“These extremists feed on fear, hate and terror. They have no program for America – no program for the Republican party. They have no solution for our problems of chronic unemployment, of education, of agriculture, or racial injustice or strife… On the contrary – they spread distrust. They engender suspicion. They encourage disunity…There is no place in this Republican party for such hawkers of hate, such purveyors of prejudice, such fabricators of fear…These people have nothing...

There has been an interesting exchange between Freddie deBoer and Mark Thompson over at League of Ordinary Gentlemen on how conservatives approach health care reform. It’s been fascinating because I think it explains why the conservative arguments against major change doesn’t ring very true to the larger public. I don’t always agree with Freddie, but this has been on of the few times that he is very spot on. He notes: …many conservative blogs, from all the various strata...

I wanted to let people know that I may not be posting as much because I’ve taken on the task of getting the blog the Progressive Republican off the ground. Travis Johnson started the blog and he is busy with another project to help unite Progressive Republicans, so he asked me to oversee the day-to-day operations of the blog. Don’t worry, I will still blog here and probably cross-post to the Progressive Republican. I hope people will give this new blog some love, since it is a venture...

Below is the final installment of a series of articles by Republican college student Martin Rybicki called, The Real Republicans: The Case for Moderates, Liberals, and Pragmatic Conservatives in Our Party. You can read parts 1-3 by going to the Progressive Republican. By Martin Rybicki The transpositioning of the parties in the 20th century is sometimes seen as occurring mid-century but the actual realignments had their roots further back during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt with some even...

Back in 2005, President Bush tried to reform Social Security. I don’t know if his partial privatization plan was the best, but at least he was acknowledging there was a problem with Social Security. Democrats, opposed to privatization, fought back against any reform by saying “there was no crisis.” In the concern over health care reform this year, many Republicans and conservatives are basically saying the same thing about health care in the United States: there is no crisis. Michael...

Republicans are upset about all the spending going on under President Obama. In someways, they should be concerned about all this. But then, if GOP leaders are upset, then they need to look at themselves first before they start accusing the Democrats. New York Times writer David Leonhardt, does a good job of showing how the rising tide of red ink flowing from Washington will harm the economy. But he is willing to show us that the red ink didn’t start with Mr. Obama: The story of today’s...

Living as I do in Minneapolis, a very, very Democratic city, you tend appreciate the times when you can get together with fellow Republicans and chat. We complain about specific Democratic policies and of course, believe that we have better answers. But every so often, I am left with a sense of unease. What bothers me is that some of those gathered (not all, mind you) tend to not just have a healthy suspicion of government, but an outright distrust if not hate. These chats have made me think...

Atlantic Magazine coorespondent, Conor Clarke has a bit of fun at the expense of conservatives who are crying “socialism.” He points to a pie chart that shows what industries have been nationalized and what still remains in private hands. Bloggers Justin Gardner and Pete Abel have chimed in accounting about the silliness of such conservatives. Now, I do think that Republicans have been too quick to use the word socialism to all things tied to the Democrats. (Of course, some liberals...

This is the third installment in a series by Martin Rybicki. Republicanism has in many ways been the necessary push and power of American progress. In contrast to the Democratic party which was split on the idea of slavery and secession, it was the Republican party that came about to fight for the basic rights of an entire people along with the idea that America was to be a united country. Under the Republican banner, the country got through probably the most tumultuous times it has ever been through...

This is the second installment of an essay by Martin Rybicki called, The Real Republicans: The Case for Moderates, Liberals, and Pragmatic Conservatives in Our Party. Part One is available here. Part 2 In a party that seems to endlessly be looking for a new figurehead to able to “lead the party out of the political wilderness”, GOP members must force themselves to tear away from the idol worship of Ronald Reagan as the seemingly only Republican president to have served and turn the pages and...

I have some mixed feelings on the ruling by the California Supreme Court to uphold the voter approved ban on gay marriage. It would have been nice to see the law overturned- I think it is a bad law and bigoted. Be that as it may, I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of invalidating a vote of the people even if it is bigoted and went against my wishes as a gay man. The thing is, people voted on this issue. They heard all the sides and a majority voted…against gay marriage. Maybe...

Editor’s note: Hopefully Mr. Powell will listen to this. Dear Mr. Powell, You probably have not been getting a whole lot of emails from Republicans thanking you for your words as of late, but I want to be one of the few Republicans that says thanks. I am glad that you are staying in the GOP and telling those who want to make lists of who is in and who is out to stop being so exclusive and narrow-minded. You are one of the reasons I became a Republican. It’s hard to find many African...

