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Action suggestion for Republican Party leaders as
elaborated below:
The bottom line: The many Tea Party
enthusiasts are determined to restore the American dream they still believe in
after losing trust in both parties. It's time for Republicans to
listen and join up, rather than preach. This is not about
reintroducing conservative values to Americans. We're not the ones
who abandoned our values. We're not looking for a "listening
tour". We're looking for action at the state and local level
to support taking our country back. That will speak louder to us
than words. This is about getting national
Republican politicians and party leaders to focus once again on basic
American principles such as the limited role of the federal government
relative to state and local government issues and individual
responsibility. It's not about finding new "big ideas" to push at
us. Many Republicans lost our trust already, and
were recycled. That's why the remaining Republicans don't have the
votes in Washington to stop this liberal insurgency. We the people
still have the votes to do it, as Arlen Specter and Chris Dodd have
noticed recently. The question before us isn't which Republican
leaders we will support in 2010 or 2012, but whether Republican
"leaders" will support us right now in this fight to put these liberal
insurgents back on the defensive, in fear of losing their power.
Tea Party Tactics - Local
action suggestions, whether the Republicans listen yet or not
See "The
Enumerated Powers" group at Tea Party Nation |
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Making the Republican Party relevant
to Americans and their "American Dream" again |
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Republican Party leaders are clearly wrestling with conflicting ideas
about how to bring themselves back to power and relevance again in
Washington, DC. The think tanks, PACs, new GOP leadership, and
many conservative observers keep talking about this. New
initiatives are being launched out of Washington, such as the
National Council for a New America or
Resurgent Republic.
There's lots of talk about whether the party needs to be
more conservative, or more "moderate". Does it need to be the "big
tent" party to return to power? Is it still the party of Reagan, or the
party of new politicians with new "big ideas" about the latest social issues
or Democratic initiatives of our time? |
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Meanwhile, there seems to be confusion about the "Tea Parties" -
the first real "big tent" grassroots movement among predominantly
conservative Americans in memory. These are not people who are
usually political activists, as Glenn Beck recognized in his
May 1 program about the Tea Parties.
They are reluctant activists. They are not taking
to the streets to stand up for Republican politicians or to attack
Democrats. They are standing up for what they still firmly believe
as Americans who have lost trust in both political parties. They
are determined to finally be heard and take their country back to the
basic principles that the Constitution was intended to protect for
the
benefit of all Americans.
It took only eight weeks, from the initial concept
in mid-February and the first Tea Parties a week later until April 15,
to mobilize 600,000 - 800,000 Americans
in 800+ cities in every state to take to the streets and protest what
their government is doing to destroy their American dream. While
the Republican leadership was making speeches at CPAC about how to
become relevant again, we were standing up for what the Republican party
used to mean to Americans before it made itself irrelevant.
The Constitution was not a charter to empower
politicians to do as they please, in their infinite and benevolent
wisdom, to curry favor among groups of us. On the contrary, it was intended
to constrain their powers, and to protect "we the people" as a
whole from tyranny
among our leaders while also giving them enough power to protect us
against foreign threats as well as ourselves. it was a delicate
balancing of powers which has served us remarkably well through over two
centuries of progress after the initial experiment with an even weaker
central government (Articles of Confederation) failed.
The suggested Independence Day Tea
Party theme for July 4 is "Learn the Constitution".
Note that it isn't about creating a "big tent" Republican party.
America is our "big tent". Stand up for it. |
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short, we don't need a "New America" which expands government and
experiments with many costly ideas for social change. We went
through such phases in the Progressive era a century ago, and in the New
Deal, and the "Great Society" programs of Lyndon Johnson as well as some
of the initiatives of the Carter and Clinton years which have recently
come back to haunt us as an economic nightmare created by government
intervention, regardless of any good intentions at the time.
Our "American Dream" isn't to have more Republican
politicians in Washington. It is to have more Republicans stand up
for the American Dream again by limiting the role of our government in
our lives. |
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So, how do we get back to a "limited
federal government" again? |
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Politicians in Washington are about as likely to lead the return to
limited federal government power as heroin addicts are to give up their
use of drugs without any medical assistance for their withdrawal. |
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political careers have been built up by seeking the power to do as they
see fit in Washington. They have become part of the problem,
rather than the solution, regardless of good intentions. They can
only do "good" things for us if they win the power to do so, and thus
the end justifies the means. We will only break their addiction to
political power and spending through a sustained effort to deprive them
of both and focus on a more healthy and sustainable leadership role in a
limited government. |
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the people" have to demand less of our federal government, rather than
more. We have to shake up our own complacency about this always
being somebody else's fault. The politicians may be addicted to
power, but we have been their dealers by supporting them, or have been
complicit by not driving their local dealers out of business. We
have fed or accepted their bad habits, content to just complain about
them without doing anything to stop them. In return, they have
tried to do more "good" things to win our favor, like bringing home more
federal spending for our own local interests as though this was manna
from heaven with no cost attached to it. This has become as
productive as a "protection racket", in which those who pay or have
enough political power get favored treatment. |
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"Tea Parties" are a signal that hundreds of thousands or perhaps even
millions of Americans already recognize that this is not the America in
which we believe. We don't expect our government to spend whatever
it takes to try to solve all of our alleged problems or deficiencies for
us. We know that we are the ones who have to pay for this racket.
