The Republican Party Needs a Facelift

I am more of a conservative than a Republican. At least in my lifetime until about now, it was obvious that the Republican Party was more conservative than the Democrats. Therefore, I usually end up voting for the Republican over the Democrat.

I have been conservative/Republican leaning since 1976; I was in kingergarten at the time. In our Weekly Readers, we had to vote for Carter or Ford. I voted Ford, since to me Carter was “yuck”. In 1980, I knew a little bit more and was all for Reagan. It was not hard to be for Reagan since Carter gave us four years of misery. I was thrilled that my grandmother and uncle (my parents sucked and did not vote) were going to vote for him and I went with them. I will always have a fondness for the eight years of Reagan and his memory. After the wilderness of Bush 41 and Clinton's first two years, I was thrilled when the Republicans took over Congress in 1994. Why was I thrilled with Newt Gingrich (and Mark Sanford, my congressman first elected in "94 and now South Carolina governor)? This is so because they ran on limited, reduced government. They did all right for the first six years, the years that Clinton was president. We had welfare reform in 1996; we had a significant tax cut in 1997. The budget was actually balanced.

2000 brought us a Republican President and Republican Congress. We were ready for even better times. Bush was re-elected in 2004 and the Senate went from 50-50 to 55-45. However, I and many conservatives have been disappointed. We got bloated government spending and we got pork barrel spending aka earmarks. Many Republicans were caught up in corruption scandals. As a result, (along with an unpopular war in Iraq) the Democrats took back both houses of Congress in 2006. While the McCain-Obama battle is a toss-up right now, Democrats are poised to make big gains in the House and the Senate. Democrats are poised in the Senate to move toward a “filibuster proof” 60 seat majority in the Senate which will give Barack Obama free rein to do whatever he wants if he beats McCain.

Is this situation hopeless? It will be unless Republicans act like Republicans and return to their conservative roots. If they fail to do so, they should prepare for being the minority party for the next 20 years, or even worse, disappear like the Whigs did in the 1850"s. Much like the Republicans in 1994, led by Newt Gingrich, had the Contract for America, Republicans must run on a positive, conservative agenda. Just running against Barack Obama lost them three special elections for the House in districts that have been Republican for decades. They must have a positive message on core conservative issues that are mostly supported by most of the country. This is still a center-right country. If the Republicans run like that, they can take back power and will stay in power if they implement what they run on. If they run like Democrats light, they will be the permanent minority party. Here are some simple ideas:

1. Continue to prosecute the war on terror aggressively- We have the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have conflicts brewing with Iran and their underlings in Palestine and Lebanon. We still have Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden who want to kill us. We must due what is necessary to stabilize these two countries. We must have good intelligence on the countries and the people in the world that want to harm us so the next 9-11 can be stopped. We must be willing to do what is necessary to win, even if it means being willing to and RARELY waterboarding a mastermind of past attacks (when necessary) to prevent future attacks.
2. Become energy independent- We have to become serious about this. Every time we fill our gas tank, we fund both sides on the war on terror. If we continue to depend on OPEC to increase production, we put ourselves at their mercy. Becoming energy independent starts with oil. Becoming energy independent means finding and using energy everywhere we can. We must drill for oil where we have it, in Alaska, off of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, in the oil shale, and in Kansas. We need to have more of our own oil. Oil is the lubricant of our economy for now and will be for quite some time. Of course, more supply means a lower price. When we have our own oil, we can control the price better than we do now. We need to have more oil refineries to prevent slow-downs in supply. We are still going to rely on oil for a long time; it might as well be ours.

We also need to have more nuclear energy capability. Nuclear energy is clean-burning which should make the environmentalists happy, but somehow does not. We must safeguard our plants from terrorist attack and accidents. The marginal costs are exceeded by the marginal benefits.

We must also research for new technologies of course. Keep working on clean running coal and green technologies and anything else. But we should not subsidize things, like ethanol, that cost more than they are worth with our tax dollars. The next great energy discovery may be decades away. We need to continue to use the energy sources we have now and use them to the fullest extent in our borders and off our coasts to fuel our economy. To not do this is an act of treason, giving aid and comfort to our enemies. Becoming energy independent is just common sense in addition to being conservative.

3. Seal the borders - Mexico, Canada and the oceans. Tie this in with a common sense immigration policy and guest worker program. This is not anti-Hispanic, it is common sense. Levy heavy fines on cheating employers who do not check identification or citizenship status. Repeal the part of the 14th amendment that gives automatic citizenship to “anchor babies”. A nation is defined geographically by borders. No other nation (who survived long) did not protect its borders. This is as much of a national security issue as it is anything else. Again, this one is common sense and conservative.
4. Protection of life from conception until natural death - If you don't have life, you have nothing else. No laws that favor assisted suicide. The Republican Congress did good passing the law that ended infanticide, I mean partial birth abortions (how sick does that sound?) in 2003 and this was upheld by the Supreme Court, see No. 5. We must protect our most vulnerable which is usually the very young and the very old.
5. Appointment and confirmation of originalist judges - Appoint judges to the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeal, and the trial courts that do what they are supposed to do. This is to interpret laws, not create them. The Liberals and their “wacky” schemes usually do not get approved by the legislature; they get rammed through by activist judges. One thing, actually two things in my mind, that saved George Bush's second term from being a complete disaster, are John Roberts and Samuel Alito, his two Supreme Court picks. Bush and the Republican Senate fought for them and got them confirmed and tilted the Court slightly to the originalist side (depends on how wobbly Anthony Kennedy is that day). The only realistic way to deal with abortion right now is to have the Supreme Court reverse Roe v. Wade and that will require the “turnover” of at least one justice. Conservatives do not see abortion as a social issue; they see it is a life issue. The Constitution protects the right of LIFE, liberty and happiness. Pick judges that think that way and the Constitution shall be preserved. This issue unites the social conservatives and the economic conservatives.
6. Tax cuts- tax reform- Any Republican who is not for tax cuts and keeping taxes low is a RINO, Republican in Name Only. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 kept the 2000-1 recession short and shallow. It kept us from a bigger recession after 911. The Bush tax cuts which include income and capital gains income and the estate tax especially are all due to expire in 2010. They need to be renewed. Let us not play the class warfare game when it comes to taxes. The rich pay their fair share and then some. They pay even more tax dollars when the tax rate is low. Keeping the capital gains tax rate low is good for a lot more people than Warren Buffett; it encourages people to invest and keeps the economy going.

Better yet, let's get rid of all the taxes and replace them with a consumption tax, the Fair Tax. Fairtax.org

I cannot do it justice here, I encourage you to read about it. The FairTax would eliminate all federal taxes and replace it with a one time consumption tax on the purchase of first time consumer goods. The benefits of the Fair Tax are too many to mention here. I encourage you to read up on it.

7. Ban earmarks - This is the pork barrel spending, the “bacon” for pet projects that Congress brings home to brag to their districts. The Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska comes to mind. Add in all the Robert Byrd projects in West Virginia. Mark Sanford went to Washington with the Republican revolution in 1994 and refused to bring any bacon home. If only we had 535 Mark Sanfords, we would not have earmarks. I can only dream. John McCain has made this a part of his platform to run on for President; that is to veto any spending bill with earmarks.

See Republicans, it is easy. Run on these things, add a few others and you will get this right-center country to put you back in power. If you fail to do so, I and many others will be checking out the Libertarian Party or someone else and you can join the Whigs in the graveyard of political parties.