I can’t believe just how out of touch the Republican political class is.
Well, actually I can.
Having attended the recent Republican Advance in Norfolk and hearing the ideas expressed, it is no wonder the Republican Party in Virginia is failing.
And the conservative base just doesn’t care; I mean why should they? Time and again Republican candidates have run on conservative values, and then turned around and stabbed voters squarely in the back.
Need examples?
Well, how about the largest tax increase in Virginia history coming under Republican Governor McDonnell, House Speaker Kirk Cox and State Senator Jill Vogel voting to expand Obamacare in Virginia while funding millions to Planned Parenthood, George Bush passing new taxes and ‘gun free’ killing zones, George W Bush passing the Patriot Act and starting yet another never ending war that Congress never declared, the new Trump unconstitutional ‘bump stock ban’ or locally Loudoun County Republican Supervisors Matt Letourneau and Ron Meyers working overtime to pass more restrictions on hunting and shooting on your own private property?
Why should conservative care, more much less vote?
It is time to be honest and realize that no one decides to get politically active because of a party name, or work their tails off because one party stinks slightly less than the other.
At least the other party is honest in that they want to take away your liberty and your property, not say one thing and then vote the direct opposite.
Do I even need to mention the Comstock debacle? No one outside of the political class cared if she was re-elected, for her voting record was worse than many Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Boy, that really gets voters excited.
It is the issues that get voters off their couch and into the fray, and it is the compromising and backstabbing by elected Republicans that puts them back on the couch munching Fritos.
And yet the Republican political class is so out of touch with its voters, they think some silly notion of party unity, just for party unity, is going to save the day.
I have an idea, how about unity around conservative ISSUES that the voters care about?
In today’s political landscape, there are virtually no, I repeat no, crossover voters. The political war for the Republic, or what is left of it, has polarized the voters.
And this is a good thing.
For over 100 years of compromising has led us to the brink of socialism. There must be no more compromise.
Indeed the Republican Party of Virginia is failing, but the cure is so very simple.
Stand and fight.
To do so we must take several steps-
- Create a Party Platform, not some weak creed, that embraces specific, true constitutional and conservative issues such as Constitutional Carry, Life at Conception, Civil Asset Forfeiture Repeal, School Choice, eliminating Obamacare in Virginia through the 10th Amendment, reducing the size and scope of Government, reducing and eliminating taxes, restoring the 4th Amendment and your right to privacy, getting government out of your personal life, protecting due process and opposing ‘red flag’ laws and in general embracing the Constitution, individual liberty and private property rights as the Founders of our Republic fought and died for.
- Hold elected Republican officials accountable to the Platform, and remove, yes I said remove, all party support for any official, in any election, who violates the party platform.
- Having open and honest primary conventions where the voters themselves dictate who the party nominees are, not backdoor dealing and Roberts Rules shenanigans.
- Run candidates on issues that make the base care. Not issues chosen specifically not to anger socialists. Forget about them, they will never vote for Republicans in the age of Trump.
- Forget about new voter registration, unless it is at a rally on a specific issue. People are not registered to vote because they do not care, and they will not turn out to vote, even if registered, because they do not care. Focus instead on fighting hard on conservative issues to turn out the already registered conservatives.
- Weaponize County Committees around conservative issues. Use the Party structure to force passage of conservative legislation and make the committees worth joining again.
For until the RPV realizes it is the issues that matter, the Party will continue the death spiral that started when McDonnell and his sellouts backstabbed the conservative base.
And the conservative base will sit home and watch. I cannot tell you how many voters I have spoken to over the past few years that just do not care about the Republican Party or its candidates.
And who can really blame them?
They are tired of being sold a bill of goods, only to see Republican politicians flip flop and vote against the very principles they care about.
Politics is like warfare; your life and liberty is at stake. And like in warfare leaders lead from the front, making the troops willing to fight and win.
The state election of 2019 will be a bloodbath, unless the RPV finds the guts to stand for the issues they claim to embrace.