Regardless of all the specious promises that these changes are somehow
in our best interest, we're savvy enough to know a con when we see it.
The Tea Parties have communicated our willingness to
change our own bad behavior, and finally stand up for better government
with a sharper focus on the essential tasks of a limited government.
The question before us is whether Republicans are
ready to change too, or remain addicts in withdrawal and denial.
That shouldn't really take us very long to figure out - long before
2010. |
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Action
suggestion: Get Republican political leaders and Tea Party participants
to meet |
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Republicans have the potential to restore limited government, if they
get organized and choose to do so. The political leaders will not
voluntarily do this. There will always be powerful special
interests which want their own favorite piece of unchecked federal
government power to be protected for some apparently worthy
justification. Getting rid of any bureaucracy will always be a
tough fight, but just as businesses have to make painful decisions in
response to market forces, American politicians need to be forced to do
the same thing for a change. Budgets cannot automatically rise
forever. |
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First step : listen to the Tea Party enthusiasts
ASAP - both organizers and participants The
Republican Party leadership should invite all of the Republican US
Senators, House members, Governors, and party officials, including
influential PACs like GOPAC or CPAC and others, to meet privately (not
as a media event) with as many of the Tea Party organizers and
participants as choose to travel to meet them in Washington.
This
isn't a meeting for politicians to make competing campaign speeches or to test market new policy
ideas and rhetoric. The purpose is to actually listen to this "big
tent" crowd of very motivated Americans, rather than just each other. Get outside the "bubble" of
faithful supporters, and listen to the frustrated Americans whose trust the
Republicans have lost over the years. Start to win them back by
demonstrably changing behavior to support them locally, rather than
talking down to them.
This should be done as quickly as it can be arranged -
perhaps during the Memorial Day recess, or even earlier? It
doesn't have to include hundreds of people, but it needs to include a
diverse group of Tea Party enthusiasts who are unafraid to "speak truth
to power" about their concerns.
The point is to get Republican leaders to quickly
understand that the Tea Party movement is not about bringing
Republicans back to power. If they can't look beyond their
own national power ambitions and listen, then they are part of the problem rather than
the solution, and few Tea Party participants will actively support them
in 2010 or 2012 except perhaps as the lesser of evils.
We need to quickly sort out which Republicans are
really on our side, and which are not. It's not the other way
around. This isn't about figuring out how many of us will stand up
for them in 2010 or 2012. They lost us by not standing up for what
we believe in the past. We need to know whether they got the
message yet, as we did. If they want to seek more support among
Democrats, then let them switch parties like Arlen Specter, while
Republicans focus on restoring our American Republic.
This is about bringing individual Americans back
to power - for which Republican Party support at the state and
local level could help "we the people" to make it happen. We need
to know whether they are on our side or not in this fight. We're
fighting for local accountability - not their federal power.
Will they stand with us and support us, or do they
just want our support to enhance their own political futures?
Blind faith in party "leaders" is no longer an option. They are
still showing as much arrogance as the Democrats as this stage.
That's why so many lost. They lost our trust.
The first step is to convince many Tea Party
enthusiasts that Republicans will actually stand with us to roll back
federal powers, rather than just hope to lure us back with marginally
better policy ideas. If they won't stand with us, then we'll
simply have to look elsewhere for the new leaders we need. |
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Second step: work with the Tea Party organizers to
quickly reach out locally nationwide That
means quickly reaching beyond just the "organizers" or self-proclaimed
"leaders" of the Tea Parties. They demonstrably know how to bring
people together in their areas. If the first step
above convinces them that it is worth doing, then it should not be
difficult to arrange local meetings at which some of the most relevant
Republicans from the national, state, or local leadership can be invited
to listen to more of the "grassroots" supporters about their concerns.
The outreach may start among those who are
sufficiently motivated and able to come to Washington DC to meet, but it
should quickly move beyond that initial group through follow-up events
in many regions, states, and local communities. It shouldn't
require many events of this nature before the Republican leadership
should finally "get it" about the nature of this movement. More
importantly, the local participants will be in a position to judge for
themselves whether or not they think that those Republicans "get it",
and are ready to work together with them to achieve better outcomes.
This isn't about test-marketing campaign rhetoric,
"big ideas", or fundraising. It's a chance for "we the people" to
test whether these Republican Party leaders are going to earn back our
trust or not. That's why this isn't about meeting the local
Republican cheerleaders in superficial town halls.
