Rebuilding the Republican Party
Michael Reagan makes a good point about rebuilding the Republican Party that’s worth mentioning:
“This party needs to be built from the bottom up — not from the top down,” Michael Reagan said. “We’ve been king builders for so long and we’ve lost everything because of it.”
That’s one reason why I’m not worried about seeing Arlen Specter switch parties. In fact I’d be happy to see the other RINOs leave too. The Party needs a bit of purification and a return to its roots – especially its grassroots. The future of the party is not currently in Washington DC. Right now it’s not even in the state capitals around the country. Democrats dominate all levels of politics from dog catcher to president.
But as a conservative with strong libertarian instincts I was pleased by the turnout of the Tea Parties. That means the values of small government, strong defense and freedom with responsibility aren’t dead; they have just been forgotten by the party establishment.
It wasn’t too long ago that the Democrats were where Republicans find themselves today – and look what happened: the ideologues took over the party, re-energized it and remade it into the dominant party in the short span of 6 years. The Democratic Party wasn’t reinvented by moderate Democrats or Blue-Dogs – although they came along for the ride and benefited from the cash and energy; it was reinvented by Howard Dean and his anti-war, limousine liberal and socialist supporters. Obama’ s election was the result.
The Republican Party will not be reinvented by the moderates making it Democrat-lite. It will be reborn by the hardcore conservatives and borderline libertarians you see agitating at the Tea Parties and online today. If it doesn’t, it will die and be replaced by the Modern Whig Party or a splinter of the Democratic Party.
The seeds of the party’s rebirth are planted and already growing, and the extinction of RINOs will soon be upon us.
Vincent:
I certainly hope the RINOs jump onboard with the Iraq/Afghanistan vets who founded the Modern Whig Party. Always a longshot, but if there ever was a potentially viable political party to ride a more consistant wave from the tea parties, it likely could be the Modern Whigs.
BTW, I think you are spot on in your post.
30 April 2009, 2:11 pm