Philip Henderson, a law student at The University of Georgia in Athens, is one of a growing number of idealistic young Republicans joining the conversation as the political party struggles to redefine itself after the 2008 elections. (Mary Knox Merrill/Staff)
Young Republicans seek a new kind of party
Reflecting an Obama age, they want more diversity and pragmatism, less partisanship.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer/ December 17, 2008 edition
Reporter Patrik Johnson explains why the future success of the GOP may rest with young people.
Athens, Ga.
Working out of the trunk of his car, recent law school grad Chris Dziedzic is criss-crossing New York State, talking about what he calls “true conservatism.” Party elders are all ears.
In San Francisco, Jenniffer Rodriguez – young, Hispanic, and a lapsed Democrat – is creating the country’s first Republican election central. It’s a blogging, broadcast, and policy center smack in the middle of what she calls the “bluest of blue cities.”
At the University of Georgia here in Athens, Steven Lee, the son of Korean immigrants, spends his days at the Student Learning Center blogging at TheNewRepublicans.net about how the GOP can take advantage of an electorate clamoring for realpolitik instead of partisanship.
More inspired than dejected about the meteoric rise of Barack Obama to the presidency, young Republicans, often working from state capitals in the Democratic heartland, are mounting an ideological and technological insurgency to change the course of the GOP.
Their goal is to use lessons from the historic 2008 drubbing to tie political pragmatism, diversity, and idealism to traditional conservative values like small government and low taxes. Their aim is to broaden the Republican base and ensure its relevancy as a national party. Winning that internal debate over the party’s future, though, won’t be easy.
“I think young people could play a very central role in creating a more moderate and more pragmatic Republican notion of conservatism that is about change, but about change that is more consistent with traditional Republican principles,” says Professor Michael Delli Carpini, an expert on generational differences in politics at the University of Pennsylvania. “The Republican party has to figure out what it’s going to be, and you can see that battle taking place right now … and young people can be very influential in [that debate].”
With only about a third of the under-30 crowd voting Republican in the Nov. 4 election, and Democrats opening up a 19 point lead in party affiliation among 18 to 29-year-olds, the GOP has rapidly – and, some in the party fear, irreversibly – lost ground among younger voters.
Mr. Obama’s unique political personality played a huge role in that transformation.
But key among many of its perceived faults, the Bush administration’s policies presented especially younger conservatives with the contradictions of a party that “ran against tax-and-spend Democrats and became cut-tax-and-still-spend Republicans,” says Wil Westholm, a 30-something Republican in Tucson, Ariz. It didn’t help that 25 percent of young people reported being contacted by the Obama campaign while only 13 percent said the McCain campaign courted them, according to the Pew Research Center.
GOP needs to attract younger voters
“Young people are the new trees in the deforested Republican party, and they have to plant new trees and water them and get them going, and I don’t think they’re doing a very good job with it,” says Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University in Ames.
Still, the ups and downs of the Republican party in the late 20th century have been largely the result of actions by young ideologues. Conservative surges including the Goldwater era, the Nixon landslide, the Reagan Revolution, and Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” were fueled primarily by those under 40.
In fact, it wasn’t until the Clinton era that younger voters began trending more liberal than the overall population – a movement perhaps capped by Obama, who won 66 percent of the youth vote. In 1984, Ronald Reagan got 56 percent of the youth vote.
“We’ve now seen that the youth vote can turn out and will turn out if appropriately courted,” says Mr. Dziedzic, the recent law school graduate in Binghampton, NY.
But for Republicans, the solution may not just be in numbers. Perhaps the biggest challenge is how to incorporate, at the national level, an increasingly white, racially polarized, and Southern Republican base with the ambivalence about race and gender politics exhibited by the Gen-X, Gen-Y and Millennial age groups.
“This has to be real, and real means both that you look past ethnicity and race, but also that you understand ethnicity and race, and you understand that there are still issues that affect different groups differently,” says Mr. Delli Carpini.
A delegate to the Republican Convention, Ms. Rodriguez says the party’s “token nods” to diversity fell flat. Many immigrants “have conservative values, but they once again associate the Republican party with poor immigration strategies or the rich old white guy sitting up in his big corner office in D.C. What could he possibly know?” she says.
