Republican's On The Move : Rebuilding The Conservative Base #2

Another part of the article from National Review Online, some the observations here I don't agree with but then that is part of the debate now, on the 'why and who' and what to do about fixing the problem in the conservative base.

Actually it isn't the base that's the problem here, it's the leadership of the party in the White House and congress. That is, too many Republicans have lost the basic principles that the conservative party was founded on.

Too many Republicans believe jumping on the train of power is more important than country and self esteem. I wonder a lot what exactly is it that can make a person sell their self respect and moral integrity for temporary gain.

Keep the faith - here comes Sara!

How We Got Here
Well that wasn't good news for the Right, last night! National Review Online asked some regulars to address: “What happened to the Republican party Tuesday? Who’s to blame?”

Alvin S. Felzenberg

In this election, given that so much was running in the Democrats' favor, the Republican party nominated the only candidate with a ghost of a chance of winning. Still, the GOP came up short.

Historically, that's no surprise, as only one time has a party won the presidency three times in a row since World War II (the Republicans with Bush I).
So, the three strands of conservatism in the house Reagan built would do well not to blame each other for taking the GOP down. They would do better to ask themselves whether, in their quests to enact their agendas, they relied too much on raw exertions of power and too little on the power of persuasion.

For it is in defending ideas that unforeseen weaknesses are revealed and public support built.

From the Bush II's swearing-in to the McCain campaign, there were at work elements of a "corrupt bargain" in which each part of the conservative coalition held its fire at the excesses of the others in the hope of attaining much of its own objectives.

An ill-conceived and poorly planned war went on unabated; institutional and constitutional checks and balances were ignored; deficits mounted; spending proceeded at an unprecedented pace; and, for the first time since Herbert Hoover, the nation stands on the verge of financial meltdown. Would that more conservatives had criticized the departing administration before Bush "43's" ratings fell to 27 percent. They did neither him, nor their cause, any favors by keeping silent.

It is said that in every victory lay the seeds of future defeats and in every defeat, the seeds of future victories. There is, after all, something liberating about being free of ultimate responsibility for the executive and legislative branches for the first time in 15 years. That is one year less than it took to complete the long march from Goldwater's defeat to Reagan's victory. One question hanging over Republicans will be whether they do it again without a second Nixon interregnum.

— Alvin S. Felzenberg is author of The Leaders We Deserved and a Few We Didn't: Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game.