The Republican Civil War: Bold Colors Vs. Pale Pastels

Cartoon-Cruz-Vs-Establishment-600Three years after the now-legendary Grassroots Movement known as “The Tea Party”, the Republican Party is in a state of disarray and discontent, to put it mildly. The Republican Establishment, or Vichy Republicans, as I have dubbed them, are desperately clinging to the Washingtonian Status Quo: reaching across the aisle, and going along to get along, known non-politically as “caving in”, while pushing potential Presidential Candidates for 2016 whose platforms are so similar to those of their potential Democrat Opponents are to be virtually indistinguishable.

Oblivious of their past failures (i.e., Dole, McCain, and Romney), while pursuing their milksop Political Philosophy, the Vichy Republicans, or GOPe, as an internet friend has named them, cling to their mission to hold onto their cushy Seats of Power, by playing an old, tired political game.

Make no mistake, they will defend the Washingtonian Status Quo to their last breath, and savage anyone who threatens it, with the help of their allies from “across the aisle”, the Democrats and their minions in the Main Stream media. Look at how they have attacked Former Alaskan Governor and Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin., and now the Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

They have called them both everything but Children of God.

However, they are not the first Conservative Republican Politicians to be attacked in this manner, in this generation.  That honor belonged to the greatest United States President in our lifetime.

On March 1, 1975, the Great Communicator and Future President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan, spoke the following words at the 2nd Annual CPAC Convention. He may as well have been speaking yesterday.

I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” — when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?

Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.

Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.

Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.

And let it provide indexing — adjusting the brackets to the cost of living — so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.

Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.

Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.

And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.”

We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.

A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.

I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.

Timeless Advice.

Here’s some from ol’ KJ, if I may be so bold: you members of the Republican Establishment need to climb down off of your bar stools at the Congressional Country Club, and travel outside the Echo Chamber of the Beltway, where actual, average Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, trying to provide for their families, while attempting to make a better life for their children and grandchildren.

Come on down to Mississippi and sit a spell and have some barbecue, sweet tea, and ‘nana puddin’ with us average Americans, instead of hanging out with Obama at the White House and partaking of Arugula and Wagyu Beef.

You want to know why Folks like Sarah Palin, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz are so popular with average, real-life Americans (as opposed to statistics in an anonymous poll)?

Check out the pictures from a week ago Saturday of the Veterans March on Washington. They were there, GOPe. Why weren’t you?

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Aftermath: Reagan Conservatives Catching It…From Both Sides

Remember the theme from the original Poseidon Adventure, There’s Got to Be a Morning After, sung by Maureen McGovern? If you’re as old as me, you do.

The morning after, or, the aftermath of Barack Hussein Obama’s (mm mmm mmmm) re-election victory, found on the Internet, was a strange mixture of accusations, jubilation, and condemnation.

The condemnation was directed at American Values Voters, otherwise known as Reagan Conservatives. What boggled my mind, and I guess that it should not have, was the fact that the insults were coming from Democrats, and self-proclaimed Republicans.

Those “Republicans” call themselves “Fiscal Conservatives”. They claim to believe in 2 out of the 3 tenets (stool legs) of the three-legged stool of Reagan Conservatism: Fiscal Conservatism and Strong National Defense. They believe that embracing Social Conservatism is passe and will not win a national election.

You should have read the litany of condemnation I read, directed toward Social Conservatives yesterday, on Conservative websites. The insults went something like this:

SoCons need to just shut up and go away.  You guys are a bunch of busybodies. You’re a bunch of senile, old dinosaurs. You add nothing to the Party, and your antique belief system should never be a part of the Republican Party Platform.

No one cares about abortion, gay marriage, or Benghazi!

We can win elections without you!

Uh huh. Tell you what, Cletus. Check out the map in the upper left corner. All that Red area is where Conservatives, including Reagan Conservatives, voted. The Blue Areas belong to the Liberal Democrats.

Passe? Not hardly.

I’d like to ask three things. then, Sparky, being the curious old codger that I am:

1. Without embracing the same Judeo-Christian Values System that our Founders believed in, how can you be sure that you are making the correct fixcal decisions for our country and its people? By relying on your own limited knowledge?  “A fool and his money are soon parted” – Dr. John Bridges

2.When you guys say that Republicans need to “have a ‘Big Tent’, embrace diversity, and show that we are just as tolerant as the Democrats, in order to win over voters”, that tolerance somehow doesn’t seem to extend to Reagan Conservatives and/or Evangelicals. Isn’t that called “Hypocrisy”?

3. By not embracing a Judeo-Christian Values System, what makes you any different than the Liberal Democrats? Knowing how to save money? Heck, the Liberals know how to save money. They just don’t want to.

4. Wasn’t the Republican Presidential Candidate this year a Fiscal Conservative…and a Liberal on Social Issues? By all accounts, he’s a true gentleman. However, he received less votes than RINO John McCain did….against a worse president than Jimmy Carter was.

You can’t sit on a two-legged stool.

Reagan Conservatism is still very relevant.

Let’s look at quotes released, after the election, from two of my favorite Reagan Conservatives, who just happen to be Christians…and female.

First, here’s Michelle Malkin:

Once again, we have our work cut out for us. We lost this election, but we still live in the greatest country on the planet and we still have many ways to fight for and defend it.

My counsel to you tonight: Please, do not be bitter. Do not fall prey to the Beltway blame game. Do not get mired in small things. Do not become vengeful creatures like our political opponents who voted out of spite instead of love of country.

We still have boundless blessings to count — and to secure.

I remain a proud, unrepentant believer in the American Dream. And I know you do, too. Freedom will endure because we will keep fighting for it. We can’t afford not to, friends.

Earlier this evening, when many conservatives on Twitter started despairing, I quoted from Psalm 46:10. Elections come and go. Faith endures:

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

Chins up. Stand tall. We’ll fight again tomorrow.

Next, Sarah Palin wrote on her Facebook Page:

America, don’t lose heart. This election is not an “Obama mandate,” nor is it a rejection of conservatism. Unanswered ads like this one running in blue collar swing states defined Romney early on, and the Obama media also piled on with the narrative that Romney would harm the middle class. (As I personally have witnessed, once a bell is rung by a biased media, it’s impossible to un-ring it.) Ironically, it’s Obama’s socialist policies that will destroy America’s working class as he outsources opportunities.

Hang in there, America. Fight for what is right. Don’t look to government or any politician to solve your problems. Government can’t make you happy, healthy, wealthy or wise. Obama is a master at reading the right “soaring” words fed into his teleprompter, but actions speak louder than words. So, hold tight to 2 Corinthians 4:8 because we’re in for a wild ride.

We must survive. United. One nation under God.

“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed.” – 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

As I wrote in yesterday’s Blog:

Conservatives are still the largest political ideology in this country. Don’t believe the garbage that you will be hearing from the Beltway Pundits in the upcoming days. They don’t know you. They are as far-removed from our daily lives as Michelle Obama is from a Thigh Master.

Allow me to leave you with a Bible quote, like those two wonderful Conservative Women did:

Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.

– 1 Thessalonians 3:7

Keep the Faith, Americans.

Until He comes,

KJ