That’s in part why young Republicans like Philip Henderson, the son of a pentecostal preacher in Georgia, is talking about improving public schools instead of just focusing on charter schools and vouchers. Mr. Lee, for one, says Barack Obama exemplified a hunger for a new, less divisive politics that Republicans, too, can tap into. “I don’t equate idealism with any particular party,” he says.
Mr. Westholm says the Republican party dropped the ball on the environment, a key concern to younger voters. He points to the Paris Hilton flap during the election when he says many found the hotel heiress making more sense on how to save the environment than John McCain, who had tried to tie Ms. Hilton’s celebrity status to Obama.
And while Democrats abandoned the “Rock the Vote” model of reaching younger voters in favor of social networking and blogs, the Republican post-2002 “talking points” strategy seemed woefully out of date with generations who want to be engaged in dialogue, not be told what to say, says Westholm.
“We as young Republicans are now taking the lead on branding,” argues Dziedzic. “It can’t be astroturf. It has to be true grassroots.”
And it may be working. Pointing to Republican victories in Louisiana and Georgia after the Nov. 4 vote, Republicans are now batting .1000 in the post-2008 era. Rodriguez says she’s received more e-mails about joining the party in the month after the election than the entire run-up to the general election.
Independents a key target
“It’s the people who are independent, who lean toward the Republican party, and who haven’t really liked what we’ve been doing in the last few years,” says Westholm, a Navy veteran who now works for a defense contractor.
“It’s those people we’re seeing get active, and who recognize that now is the opportunity for the party to step back, reorganize, and get cohesive again,” says Mr. Westholm.
That won’t be easy.
To gain plurality, the party has to tie together three disparate and not easily reconciled strands: The rural and evangelical South and West, exemplified by Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin; the libertarian fringe embodied by Ron Paul; and multiracial pragmatists, such as Gov. Bobby Jindal in Louisiana.
“William F. Buckley saw the movement being larger than just one person, and there’s no one speaking to this group anymore like he did or saying what he did,” says Dave Woodard, a Republican strategist at Clemson University in South Carolina. “Whoever can begin to talk to youth about conservative values would be someone worth noting.”
Comments
2. juan | 12.17.08
LMAO we will never vote for republicans point blank. Just take a look at what bush is doing. Passing late night orders,you people are the scum of the earth viva Obama.
3. John | 12.17.08
By “libertarian fringe” I think you meant “pro-Constitution fringe” of the Republican Party.
4. LTN | 12.17.08
As long as Republicans try to represent evangelicals, they cannot in the same breath represent libertarians and pragmantists.
5. nospin | 12.17.08
Stop ramming ultra right wing evangelical **** down our throats! Get with Green issues! Leave sex and sexuality issues alone! Then this staunch libertarian democrat could consider voting for a R brand candidate. None of the major R players or the horizon fit that mantra however.
6. Pete | 12.17.08
Wow, Juan. Just two lines of text, and you were already able to spew hatred. Way to bring the country together!!!
7. Aunt Charlie | 12.17.08
“Whoever can begin to talk to youth about conservative values would be someone worth noting.”
Indeed! And such attempts would probably be highly entertaining to watch as well.
8. JD | 12.17.08
“you people are the scum of the earth viva Obama” (?!) … “Republicans try to represent evangelicals” (?!)
Gross inaccurate generalizations like the above are exactly what is wrong with BOTH parties. The “CHANGE” we need won’t happen if our country is still divided.
Did you actually read the article, or do you just see the word “Republican” and it made you so angry you had to comment?
9. JD | 12.17.08
“you people are the scum of the earth viva Obama” (?!) … “Republicans try to represent evangelicals” (?!)
Gross inaccurate generalizations like the above are exactly what is wrong with BOTH parties. The “CHANGE” we need won’t happen if our country is still divided.
Did you actually read the article, or do you just see the word “Republican” and it made you so angry you had to comment?
10. elgin | 12.17.08
It is naive to believe that the Republican Party can be just about “traditional conservative values like small government and low taxes.” If that was the answer, Libertarians would be running this country. The reality is that the Libertarian wing cannot muster ten or even five percent of the vote.
