Michael Medved: Determined to be Moderate

A week ago, election day trounced the Moderates around the nation. Conservatives who had little to cheer about, took pleasure in seeing what Conservative gains were made, and again, there were a few. Gay marriage was defeated again in California, and in other states. 

So as we conservatives stand defeated, we do so in the knowledge that we're right, and we're going to win eventually. Then of course, the enlightened among us begin to explain, why we're not. The crying shame is that they are absolutely demonstrably wrong. Michael Medved's article today is a perfect example. 

Mr. Medved demands that people show him where a Conservative won in a statewide race, or in a national race. I can't, because there weren't any running. That's the problem Mr. Medved. 

In this article, we see that for the last thirteen years, a vast majority, sixty percent, consider themselves to be Conservative. Sixty percent of the population agrees with us that Conservative values are the best way to go, and we're afraid to do it.

Why did McCain lose? Mis-steps to be sure. However the biggest reason was issues. For the most part, there wasn't a dimes worth of difference between McCain and Obama. Let's take a couple issues shall we? 

The War on Terror. Obama wanted to withdraw the troops from Iraq, and shut down Club Gitmo. McCain wanted to leave troops in Iraq, despite the early noises from Iraq, that they would like to know when the troops are going to leave. McCain also wanted to close Gitmo. 

Energy/Environment. Obama wanted to institute a Cap and Trade policy, so did McCain. The only difference here, was McCain was in favor of Nuclear Energy. Now, with the Democrats set to gain seats in both houses, did anyone really believe that McCain would get Nuclear Energy through a Democratic Congress? 

We can do this with every single issue on the table. From the economy, more bailouts was the answer from both, more Government interference was the answer from both. To Welfare, no changes thanks, things working just fine. 

We didn't have a Conservative on the ticket who was going to tell people the truth. We had two populists running for office, and thus the more charismatic was probably going to win. Here's the thing though, Populists are pander machines. They'll pander to their base. For McCain, that was the Independent and Moderate vote. That's who he was for twenty years. 

So the idea that we didn't reach the Independents from Mr. Medved is laughable. What we failed to do was campaign with Conservative issues, because Conservatives weren't welcome until the last two months of the campaign. 

The first thing we need to do is stop apologizing for being Conservative. Despite what the Liberal elites and the Moderates would tell us, we aren't wrong. We're not racist, hate filled, nuts. We represent the majority of Americans.

For some Reason, Mr. Medved thinks that if only we were just a little more likable, more Moderate, we could have won. That's another of those laughable conclusions. Congressman Shays lost. He's about as moderate and even liberal as you can get. Yet he lost. The problem isn't that he wasn't moderate or independent enough, it's that there isn't a dimes worth of difference between him and the Democrats. 

Mr. Medved, if your prescription for our party takes hold, where we become more socialist in a doomed effort to out liberal the Democrats, I quit. If the Republicans won't take a look at this election, and consider the historic victories that Conservativism has had, and most importantly learn from it, then it's hopeless. 

Then each election is a referendum on Socialist issues, the only question being do we jog towards Socialism with the Republicans, or do we run towards them with the Democrats? If both parties offer nothing but different levels of generosity in Government Giveaway programs, then we as a nation of free thinking people, are doomed. 

Mr. Medved, do you know how Bush won those people in 2000, and 2004? He campaigned as a more conservative individual than Gore, or Kerry. The fact that he didn't govern that way, well that's another story. A story of the lack of a true belief and an ability to articulate Conservative ideals. The answer isn't to run towards the center Mr. Medved. It's to step to the right, and this time tell our elected officials, and our candidates, that we're not going to slide towards the left, we're going to run as Conservatives, and we're going to Govern as Conservatives.

Your suggestion that we should continue moving towards the left is not only unwise politically, making us the Political Party known not as the GOP but as the ME TOO. When the Democratic Candidate states he has a plan for the Government to pay the people for a toothache, we can scream "Me too." That is all the Republican Party will be, and if it does move that way, it deserves to be on the outside of Washington looking in wishing it had the power. 