That means reaching beyond the traditional Republican
party faithful in these districts - as the Tea Parties have demonstrably
done nationwide already. This isn't a Republican club meeting.
It's a chance for people who might like to believe in
Republican politicians again to tell them directly and bluntly about
their concerns. This isn't about lining up campaign supporters or
doing local fundraising for candidates. It's about listening to
the people who are really mad at both parties, but who might actually
support real Republicans who would roll back the federal government rather
than relentlessly grow it beyond our ability to sustain it. In the
process, it should also help to identify people who are sufficiently
motivated to get more actively involved and change American politics.
That's the "big tent" Republicans need - the people
with strong faith in their own ability to restore the America they still
believe in, and the willingness to work hard locally with others to make
it happen. The party doesn't need to reach out to those in
Washington or elsewhere who want government to offer them more of
something at the expense of everybody else. It needs to reach out
to those who will still fight hard to defend the future for all
individual Americans through commitment to less government, rather than
more. We have to roll it back decisively - not argue over minor
details. |
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Third step: build up the local working
relationships to reinforce and grow the initial trust
After reaching out to the Tea Party enthusiasts, and
working with them to listen and establish better communications and an
initial level of mutual trust, the next step is "confidence-building"
measures.
In short, the efforts need to quickly move beyond any
superficial dialogue and get down to the hard local work and practical
tasks of taking our country back, district by district and state by
state.
That means finding and supporting better political
candidates at the local, state, and national levels in as many places as
possible. Instead of writing off many places as hopeless because
of past election results or opinion polls, there needs to be local
dialogue about how to turn this situation around.
It is not acceptable as a national party to simply
write off large parts of America as a lost cause, such as to cede many
of the large urban areas to one-party rule by Democrats through
patronage and other tactics. If we walk away and accept defeat as
inevitable, then we will perpetuate it. Even if we lose at first,
it needs to be clear that we actually stand for something very different
for America as a whole, rather than just to favor our own supporters at
the expense of others. |
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Be the party of the American dream again
- not the big government nightmare The
"American dream" is not that government will care for everybody equally
through social programs from cradle to grave. Liberty provides equal protection against
the unchecked powers of government so that all individuals may pursue
their own dreams within very basic social constraints (crime, etc.).
It is not the proper role of the federal government to
legislate, regulate, and adjudicate every aspect of our lives from
cradle to grave, nor to care for all of us or redistribute wealth and
poverty more "fairly" according to political choices and manipulative
tax and spending decisions.
We do not look to government or to our courts for
"empathy". We demand impartiality in the rule of law - to respect
the rights of all Americans, rather than just those whose grievances are
an endless rationalization for seeking special favors through the power
of government at the expense of others.
This liberal insurgency will not be defeated through
Republican minority votes in Washington. It will only be defeated
by mobilizing millions of hard-working Americans to stand up locally for
what they still believe. We must take responsibility for electing
leaders at the local, state, and national levels who respect the
principles of limited government and unlimited individual potential for
all Americans.
The Democrats will not moderate their efforts to
impose their agenda on America until they see hard evidence that it will
lead to their defeat in 2010, 2012 and beyond. When faced with
opposition, they may try to deflect criticism temporarily on those
issues, but they will remain fundamentally opposed to the concept of a
more limited government as long as they expect to wield its power to
advantage. Republicans lack the votes to stop them. We the
people have more than enough votes to do it.
The basic question for steps one, two, and three above
is to soon establish whether Republicans are going to be that great
American party again, or whether the
great unfinished task before us must be trusted to others.
What will be the legacy of the Republican Party?
That's the choice we face today - to lead America forward again, or to
fade into the history books like some other parties of the past. |
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Why do these 600,000+ Tea Party enthusiasts matter to
Republicans? There are certainly those who
think that the Tea Party movement will soon disintegrate or fade away,
especially if the economy starts to recover earlier than expected.
As a grassroots movement, it will certainly be pulled in many different
directions by the diversity of the participants. They may
enthusiastically embrace some ideas, and dislike or ignore others.
Like a free market, it's hard to reliably predict the
outcome. The key point for Republicans, however, is that the "big
tent" they have been talking about is sitting right under their noses,
if they would just step inside and listen for a change, instead of
assuming that theirs is the only show in town.
That includes young and old voters of all ethnic and
economic backgrounds, in cities big and small, and people who
demonstrably understand online networking. While Republicans at
CPAC and elsewhere have talked vaguely about such things as future needs
of the party, the Tea Parties have done it already - in a matter of
weeks. They have attracted many very action-oriented small
business leaders who understand how to organize and network and get
things done very efficiently. The future which Republicans have
talked about as an abstract concept about how to become relevant again
has already been demonstrated n practice.
Invite the Tea Party enthusiasts to meet - and listen
carefully to them.. |
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