11. ha | 12.17.08
Bunch a idiots. Out of the last 4 presidents, only Clinton has reduced the size of government. The other three were ‘conservatives’.
12. MddleGrnd | 12.17.08
It will be hard for any party to encorporate a group that is willing to re-write the constitution to serve its own moral agenda while at the same time trying to appeal to moderates and independents. Best of luck to the GOP in trying to learn from past mistakes when they wont even acknowledge that they made any. No party is without its faults and the U.S. needs at least one other major politcal party in order to maintain balance.
13. Texas Cynic | 12.17.08
I think it was Winston Churchill who once said “If you are 20 and not a Liberal, you don’t have a heart; if you are 40 and not a Conservative, you don’t have a brain.” I would like to add “If you are 60 and not a Progressive, you don’t have a soul”. Older and Hopefully Wiser,
14. ejr1953 | 12.17.08
Though “true Republicans” say they are for “smaller government”, about half the Federal budget are entitlements to seniors, Federal & military retirees, about a third is the military budget, and they certainly don’t have the guts to diminish grandma’s Social Security, grandpa’s Medicare and the benefits promised to our military retirees, so “smaller government” is really appearing to fight over a tiny percentage of the Federal budget. But the numbers don’t lie, according to the Treasury Department’s website, Bush started with a debt amount of: 5,728,195,796,181.57 and as of yesterday ballooned it to: 10,630,556,502,899.88. Hardly “smaller government”.
15. CapK | 12.17.08
I wonder if a demoncrat will ever use their brains.
Oh, sorry, I forgot — they were born without any.
16. Joe | 12.17.08
You tell him John! Every voter is a libertarian in one way or another. We all love the Bill of Rights!!! What really gets me is Rush saying McCain isn’t a Conservative because he can compromise or Palin telling me my valves are no good because I come from a big city. Oh and quit telling me how to pray.
17. jaime | 12.17.08
I’d like to believe it but my experience shows me that Republicans are basically hardwired for sleaziness.
18. Tom in Alabama | 12.17.08
Young Republicans are talking “change” since Nov. 4 in order to rebrand their party so that the GOP again becomes relevant in national politics. A smart move will be to change the tired message of “god, guns & gays” that was championed by the unenlightened far right wing of the party.
19. Magnus | 12.17.08
The problem is the Republican party has become a mirror image of the Democrat party with the exception of a few non-central issues. Republicans used to be the party of small government, low spending, and more individual freedom and responsibility. Now, they’re just as likely as any Democrat to vote for more pork, more government intrusion, more tax hikes all in the name of compassion and “moral responsibility”. ****, under Bush, government has grown more and faster than under any other president. Even Clinton doesn’t hold a candle to him. As of right now I continue to hope for that ideology to return so that we can once again enjoy something as simple as keeping the fruits of our labor, or even having a cigarette in a pub if I so choose without the nanny state telling us it’s not healthy and they know what’s best for me.
And to Nospin, green issues are exactly the type of issues that Republicans need to move away from. Do some research on what it means to be “green” by government standards. It means restrictions on what we can buy, when and where we can buy, how we can use what we buy. That means less freedom to choose what we want and how we want to live. Want an example? In a few years, a ban on incandescent light bulbs is set to take effect because the feds decided to ban it because the greenies have too much clout convincing uneducated people that something as simple as a light bulb will save the planet. All it’s going to do is drive up costs, thus hurting the poor more than anyone.
The fact is, the less government we have, the better off we’ll all be. Republicans need to capitalize on the fact that government literally causes more problems than it cures.
20. Craig Finley | 12.17.08
The handwriting appears to be on the wall: Republicans can no longer expect to win elections by courting what has long been called their “base”: the bigoted, the intolerant, the uneducated and the evangelical. Cultural evolution, on the whole, tends towards inclusion, tolerance and justice. If it doesn’t, it ceases to focus on the future, and instead tries to bring back the past. Let those people rot on the vine and focus on courting ‘true’ conservatives: those who want a government that supports individual initiative, while guarding against those who would exploit government for their own purposes.
