You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party
Candace Straight and Susan Bevan, the Co-Chairs of Republican Majority for Choice wrote a strong op-ed at the Huffington Post calling for the GOP to be more tolerant of moderates. In it, they call on party leaders to take a look at who won in elections last November:
The Republican leadership must look to see who in their Party is winning — both elections and new voters. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine both won their last elections with 61% and 72% of the voter respectively. Representatives Lynn Jenkins of Kansas and Leonard Lance of New Jersey are two freshman members of Congress — people who won in one of the most dismal election cycles for the GOP. Though they may not agree with every moderate voter, or even each other on every issue, these leaders govern with the big-tent, limited-government ideals in mind. And they win.
Straight and Bevan also think that the new group led by Eric Cantor, National Council for a New America is not going to bring the needed change the Republicans need:
Earlier this month, the GOP leadership announced the National Council for a New America — a softer, gentler GOP that wants to hear new ideas and bring in coalitions of voters. However, the group’s leading spokespeople are all white, socially conservative men. These are not the faces of “new ideas” that will help draw in a more diverse voting base.
A day earlier, Jim DePeso, the policy director for Republicans for Environmental Protection wrote in the environmental site, the Daily Green, that the GOP must either consider welcoming all who want to be part of the GOP or wither and die:
Remember the Whigs? No? The what-me-worry Republicans who value division over inclusion ought to read up on what happened to America’s previous conservative party. Don’t think that what happened to the Whigs couldn’t happen again.
You might also want to read a post by Patrick Ruffini of the Next Right where he sees a place for moderates in the GOP.
Both op-eds are saying what many have said for quite a while: that the GOP needs to be more inclusive of folks like myself, who are socially liberal, but tend to be conservative on fiscal and national security issues.
But that said, moderates also need to be more willing to demand their place in the Big Tent and not wait for an invite.
Last March, I went to my local GOP caucus (here in Minnesota we use the caucus instead of the primary for the Presidential candidates). What was interesting was the amount of Ron Paul supporters who were there. In many places throughout the state, those Ron Paul people came out in force. I remember seeing a young guy and his wife looking over the state GOP platform and were surprised at what they saw. They immediately started writing changes to the platform. Many have started to show up on local committees of the GOP. Now, there is a lot that I don’t agree with when it comes to Mr. Paul and his supporters, but I have to hand it to them, they understood what politics was all about. They had their agenda and they stuck to it. This is of course, how the far right took over the party years ago.
What would happen if moderate conservatives started showing up in force at county conventions, getting elected to local GOP committees and the platform committee? It would show that this party was truly their party and they were going to fight for it.
Scott Payne, over at League of Ordinary Gentlemen, wondered aloud in a post recently, why moderate conservatives tend to pick flight over fight. It’s a good question and I have no answer. But I can say, that we can’t afford to wait until the GOP leadership gets a clue and stops getting advice from Rush Limbuagh.
I would like to see more disgruntled Republicans get off the sidelines and get into the battle. It’s time for moderates to claim their place in the party and fight for your right to party.
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6 Responses to “You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party”
“I would like to see more disgruntled Republicans get off the sidelines and get into the battle. It’s time for moderates to claim their place in the party and fight for your right to party.”
I agree with you completely. But so far, all that is going on is a bunch of writing. Meanwhile, the 'far right' went out and had all those tea parties. Many can mock them, but the fact is that so far the far right is the active part of the party. If the moderates want to take back the party, then they need to get away from the papers and computers and get out their and do something. You have a lot of catching up to do.
Dennis,
Being an atheist, pro-abortion conservative myself, I am sensitive to any nuance from the GOP that my views on the social issues would preclude the party from welcoming me.
In listening to talk radio, reading numerous blogs and keeping in touch with a few current republican politicians, I’ve never heard anyone even hint that my positions would limit or negate my standing in the GOP. Yes, a portion of our party is composed of religious right voters who feel strongly about abortion and gay marriage, but they are just another voice in the crowd.
The purge that is ongoing today concerns core principles of small government, low taxes, personal responsibility, strong defense and capitalism. Talk of conservatives being intolerant on the basis of abortion choice is a fairy tale promoted by the left wing. It helps make the right fit their stereotype image.
As a “Ron Paul Republican”, I can honestly say that we are not so much worried about the health or life of the party as much as we are worried about our nation and its Constitution. It should matter not who is in office as long as the law of the land is followed and upheld. Moderates just muddy the water with too much compromise and were left with what we have now.
Is there really such a thing as “too much compromise”? Isn't compromise what politics is all about?
Jwest…I believe your pro-choice view would be reason enough for the Focus on the Family crowd to view you as a RINO. Dobson wouldn't support McCain until he brought in Palin. That is millions of Republicans that are intolerant of your abortion choice….and that is not a fairy tale.
Shannon,
I think you might be thinking that Dobson has a lot more power than he actually has. When someone in the democrat party says he is against abortion, does the party close ranks and throw them out?
When you want to know what conservatives think, ask a conservative. There are too many liberals who would like to tell you what conservatives are thinking or how they will act, but as with all things concerning liberals, they are wrong.
You know, when you look at the Republican party it is not clear to me that the social conservatives (far right) really did take over the last 30 years. They took over in terms of controlling the local political machinery but it was style over substance. If you look you see Republicans never actually pushing for the big ticket issues those conservatives really wanted (e.g., anti-abortion legislation). Instead the party used them and then did its own thing like growing the size of government and the welfare/warfare state.
It sounds like you are a lover of smaller government and greater liberty. That is the core of Dr. Paul's message – perhaps you should reconsider you dislike of the man and consider joining the Campaign for Liberty?