If indeed that is the case, we Conservatives should consider remaking the Democratic Party. Taking it over as it were. Think about this friends. All the Conservatives voting for a Conservative Democrat candidate, along the lines of Zell Miller, for some office in the next election. If the Republican Party is determined to go farther left than the Democratic Party (which seems about impossible) then we have to consider taking the Democratic Party over, and dragging them to the right. Bringing back the era of Conservative Democrats. 

It will take us twenty years, and be a long hard fight to drag the Democrats from the clutches of the Kos Kids and the Huff Nuts, but we would probably find less resistance there than we do with the entrenched moderates like Michael Medved. 

Regarding my vote for McCain

A comment to my original post, highlighted the argument put forth by Michael Medved regarding an Obama win being good for conservatives. 

My opinion is that we need a true Conservative Revolution, like we had under Ronald Reagan. We need to stop pretending to care about certain issues, and stop bemoaning the status quo, and actually do something about it. 

Too many Republicans get to congress and are sucked into the life of the powerful, and wish to be popular there. They forget that they're conservatives, and they become Democrat lite. This is what happened to McCain, if he ever really was a Conservative. 

Many Conservatives believe we need to overhaul the tax system in general. It's become so large and contradictory that no one, not even the IRS can possibly know everything about it. 

According to the US Government Printing Office, it's 13,458 pages in total. The full text of Title 26 of the United States Code (the part written by Congress--available for an additional $179) is a mere 3,387 printed pages, bringing the adjusted gross page count to 16,845. 

No one can possibly know what is in those twenty volumes of books. Think about this, the Tax Code is larger than an Encyclopedia, for those of us old enough to remember when that was in books, instead of online. It's huge. It's specifically set up and designed to screw the middle class and the poor. I know, you doubt my assertion.

OK, then let's consider this for a moment. When some rich guy gets audited, what happens? The rich guy if he shows up in person, has a squad of lawyers, and another squad of accountants, probably former IRS employees, who argue each point of law with the auditors. They know the system well enough to know how to defend the rich guy. 

When a middle class, or poor person gets audited what happens? They show up with shoe box full of receipts praying they don't get screwed too hard. 

The IRS is even willing to show up at the Rich Guy's house, or law office, and happily discuss the issue, knowing that he's facing the wall of legal talent, he won't be able to fudge something. The middle class guy shows up at the IRS office, and again, just prays that he's not getting screwed too badly. 

So the Tax Code argument is valid from Mr. Medved, but it's not really all that valid. The Conservatives refused to Govern as Conservatives when they had the power. They refused to act like winners, and we didn't get real change to the tax code. We could have had a flat tax, which is you deduct the poverty line amount, and pay a flat rate on everything else, say, 17%. But we don't do that, because then the special people would be paying about what they are now, and the poor folks would be paying little, if any, like they are now. However, accountants around the nation would be unemployed wouldn't they? I guess that would be bad, sort of.

So the tax argument is lame, since even if McCain is elected, and if we had a Massive Majority of Republicans, they wouldn't change the system. 

Mr. Medved then claims that Ronald Reagan would have been elected in 1980, even if we'd never had a Jimmy Carter. I beg to differ. In 1976, Reagan's message was pretty much the same, and the party selected President Ford for re-election, despite essentially splitting the votes with Reagan. The Republican Party wasn't ready to embrace Conservative ideals yet. 

Let's say instead of Carter, we had a Truman type of Democrat elected in 1976. Then Reagan would not have been elected in 1980, because Truman, JFK, and other Democrats were very smart, and Conservative towards fiscal policy. It was the economy that got President Carter's administration destroyed. I admire him for his actions regarding the Three Mile Island incident. Instead of staying away, for safety, he showed up to tour it first hand and understand it personally. That took courage, and I admire that. I can even to a certain extent give him credit for his foreign peace proposals being born of a sincere desire for peaceful relations. I don't admire his handling of the Shaw of Iran, but that's another story.