21. tdub | 12.17.08
Wow, CapK, nice post. What are you, like 12 years old? You gotta be able to do better than that, honestly.
22. Matt | 12.17.08
It’s all about your point of view. If you don’t like republicans, then Republican = sleaze (to quote jaime). However, the current Blagovich scandal is all Democrat. Ted Stevens in AK was all Republican. I don’t think party affiliation dictates morality in any way.
23. Michael | 12.17.08
What is it that exactly appeals to these people about the Republican Party? Ist it the greed, corruption, or just the general incompetence?
24. Trip | 12.17.08
I have to agree, a .1000 batting avg is the same as a .100 batting average, that’s kinda sad…
25. MddleGrnd | 12.17.08
Magnus, I whole heartedly agree w/ you that government (in general) causes more problems than it fixes but to use incandescent light bulbs as an example seems odd. How is mandating the use of a 90% more efficient devise as common as the light bulb be a bad thing or an example of government over stepping its bounds? How about worrying about the rights of your fellow man?
CapK, I honestly feel sorry for you. I thought the days of “Jocks and Nerds” had ended long ago but that was clearly my mistake. The next time you turn on your: car, computer, TV, etc. go ahead and thank all those people who used their head before you take them for granted.
Matt, great point. Until the whole of the electorat holds the party they favor to the same level of scrutinity as the party they do not we will never see america make and big leaps forward concerning our democracy.
26. PhysicistAZ | 12.17.08
Magnus, Would you kindly cite your authoritative sources and defend assertions that a move from incandescent lighting does not result in energy savings when clearly all independent research suggests otherwise?
To imply that all but you are ignorant because of their belief in sound energy and environmental positions is truly an ignorant position.
27. Steve | 12.17.08
The Republican Party has always been the more pragmatic party. It seems nowdays the Democrat party just wants power at any cost. Even spreading lies about our president our country our purpose.
Students are taught in universities to hate Conservative views, without having the least idea of what they are.
More responsible freedom. Smaller more efficiant Government, Less government intrusion. More power to the people.
28. Steven | 12.17.08
Hey Michael,
And Rod Blagovich is the most altruistic politician ever. Not to mention that he’s not involved in any corruption whatsoever. What’s that? The Senate seat?
Oops.
29. Jrr | 12.17.08
I always find it curious that my living in Tennessee and voting Republican somehow makes me bigoted, intolerant, uneducated and evangelical. I guess this is what Craig means by our Cultural evolution to a more inclusive, tolerant, and judicious society. Hope not. A future that makes those assumptions isn’t much of a change from the past. But no matter, it’s a Socialist world after all. Government is the answer. Welcome to the new “Progressive” point of view. Some progess. Socialism.
30. Jay | 12.17.08
Republicans don’t need to court young people, they need a consistent platform they actually follow.
Since Gerald Ford took over from Nixon, the Republicans have been advocating smaller government while increasing federal spending at twice the(inflation adjusted) rate of Democrats. The Republicans have advocated smaller government while campaigning on which group they’ll set up government programs to oppress this year. More recently, the Republicans have advocated a stronger military while gutting domestic defence, instead sending our troops to places that aren’t even remotely relevant.
I would vote for the Republican Party as they claim to once have been; Advocates of low taxes, responsible spending, minimal government interference in our lives, giving states the right to choose social issues. Instead, we’ve got advocates of charging our children hundreds of billions of dollars per year because we don’t want to pay taxes, spending that’s completely out of control, and campaigning specifically on increasing government interference of our lives, taking choices away from states that the federal government has considered “deviant”.
31. Jack | 12.17.08
The biggest thing dividing this country, in my personal opinion, is organized religion.
32. Nick | 12.17.08
Republican Party will eventually meet the same fate the Whigs did. It’s all over but the shouting.
33. Jules | 12.17.08
The kids described in the article are naive: while people like to espouse the values and ideals Republicans claim to uphold, when reality intrudes they begin to support liberal positions, especially on the economic issues the kids in the article want to make the heart of the “new” Republican party. This is a big reason why the culturally-based “Southern Strategy” has been used by the GOP for the past 38 years, and why the electorate wanted change so bad once the reality of Reganomics/neoclassical economics caught up with us.
