California Conservative

It will take more than nicely-worded speeches and posts to rebuild the GOP and, more importantly, the conservative movement. Nonetheless, those things are important. This morning, I’ve read several posts, two on Redstate, another on The Next Right, that tell me that the grassroots are getting energized like they havent’ been in years. Let’s first examine Patrick Ruffini’s post on The Next Right. This is the part that jumped out most at me:

It’s true that a handful of bloggers, most of whom have worked in and around the conservative establishment, voiced concerns about Steele, while touting Blackwell. Blackwell had the support of most conservative “leaders” who endorsed, but finished last in the balloting, never cracking more than 20 votes.

I think this highlights a very real disconnect between the leaders of the conservative establishment in D.C. and the conservative movement in the heartland. Rank-and-file Republican activists had no real problems with Steele, with his membership in the RLC belied by his strong pro-life stance running in midnight blue Maryland.

You can also say this divide was on display in last year’s Presidential primary, when the conservative establishment failed to derail John McCain. In that case, I thought “the groups” were right but proved themselves ineffective by failing to attack McCain or coalescing around a single candidate when it could have made the difference.

One way of looking at Steele’s victory is that it was a victory of the grassroots over the gatekeepers. Both the gatekeepers in the old guard of the RNC who supported Duncan and eventually Dawson. And also the gatekeepers in the conservative movement who supported Blackwell. Part of our role here at The Next Right, I think, is to look with skepticism at all who would fashion themselves as gatekeepers for the grassroots, in any wing of the party.

Hallelujah, the gatekeepers have been put in their place. It isn’t that I’m interested in booting them from the party. It’s that I think they must realize that politics are governed by a new paradigm. The message changes to fit the situation more than ever. That doesn’t mean, however, that our principles change. Let me explain.

The message involves the issues that happen to be the most important to mainstream America. Our principles, however, remain steadfast. Effective, limited government isn’t obsolete. In fact, I’d argue that that’s needed now more than ever. I’d also argue that people are looking at the stimulus bill and realizing that pork-barrel spending can’t be justified.

Likewise, people haven’t grown tired of prosperity or personal liberty. One of the things that President Bush got right in foreign policy was that he knew that people everywhere loved freedom. Unfortunately, he didn’t grasp that when putting domestic policies together. Had he done so, history would treat him better.

By definition, gatekeepers are status quo because they don’t move. Grassroots activists, by definition, are energetic, movement-oriented people. We need to focus on the grassroots because Democrats are outworking us for votes. We need energetic, clear-thinking people to start rebuilding the party. Without the energy, all the great policies in the world won’t help us. Everytime we’ve combined great policies with a re-invigorated base, we’ve won convincing victories.

Next, let’s look at Ken Blackwell’s post. I found this part of his post positively inspiring:

This election was a battle to see who can best unite these members, or at least 85 of them, to capture a majority of the votes in the short term. But in the long term, we need a plan that will rebuild the party by articulating conservative principles, inspiring our base, decentralizing authority, and building the technical infrastructure that will unite the millions of Republican voters behind a common goal of a conservative resurgence across the country.

Republican voters have spoken, at the ballot box, with their donations, through grassroots activities, and in online communication. We’ve all heard and echoed their message: let’s get back to basics. Now we have someone on the national stage who can do something about it, including returning party operations to the state and local leadership, dominating technology in order to position us to win, and preparing for our toughest redistricting battle yet. Michael Steele has assured members of the conservative community that we will not only have a voice, but a place at the table as decisions directing the RNC are made. And I don’t know about all of you, but I’m ready to be put back to work.

Ken Blackwell is exctly right in saying that “articulating conservative principles, inspiring our base, decentralizing authority, and building the technical infrastructure that will unite the millions of Republican voters behind a common goal…” is the key to rebuilding the party. He’s especially right about the part about decentralizing authority and articulating conservative principles. Without those steps, there won’t be an energized grassroots infrastructure.

We’ve been run by top-down control freaks for far too long. It’s what’s killed the conservative movement’s esprit de corps. When we’ve shared a common vision, there’s been no consideration of taking our ball and going home. That’s because we didn’t want to let our cohorts down.

It’s also invigorating to hear Mr. Blackwell say that he’s “ready to be put back to work.” Last Friday, I sent Chairman Steele a private message via Facebook, in which I said that I’m perfectly happy to be sent out onto the battlefield of ideas. I said that the only requirement I’d make was that he gave me enough intellectual ammunition to exploit the battlefield and win wars.

Finally, let’s pay attention to Rep. Tom Price’s post:

The Republican Party is at its best when its leadership has a bold vision and is rooted to conservative principles: personal responsibility, liberty, limited government, traditional values, providing for the common defense, and optimism about the future. But Republicans seem to have lost the ability to intelligently or ideologically define these principles and convey them to the American people.

