Republicans lost the battle, not the war
By John Malett
Clearly the election showed President Obama was not given a mandate and the country is more divided now than when he took office. Yet Froma Harrop, speaking for liberals and RINOs everywhere, advises, “Republicans Need to Take Their Party Back” (Nov. 7). As Obama said to Paul Ryan when Ryan presented a bipartisan budget proposal for consideration, “That’s not going to happen.”
Conservatives are not going to cease or limit their attempt to preserve our constitutional republic where individual rights are endowed by the creator and are protected by a sacrosanct constitution based on the moral and ethical principals of the Judeo/Christian religion any more than liberals are going to refrain from marching toward a form of statism based on Marxist/Socialist economic policies and the moral relativism of a secular society that believes rights and laws come from man and are relative and changing.
Liberals won the battle, not the war. Or, to be politically correct, the election, not the debate.
[This letter appeared in the Des Moines Register]
Maybe we haven’t lost the war, but we conservatives sure need to learn how to fight more effectively, if we are to win future battles (and the war). In some ways, it seems like we are more like the British during Revolutionary times, when their military leaders thought that their clearly superior tactics and morality would make short work of the revolutionaries, and the British soldiers marched into battle in formation while the revolutionaries “played dirty” and “fought” from concealment (or so I’ve heard).
If the conservatives continue to accept the role of deflecting and defending against incoming missiles instead of going on the offensive in their campaigns and PR attempts, they will continue to be outmaneuvered by the liberals. But an effective offensive strategy cannot be based upon extreme positions.
If we conservatives can’t figure out how to get control of the message on various key issues, and how to stop sounding like a bunch of “crazies” (e.g., insisting upon absolutely NO tax increases, taking irrational – seemingly anti-immigrant — stands on dealing with illegal immigrants, having it sound like we think all those who receive assistance from the gov’t/taxpayers are “slackers”, labeling as murderers all Americans who have ever had, or advised in favor of, an abortion, etc.), we may well continue to lose ground for many years.
Especially if the economy recovers over the next 4 years. And I, for one, hope it does – even if Obama, rightly or wrongly, has to get the biggest portion of the credit.
There is much in what you say. I will simply respond, though, that I do not anticipate a robust recovery. The implementation of Obamacare is going to be a major drag on the economy. In addition, if Obama gets his way and increases taxes on the job creators, we could turn back to recession, and we could see another major course-correction in the 2014 midterms.