The biggest hope for the Republican party is to once again get their guy elected based on the sheltered, fatuous fools in the elite press convincing people it’s about who you’d rather have a beer with. Hurrah.
34. Ryan | 12.17.08
As long as the Religious Right is in charge of the Republican Party, they’ll NEVER get my vote.
35. Ray Salemi | 12.17.08
Republicans need to step back from the “Aw Shucks, anyone can be President.” anti-intellectualism of the ’90s. Obama won the election, not only as a Democrat, but as a thoughtful man who could understand complex issues.
McCain came across as the grumpy old guy from Town Meeting, and Palin came across as someone who you might chat with at the PTO. But neither they, nor the party, seemed able to grasp or manage the complexities of today’s world.
36. Jayname | 12.17.08
I’m guessing he meant 1.000 batting average. Though - *** was he talking about? Noob.
37. Justin G | 12.17.08
While these media/journalist hacks keep spitting out “what will the GOP do?” articles and their like, the GOP has been changing across the country already. And no, I don’t mean the RNC or the phony national GOP leaders.
County-by-County, the Constitutional Republicans have been capturing and securing leadership positions throughout the country. There has been little fanfare, but a real changing of the guard IS taking place.
And for all those who put out blanket comments about all Republicans being scum or whatever, keep drinking your Kool-Aid while your national Democratic leadership continues to misrepresent you and US. Left? Right? It’s a sham.
38. j | 12.17.08
I agree michael, I am young and I don’t see anything appealing about the republican party at all. It seems to me that they are the ones getting us into wars, spending our money, limiting our freedom and destroying our environment. What makes people get even remotely close the republican party? I don’t know
As for the green comment by Magnus, I don’t think he understands that if we “greenies” don’t do anything to stop the destruction of our waters, forests, plains, and the entire planet, then we will won’t be able to LIVE. This is going to make prices go up, yes, but it is a sacrifice we must make to be able to drink clean water, and eat non-poisoned food (although people will obviously still be able to afford food). Also, by going green, you can create tons of jobs for these “poor” that we are hurting.
The fact is, Magnus, the state needs hands off on certain issues, but the environment is certainly not one, because everyone shares the environment and so if someone pours fertilizers in the drinking water, that is MY drinking water too. I agree with you on the smoking in the pubs point, and I loath nanny states.
39. Griffin | 12.17.08
As a 60 y/o previous ‘liberal’ now centrist democrat — republicans need to realize they represent about half of the electorate. Don’t move to the fringe; fundamentalist conservatives. ‘Liberals’ and ‘Fundamentalists’ are fringe-dwellers — the great ‘meat’ of America is in the center where the real debate of ideas can take place. I have been swayed by ideas related to small government, low taxes, etc. — but don’t want big (fundamentalist) government coming into my home looking for crusifixs’ on my mantel any more than folks more conservative than me want government coming into their homes looking for their guns. I don’t want one party (philosophy)controlling where we are going — I prefer the broad spectrum and will pick and choose from those ideas offered from the biggest mix.
40. Americannohyphen | 12.17.08
Ryan ole buddy: As long as the godless, hate America communists are in charge of the Democrat Party, they’ll NEVER get my vote. Values and beliefs over perversion and soulless existence. Believe in something, or fall for anything. Oh wait, you already have.
41. Decentralize | 12.17.08
First, the direction the GOP needs to take while shifting with the tides of relevant issues is decentralization. Centralization of power should be the next bogeyman, as it inevitably leads to corruption impacting such a large portion of the population, that incredible damage is done by the time it is dealt with. Push for decentralization of power over policy implementation to state and local authorities while facilitating them ($$$) and holding them accountable at the federal level in favor of complex federal programs. Ultimately, power is to be decentralized all the way to the individual whenever possible, by supporting free market checks against corruption and oppression. State and individual rights, properly presented, are still incredibly potent motivators for today’s young Americans, as they increase everyone’s representation in government, allowing the populace more influence over government policy. Adopt progressive policy goals including public education, infrastructure, environmental conservation, etc., but with a preference given for localized implementation under the control of local government and voters, with accountability to federal agencies for the funds they receive, but without implementation specifics being defined at the federal level. As corruption and ineptitude rears its head, it’s exponentially easier to deal with it at the local level than at the national level. If financial regulation was implemented more at the state level for example, with state government authority over the investments coming from each state, the financial institutions would never have been able to grow to the size they have, putting so many eggs in the same baskets, and we could have dealt with them with much more granularity by playing with local regulations and seeing what works.