Moreover, elected conservative leaders need to act immediately in order to facilitate the rebuilding of the Republican Party and reconnect it to the conservative movement.

Back to basics: The first step starts with a little bit of self-reflection and “re-learning” the core principles of conservatism. Only through understanding the past can our core principles be applied and developed into meaningful solutions to tackle the challenges facing America.

Party of Solutions: A new Republican platform of ideas and language must be created and championed, built on a foundation of conservative solutions. It will also need to be built from the ground up from fresh and innovative ideas.

Rebuild the party’s infrastructure and coalitions: There must be a specific focus on nurturing the grassroots, shoring up ties with existing coalitions and leading thinkers, and creating new infrastructure to meet the challenges of politicking in a new century.

Hold Democrats accountable: This begins with a proactive and coordinated strategy between elected conservative leaders and outside allies. Americans need to be reminded on a daily basis that Democrats want to play politics and centralize power, raise taxes, cut defense spending, and undermine traditional values.

Go on offense, engage and educate: Yes, Virginia, someone in Washington is fighting for you. And when Republicans stay on offense and engage, then it garners attention and provides opportunities to educate every American on conservative solutions that work.

Look no further than the Energy Revolt on the floor of the House of Representatives this past August which gave Republicans a needed voice and identity.

Remain unified and disciplined: Hostile Democrat majorities and liberal special interests are more energized than they have been in decades. Without unity and discipline, the differences between the two parties become blurred, and conservatives have every right to question allegiance to Republicans.

Reclaim the American lexicon: Democrats have been successful in altering the mindset of what made this nation great through language and institutions. Once, Americans valued “responsibility,” “self-determination,” and “hard work.” Now, these ideals have been replaced by fuzzy appeals to “diversity,” “fairness,” and “social justice.” No longer can Republicans cede the language or institutions.
Broaden the appeal: Republicans win elections when they run on an across-the-board conservative solutions-based agenda.

However, the appeal must be broadened to acknowledge and embrace the
demographics in our country. Failure to do so will relegate the party to permanent minority status.

The things that Rep. Price outlined in his post should become the framework that conservatives build around. It’s imperative that conservative elected officials stand fast for conservative principles. By doing that, these officials will send the signal that they’re willing to fight for conservative principles.

Earlier today, I read that quite a few Republican senators were afraid to challenge President Obama on a number of issues because he’s very popular right now. That’s wrong-headed thinking. House Republicans worried about doing the right thing about the stimulus bill. Because they stood fast, they put the Obama-Pelosi axis of instability on the defensive.

Popularity or unpopularity don’t matter nearly as much as being right. When Democrats regained the majority, the anti-war activists demanded that Congress shut off funding the Iraq war. Democrats tried a slow bleed strategy. They tried redeploying to Okinawa. In the end, though, President Bush told Democrats that he’d trust Gen. Petraeus.

Anti-war activists that this would be a slam dunk. They had majorities in the House and Senate. They had lots of political capital. The media wrote that Pelosi’s Democrats walked on water and that President Bush’s low approval rights made this fight a done deal.

Because President Bush fought Congress to win the war, he was able to leave office with the war having been won. The moral of the story: It’s more important to be right than it is to be popular.

The articulation of conservative principles matter. Steadfastness to conservative principles matters more. Picking the smartest fights on the most important issues is the most important thing.

Going on offense against Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi isn’t difficult. I’ve said repeatedly that that duo is the most incompetent pair of leaders the House and Senate have had.

For that matter, it isn’t that difficult to do battle with Obama propagandist Robert Gibbs. Here’s Gibbs’ gem from today’s briefing:

Despite the tax problems faced by high-level nominees, and the exceptions made to the no-lobbyists pledge, President Barack Obama’s spokesman is defending the administration’s ethical standards. Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, “The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set.”

During a briefing filled with questions about Tom Daschle’s decision to withdraw from consideration to be Health and Human Services secretary, Gibbs pointed to experts who describe the administration’s ethics rules as the strongest in history.

The bar might’ve been set high but the bar has been ignored time after time after time. Who cares where the bar is set if the administration that made the rules ignores their own rules?

That’s why we keep fighting. That’s why doing the right thing is important. If we follow our principles, we’ll win these fights and, eventually, we’ll win these wars.

Technorati Tags: Reform, Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell, Tom Price, Conservatism, House Oil Party, Strategists, Activists, RNC, President Obama, Robert Gibbs, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Democrats

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Activism, Author: Gary Gross, Conservatism, Liberals, Obama, Pelosi, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.