The point is that had it been a more Conservative Democrat, the result in 1980 probably would have been very different. Instead, we had a Liberal/Socialist Democrat who badly mismanaged the economy, refusing to consider tax cuts as a way to stimulate growth. Refusing to consider the world economy in his mishandling of Iran. 

In the end, his legacy as President, is a Disaster. It set up the Reagan Revolution, because Ronald Reagan understood how lower taxes would stimulate the economy. He understood how the desire of normal Americans to work, earn a good living, and provide a better life for their children, would drive the country forward. It's a shame his Vice President didn't understand that as clearly as he did, but that's another discussion as well.

The assertion that Reagan would have been elected no matter who was President, is obviously false on it's face. If President's are perceived as failures, then they are one term Presidents. Carter and GHW Bush are both examples from my lifetime. One was a Democrat, one was a Republican. Bush lost on his broken promise, no new taxes. Carter lost on the economy and the Hostage Crisis in Iran. Truman or Kennedy would not have had those two events dragging on as long as they were. Kennedy would have lowered taxes, to stimulate growth. Kennedy would have seen the Hostages Rescued, or would have seen to the release of the hostages through strong diplomacy, as in Cuban Missile Crisis? 

No, Reagan wasn't guaranteed the Presidency in 1980. He was the right man, at the right time. He demonstrated a clear and easily definable difference between himself and President Carter. 

Mr. Medved then claims that if Palin loses as John McCain's running mate, she has no future in Politics at the national level. He uses as his example, John Edwards, and Joe Lieberman. 

Neither of these two people had the following before they were defeated Vice Presidential Nominees. They were safe choices for the ticket head. Gore and Kerry. Mostly chosen for thei hope that they could cover up or shore up the nominee's problem areas, Edwards for a solidified chance at North Carolina and the southern states. Gore already having been denounced and rejected by his own state. Liberman to give moral authority as the "Conscience of the Senate." to Kerry's pandering politics. Lieberman's moral authority put him at odds with the Democratic Party Base regarding the War in Iraq, and the wider War on Terror. So much so that the Democratic Party base, the Nutroots, ran a strong campaign to get him off the ticket as a Democrat in his run for the Senate. That's why by the way, Lieberman is an Independent now. The KosKids destroyed him in the Democratic Primary.

Nixon was a Vice President, and lost his first election. He's one of the rare examples of someone coming back after a national loss, and winning the White House. 

Palin's career doesn't hinge on this one election. She could and I believe will come back stronger in 2012 if Obama wins next week. I've already started a savings account, specifically intended to give Sarah Palin the maximum donation the day she announces her run for the White House. After all, she lost her first race for the Governor's job in Alaska. After the election, the people realized they made a mistake, and regretted not choosing her. She won the next election, which goes to show you that she's tough, and determined. 

Mr. Medved claims that after a defeat, the party moves to the Center, so the Country Club Blue Blood Republicans would be stronger than before. No sir, they wouldn't. After Gore's defeat in 2000, the Democrats went harder left. After John Kerry's defeat in 2004, they went extreme left. After Ford's defeat in 1976, the Republicans went to the Right. After GHWB's defeat in 1992, the Republicans took control of the House and the Senate by going Right, not by becoming Centrist. That's an asinine argument Mr. Medved, and I reject it out of hand. 

McCain is a Centrist, a Moderate. That's why the base of the party, people like myself, don't like him. This is why Conservatives like myself were planning on sitting the election out. After the Nomination was secured, McCain was polling so badly, that we wondered if it would be a thirty state landslide for Obama. Then he brought out Palin, and secured the Conservative support. Donations flowed, grass roots organizing got started almost overnight. The Conservatives such as myself, still don't like, or trust McCain, we like, and trust Palin. If it was McCain and Huckabee on the ticket, I wouldn't vote for them. If it was McCain and Lieberman, same result. It's Palin that has energized the base.