In the case of smoking in pubs, that is an occupational safety issue, not a personal freedom issue. Your right to smoke in a public closed space (or rather the right of the owner of that space to allow you to do so) ends when it imposes on the health and well-being of the employees who work there. Just like you’ll get shut down by OSHA if you expose your workers to nasty paint fumes without proper respiratory protective equipment, you can’t expose them to any significant levels of cigarette smoke without taking the necessary steps to protect them, such as adequate ventilation or respirators. Failing the ability for these establishments to justify the costs of implementing such protective measures, they have no choice but to disallow smoking. They could retrofit their bars to have adequate ventilation, but the cost and drawbacks of turning your pub into a wind tunnel, or of having your bartenders wear respirators, are simply not worth it for most. Until cigarette smoking stops emitting such large quantities of toxic substances into the air, you’ve really got no excuse for exposing employees (who are not there by choice, but for a paycheck) to it.
42. John Imrie | 12.18.08
I think one area where the GOP needs to reclaim its roots is through environmental conservation. Yellowstone National Park was created during US Grant’s administration, Teddy Roosevelt started the modern conservation movement, which Taft later continued. Nixon founded the EPA. All these guys belonged to the GOP.
Bush treats environmentalism as if it is some sort of disease.
43. Dixon Cannon | 12.18.08
Libertarian fringe and Ron Paul in the same sentence!? How about honest Republican conservativism! If any group got the message this election year about how big government (both Democratic and Republican) is bankrupting us,
it was the young. They are the ones who will be stuck with the debt, the over-bearing bureaucracy, the taxes and the diminished quality of life. Ron Paul certainly hit a home run in that game, by enlightening and energizing the young voters who realize how bleak we have made their future.
Whether it is Dr. Paul himself, his son Rand or other similarly principled Conservatives, it seems it is they who will rally the younger citizens to any future victories for the ‘Grand NEW Party’! That’s why it’s called a REVOLUTION! -Dixon Cannon
44. Bob123 | 12.18.08
Why do we even need two parties? Why not just one or no parties and we choose the best ideas the membership has to offer. How much effort is spent on always having two separate agends and then having to fight to defend/attack the other? Who needs it? Great if you are a political hack who loves the good fight but it does little in managing the business of America. I say outlaw all parties and demand our Congress get to work.
45. JackH | 12.18.08
I have a problem with the Republican business deregulation ideals. Look where it has taken us. Deregulating finical institutions and big business makes as much sense as deregulating the nations highways. No laws on our highways and people will drive safely because they won’t want to get killed.
46. Sandra Crosnoe | 12.18.08
Republicans need to recognize that their grassroots core values are the values held by some being called fringe. By doing that we actually marginalize all of our efforts! We need everyone, even the rich elitist fringe element of the party who is trying to control from the top down. Do you see how that feels? Why continue to do it?
Let’s explore ways we can agree to disagree and create fair playing fields for the market of ideas and party leadership. We better put the coalition back together fast - we have work to do and we need EVERYONE!!!
Let me say that I’d rather way rather win, but I don’t mind loosing in a fair fight. What is really sad is when we mistreat our own base in an attempt to retain power! Keep that up and the GOP will die a pretty quick death.
We need everyone working together to defeat the socialist agenda coming at us from the right and the left today! Let’s get back to basics like the constitution and the rule of law and see if we can actually keep the ship of state afloat. Let’s try out the free market before we forget what that even looks like!
Blessings,
Sandie
scrosnoe on twitter (come fly with me)
http://www.scrosnoe.com is my personal blog
http://www.freeople.com/group/r3publicans is the home of Republicans Restoring the Republic (you are all welcome there!)
