gov. Palin was too little, too late. Her family problems just keep growing.

It is no accident that America is mired in a financial disaster that mirrors an era when “irrational exuberance” reined. The sins of George W. Bush are too numerous, but the legacy of No Child Left Behind was to cede control of the schools—always a local priority—to the federal government. All the statistics in the world will not hide the fact that we are graduating students ill-prepared for the workplace and those who want to acquire a higher education must accept a level of debt that is obscene. In my home State of New Jersey, the loan defaults are reaching a billion dollars.

“We must keep the American people informed of the Democrat’s efforts to impose socialistic, inefficient, and dangerously utopian policies in Washington,” wrote Robert M. “Mike” Duncan, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. What could have been more socialistic than the addition of a prescription entitlement to Medicare? It was a Republican initiative. Same with No Child Left Behind.

“Despite the election’s result, American remains a center-right country,” wrote Duncan. “We will learn from our experience, sharpen our message, and continue to stand for our core principles of low taxation, personal responsibility, and strong national security, and earn victories in elections to come.”

Where were those Republican principles since the year 2000? It is telling that the only success Republicans can point to is that since 2001 the nation has not been attacked again. There is no guarantee that future attacks will not occur. A bulky, oversized bureaucracy called the Department of Homeland Security has put the CIA in charge while undermining the FBI’s traditional role of counter-intelligence on the domestic front. Are the security agencies working better together? We have no way of knowing.

There is no question that the incoming Democrat Party will tilt toward the unions such as those that undermined Detroit’s competitiveness. There is the possibility of massive tax increases at the worst possible time for such actions, and there is the threat of limits on free speech such as the discredited notion of “balance” in the talk radio and television.

Worse, though, is the fact that the Obama administration will base its most fundamental policies on a global warming that is not happening and which has been proven to be a hoax based on falsified “scientific” data. The corruption of science is a crime against humanity. The imposition of regulations and laws based on global warming will cripple the nation’s economy further and leave us without sufficient energy sources for the future.

So, this Republican will renew his membership in 2009 and pray that the Party regains its courage, its discipline with regard to its core principles, and finds legislators and new candidates to articulate the dangers inherent in Democrat Party control of the nation.

6 comments:

Dave's Daily Day Dream said...

What will it take to convince sentient people that there's NO DIFFERENCE between the Socialist "R" and the Socialist "D" parties?
Will we be taken for a further ride by the likes of "the speaker", "Huck", and FOX NEWS? There is only one voice in this vast wilderness - Dr. Ron Paul. Oh! He and his ideas and philosophies don't exist! Just ask NBC, ABC, CBS, The Times (any of them). Ask the RNC, DNC, CPA, Socialist Workers of Amerika. Oh yeah, these are the guys we are working for.

Unknown said...

Dave you've brought up one of the largest points that is very over looked by many. Extremists in both party's and the gross lack of Moderates in either! There is not much of a choice any more, because even the 'good' choice is insanely bad in one regard or another. :(

Guy said...

I saw this mess coming years ago when the left invaded our educational system, especially our colleges. The Republican party has been asleep at the switch for far too long. They sat idly by while our colleges churned out leftists who in turn got jobs in our primary schools and began indoctrinating our youth. They sat idly by while those same leftists got jobs in our media and began spewing out their lies, reinforcing the trash they were teaching our youth. And, they sat idly by while, one by one, the Republicans in our government squandered their chances to make a difference, and lost their seats to the new crop of liberal Democrats streaming out of our colleges. They came out of our colleges promising "change" and were supported by the media in nearly all forms.

It escapes me why nobody in the Republican Party could see what was happening and launch a similar campaign to educate our youth in the philosophies of the Republican Party. Perhaps they were too busy enjoying their rampant spending, too busy pursuing their careers or perhaps they just got complacent. It is, after all, hard to imagine how anyone could actually believe the lies the left has been spreading all these years, but let's face it - youth is impressionable. Without a dissenting point of view to temper the liberal teachings they were bombarded with, what other philosophy could our youth possibly develop? I'm no expert, but it was obvious to me what the left was doing. It's a no-brainer .... to conquer a society from within is much easier than a frontal assault, and gaining the minds of the impressionable youth is certainly the easiest way to do that.

The question now is, what do we do, RIGHT NOW, to start taking our country back? We're facing a whole generation, actually almost two generations, of left-leaning citizens! The time to combat this was twenty years ago, not after two entire generations of our youth have already been indoctrinated, but what's done is done. Now, the only solution I see is to fight fire with fire. Certainly, there must be some Conservative Republicans out there with the money and influence necessary to open some conservative colleges, start some conservative TV stations, or publish a conservative news paper?! It time for some of these people to put their money where their mouth is and take action. FOX news just isn't getting it, and if the Dems have their way and ressurrect the fairness doctrine, our country as we know it, is finished. I wish I was one of those with the power and money to do something, but sadly, I've been struggling against the tide all my life, and it isn't getting any easier. I fear I'm about to lose the battle. So, how about it folks? It's time to step up to the plate. I know there has to be someone out there who cares, with the necessary resources to start pushing back. Capitalism got you where you are today, and it's time to give something back and start doing something to combat this assault. We're all waiting ...

Alan Caruba said...

This is an excellent debate of the issues and challenges facing Republicans/Conservatives these days.

In a very real way, the Republican Party has been asleep at the switch or part of the problem.

Since I always look for the silver lining, I suspect that the Obama administration will make such a botch of things that by 2010 the GOP may well make a come back if they can find some good candidates for Congress.

libertyforusa said...

I would like to thank Alan for all his wise words and pleasantly honest style of writing. I bookmark the several sites that your work appears at and enjoy each and every article immensely!

Happy Holidays to you and your family, may they be peaceful and memorable!

Happy holidays to everyone else that visits this great blog also!

As we venture into a new year with troubling "warning signs" I will look forward to Alan's grasp on a wide variety of subjects and his professional presentation of his views on them!

Thanks again Alan

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Alan Caruba said...

Thank you! My parents were and are my heroes. Whatever I am today I owe to them.