Before he picked her, his rallies looked like a wake. After he picked her, the crowds are energized, and huge.

You can't claim that the Democrats are more centrist now, than they were under Clinton. You can't possibly believe that. You can't pretend that the Republicans moved the the center after the defeat of Bush and Dole. It was Conservative ideals passionately described and passionately acted upon that energized the base this year Mr. Medved. 

If this election has demonstrated anything to be true, it's that the era of the Country Club Blue Blood Republican, is a fact that should remain in history, not in our futures. 

Congressman Jeff Flake gets the real message

Congressman Jeff Flake gets the message that the disgust from the Base of the Republican Party is real, and it's based upon principal, and it's not going to be placated easily. 

Hot Air cued me to this story, and I'm going to be honest, and say I've had more than a few disagreements with the commentators at Hot Air. 

From the Washington Post, linked from Hot Air of course. 

Well, we Republicans have just made history. Not the type of history we wanted to make, mind you, but history nonetheless. Not only did we lose the White House but, after losing our House and Senate majorities in 2006, we followed it up last night with even steeper losses in Congress.

In January, Democrats will enjoy lopsided congressional ratios not seen since the 1970s. Let's face it: We Republicans are now, by any reasonable measurement, deep in the political wilderness.

The temptation for Republican members of Congress today will be to assume the role of the post-Watergate Republicans of 1974 and accept minority status as a permanent condition. Indeed, the terrain is more difficult for us now than it was in 1992. Then, Republicanism was still largely defined by the Reagan years. Today the party is defined in the public mind by the Bush presidency. We've got a steep hill to climb.

Much of the backroom maneuvering and media speculation in the coming weeks will focus on identifying new standard-bearers for the party. This is important, and after a second straight drubbing, the House Republican leadership should be replaced. But the far more critical task is determining what standard these new leaders will bear.

Many more Republicans are going to be singing the song over the next few weeks and months. Conservative ideals are popular, and they're historically proven to work. So why did the Republicans abandon those ideals when George W. Bush was elected? That's going to be another series of discussions. The Republicans governed as Democrat Lite. We nominated the leader of the Moderate faction, the often bemoaned Country Club Blue Blood Republicans. 

Even now, these CCBB Republicans are trying to blame Palin, but the facts already established will continue to slam this re-writing of history. Fact, donations increased after she was named as the VP. Fact, grass roots efforts like Team Sarah, got started once she was named. Fact, the base which had looked like they were attending a wake became energized finally. 

This election is a lesson. One which we must learn. Voters are not going to turn out to elect a Moderate ever again. Even if the opponent is a true blue Socialist, like Obama, a Moderate can't win, so when we read about how the Moderate Republican is the most electable in the next election, ignore the NY Times. They've been wrong so many times it's not even funny.

Conservative ideals were popular. California which went for Obama, also passed Proposition 8, which banned the Gay Marriage court decision. You can't pretend that California is anything approaching Conservative in their thoughts, yet the clearly stated Conservative ideal passed easily.

Conservative ideals are popular, as proven in California. Conservative principals are demonstrated to work. The Socialist ideals put forth by Obama will tear the Democrats apart, one special interest group at a time. We can help that along, and put our own ideals out there at the same time. This is how, we tell the Republican Leaders that it's time for Conservative ideals to be the mainstay of the Party. No more moderate nonsense. No more governing from the center, or working with the extreme liberals. 

More people voted in 2004, than did this election. That tells me that the base wasn't thrilled with McCain, even with Palin backing him. 

Lot's of lessons out there to learn, will we learn from them? Or will we decide that Michael Medved is right, and we move to the Center, which is what caused our downfall in 2006 and again this year. 

Jeff Flake gets it. Other Conservatives are saying it too. Now, will the party finally listen, and realize that the Liberals are running the Democratic Party, their Socialist Agenda is the enemy of free thinking peoples everywhere? Or will the Republican Party insist that the Moderate go along get along theory is going to work eventually.