47. Marcos El Malo | 12.18.08
The crux of the matter is whether or not “Social Conservatism” is at all compatible with a philosophy of conservatism. The first principle behind small government, low taxes and free markets is empowerment of the individual, i.e., liberty. “Social Conservatism” is in direct contradiction to individual liberty; it seeks to give the state more power over the individual in the moral sphere. “Social Conservatism” is not conservative at all. It is regressive.
I’m a registered Republican, and I did not vote for John McCain, mostly on the basis of his VP pick. As both a Republican and an American who loves his country, I’d sleep better if I never heard her name again.
A conservative candidate need not be a hard core libertarian, but his or her principles must be deeply informed by the concept of liberty.
48. Eric Dondero | 12.18.08
Please note, Ron Paul does not represent the libertarian movement. He’s a leftwing populist, isolationist on foreign policy.
Libertarian Republican views are much better represented by Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, and Congressmen Jeff Flake and Tom McClintock.
Eric Dondero, Publisher
Libertarian Republican blog
49. atl5150 | 12.18.08
Decentralize - by far the most intelligent comment. What I like most about Obama is his insistence that we need to do what works for this country, not what best fits with his or his party’s ideology.
Rallying against “labels” i.e. socialism, big government, etc. may be necessary to gather a base, but the usefulness of labels ends there. What irks me most about political discourse is that more often than not, we focus on who is speaking rather than what is being said.
For the first time in a long time we have a president that has the self confidence to surround himself with people he disagrees with. A president willing to listen to new ideas much different than his own. Let’s stop all the name calling for a while, put our egos down, and fix this country
51. joy | 12.18.08
Thank you for this article. It certainly has people talking, and in some cases even thinking. Perhaps we need to forget about being Republican / Democrat = the names conjure so many resentful arguments against each other. I certainly agree the neither party should rewrite the Constitution to fit their moral views. In fact we all need to take a step back and THINK every time we here someone say “the government owes me” or “the government should provide this” - each time you ask your government to do something for you, Republican/Democrat doesn’t matter - you etch away those freedoms written in the Constitution. You’re asking someone else - some “party” to think for you. Its time for American’s to be thinkers, individuals, who are not apathetic, who are not whiners. In the words of JFK “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Believe it or not, those are the words of a Democrat.
52. Grognard | 12.18.08
The comments in #47 are an excellent example of the effects of a biased media on the intellectually lazy. Mr. Malos, you have it exactly backwards. Social conservatives want to get the government OFF our backs. This is supposed to be a nation ruled by laws, not fiat. The people, not the courts, should decide whether or not their kids may distribute Christmas cards to their friends. The people, not the courts, should decide whether or not infanticide is morally acceptible enough to be legal. Each individual doctor or nurse, not the courts, should decide whether or not they can morally support murder. The people, not the courts, should decide whether or not the classical definition of marriage is a concept worth defending.
It’s the Social Marxists who are using the government to intrude into our lives to enforce an unpopular agenda, not the conservatives. It is the conservatives, not the left, who want the government OUT of our homes, our schools, our hospitals, and our public squares. It is the conservatives, not the left, who want to restore the Constitutional separation of the legislative and judicial branches. It is the conservatives, not the left, who are fighting for tolerance and inclusion instead of derision and exile.
Stop looking at politics through the skewed pinhole of the liberal media. Learn about the issues and think for yourself. You’ll find conservative Republicanism (true liberalism in the classical sense) is not the monster you’ve been conned into fearing.
53. Brian | 12.18.08
All the bickering following this article that is in part about moving past partisanship points to the real problem. People like to fight, to be right and to lord it over their perceived antagonists. This disposition is guaranteed to make any obstacle that the Nation we all love has to face that much more difficult to overcome. When will constructive debate - the exchange of ideas - overtake America’s political discourse?
54. Bill | 12.18.08
I tend to agree with John Imrie, but Magnus makes an important point. If the GOP is going to implement environmental policy it needs to think it through. Compact fluorescents may save energy, but they contain toxic materials that contaminate the environment if disposed of improperly. Hybrid autos save gasoline but the batteries they use have huge environmental problems. Environmental policy cannot replace one scourge with another.
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1. joeblow | 12.17.08
“Republicans are now batting .1000 in the post-2008 era.”
.1 is a pretty ridiculous batting average.