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A purge of the Party

Submitted by IrishRep on Sun, 10/12/2008 - 23:00
in

 I think that there a purge that is occurring within the Republican Party.  I want to go over how I have seen this occur.  Voters gave us our shot at governing the country beginning in 1994.  

And, for a time we had it right.  When we fought for what we believed in and that was smaller government (it is why I am a Republican).  We were a party that fought to instill a sense of ownership in our communities.  Our party fought for the right to let people to decide what was best for themselves and not have government make those decisions (lower taxes more fiscal responsibility).  There was a sense that the government needed to be reigned in and brought under control.

Then came 2000 and President Bush was elected.  The party gained control of the House, the Senate and the White with the elections of 2002 and we became engulfed with power.  We were like looters.  We broke open the piggy bank and didn’t look back. 

The Republican Party made government bigger.  We spent and spent and spent and ran the national debt through the roof.  With the power came corruption and the good old boys felt like they could do whatever they wanted.  Then came 2006.  This was the first bloodletting of the party and it began with the likes of Tom Delay who were sent packing.  Along with him were members from the class of 1994 who had broke the Contract with America.  Now we are seeing the final phase of this bloodletting or purge of the party.  I think it is a good thing.

I believe that it is a good thing because the party lost its way.  If we want to have this party get back to what it once was and to give its policy’s credibility again those who have led us astray all need to go.  Those that are entrenched into the upper echelon of the party need to be booted.  There needs to be fresh minds and fresh leadership brought in.  They should all have one common theme.  The belief that the fundamentals of the Republican Party such as less government and fiscal responsibility are still valued by the American people they just don’t see us practicing or representing those values anymore.

There needs to an influx of new people into the party.  This should be the main focus of whoever becomes the head of the RNC after this election.  There needs to be a new direction for the party and the Chairman is the person that can do this.  Candidate recruitment should be a top priority.  We should actively seek out and recruit people to run for congress.  The party needs to be rebuilt and it will come on the heels of a government  that is going to enact policies that this country has never seen before (Obama Presidency assumed).  The party can have relevance.  We just need to give the American people a reason to trust us again.  That comes by redefining who we are by reorganizing the leadership of the party. 

- A fight for reform within the Republican Party.

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Comments

I think you are right.

Submitted by davidfarrar on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 07:32.

The issue before us, and, indeed, the point of this website, is to articulate just how we, as a political organization, can go about acquiring..."an influx of new people into the party."  

As we have seen from recent McCain/Palin rallies, the ground swell for conservative change is out there. It is the same ground swell that propelled Reagen to national prominence and so forcefully supported the Contract for America.

The issue, as I see it, is money. It takes money to run a major political organization, money and people, and even more money and even more people to successfully put our party members into public office.  At present we have a relatively small number of political activists supporting the party through its county, state and national offices. This structure is largely paid for and directed by the corporate interests. It is these same interests who largely pay for and direct our political officeholders, as well, once they obtain office.
As I see it, there is only one way to significantly free the party from its present structure and that is to significantly expand the number of registered party members directly into the party structure by the use of the Internet.  It would be impossible for me to go into detail here over just how this can be accomplished other than to say, it can be done and that if it is done correctly, significant changes will occur within the party structure. If we can bring any registered party member who wants to participate directly into the "Executive Committee" structure using the Internet, we can revamp the party into a true Peoples' party and our political representatives into true Peoples' representatives. History has given us to tool to allow this to happen (for the first time), all we have to do is be bold enough to use it.

ex animo

davidfarrar

 

Ron Paul is Your Model Republican & Can Lead the Way...

Submitted by rabidsquirrel on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 11:34.

If the party got back to its old school conservative roots (Small gov, constitutionalism, non-interventionist), I'd probably be a member of the party. Right now, it seems that one needs to be some sort of rabid evengelical 'damn the consequences' crusadist to qualify as a republican. To me, this is the antithesis of what the party should be.

The GOP needs to take a long hard look at Ron Paul and dissect why he had the kind of support demographic he had. I don't agree with him on everything, but a heck of a lot of people, regardless of party, agreed with much of what he was saying. This is the direction the GOP needs to persue. They need to distance themselves from religious leaders and PACs as well (I would prefer an extreme distance, as I sort of bought into that whole 'seperation of church and state' concept in Jr. High)...