The May 14th issue of the Economist had another article on what ails the Republican Party and how it can be rejuvenated. The article stresses the importance of the GOP in being a center-right party again, but it also has something to say about those centrists: The first lesson from the Democrats is to create a “vital centre”—one that is a source of ideas rather than split-the-difference compromises. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) has been challenging old-fashioned liberalism since...

Editor’s Note: The following is the first post of an essay by Martin Rybicki, a student at the University of Texas-San Antonio. In this essay, Rybicki is making the case that moderate and liberal Republicans have had a place in the GOP since it’s creation and argues that they belong in the party. Here is the first installment of, The Real Republicans: The Case for Moderates, Liberals, and Pragmatic Conservatives in Our Party. I had been thinking through this for quite some time now,...

The blogosphere is chatting about former McCain and now former Huntsman advisor John Weaver’s fears of a 2012 GOP Blowout if the party’s guiding lights are Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney. There is a lot of talk that if the party doesn’t start appealing to moderates soon, 2012 is going to be bloody. That prospect used to bother me, but I’m beginning to wonder if that’s not a bad thing. Let me explain. As Ross Douthat explained a few weeks ago in his case...

Upon hearing that Utah Governor Jon Huntsman was taking Obama’s offer to become Ambassador to China, I was saddened. Huntsman was a conservative that didn’t live in the GOP echo chamber and could see the change that needed to happen in the Republican Party if it is to be a viable force in the age of Obama. He was for civil unions for gays, and was pro-environment. He was considered the one candidate that the Obama team was afraid they would face come 2012. As Andrew Sullivan has noted,...

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....

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is a smart guy. I mean that. He had a fairly good record as governor of Arkansas. But, that said, when it comes to the future of the GOP, he doesn’t know what he is talking about. Recently he has stated that the Republican Party should not “moderate.” If they do, they will be as vital as the Whigs. “Throw the social conservatives the pro-life, pro-family people overboard and the Republican party will be as irrelevant as the Whigs,”...

Yesterday’s post was primarily a response to why Ross Douthat’s snarky dismissal of New England or Rockefeller Republicans was off base. Using a column by Ross’ workmate at the New York Times, David Brooks, I offered that moderate Republicans are not opportunists as they are bearers of an old tradition in the GOP, one that makes the case for a civic-minded conservatism. Today, I want to talk a bit about why moderate Republicans matter electorally using a post by Noah Millman of...

What are Moderate,Centrist, Progressive, Rockefeller or whatever they are called Republicans good for? That’s the question that is on my mind this morning and it has probably been the question many in the GOP are asking. In many cases, the answer is that we are good for nothing and that we should join Arlen Specter in leaving the GOP. By now, I am familiar with the epithets lobbed at us: we are RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only), wishy-washy and willing to leave the GOP for the cozy confines...

Back in January, there were many people who hoped that Michael Steele would become the next chairman of the GOP. He had worked on the centrist Republican Leadership Council and had made some pledges to work hard to include moderates in the party. Five months later, I now see the former Lt. Governor of Maryland as a joke. Instead of standing up for moderates, he has caved in the far right. But in his mind, the party is still open to moderates: as long as they sit down, shut up and know who is running...

In the days following the defection of Senator Arlen Specter to the Democrats, I’ve been thinking about what to write about in the wake of all of this. As a moderate Republican, I can say that it has been a hard week and, more than once, I’ve thought of just ending my relationship with this party. As I thought about and read through all the articles by moderate Republicans like Christine Todd Whitman and Olympia Snowe, as well as conservatives like Peggy Noonan, and their calls for...

Note: The Following Letter was developed by Travis Johnson, the founder of Progressive Republicans. We, the Undersigned, as long-time, loyal Republicans, supporters of the Party’s candidates and its core values of smaller, more efficient government, individual liberty and personal freedom condemn in the strongest possible fashion the circumstances and actions of so-called “conservatives” who have driven Senator Arlen Specter and many of our best and brightest from our Party....

Over the last few decades, an experiment has been taking place within the Republican Party. It has been conducted not by party leaders as much as by the rank and file or so-called base. It has been an experiment as to whether a politically-pure party can be a viable party. To my knowledge this has never been done before. Over the years, groups such as Club for Growth have sought out those who were considered apostates and targeted them for inter-party challenges. In many cases they have picked...

Note: The following was written by Travis Johnson, the head of Progressive Republicans. President Obama was inaugurated in January, but the Obama Era officially began today. Don’t believe me? wait til you see what he does with the filibuster-proof majority we gave him by driving Senator Specter from the Party. I’m appalled. Not at Senator Specter. At the Republican Party. You, me, all of us. Everyone one of us with an (R) behind his name on his voter registration card is responsible for...