I am a conservative. I am no longer a Republican. To paraphrase the words of the great Ronald Wilson Reagan, I did not leave the Republican party; it left me. John McCain is an honorable man and I respect the sacrifices he and his family have made for this country, but he is not a conservative. In my view, he was the Democrat in the race. Barack Hussein Obama is a Marxist. I don’t use that word to be inflammatory. What’s inflammatory is that Marxist is an accurate description of his record on the issues. What more does one have to see to know that the two-party system broken when the Republicans nominate a Democrat and the Democrats nominate a Marxist? And what more does one have to see to know that the Republican party is broken than to see RINO McCain nominated and then engage his bi-partisan senatorial collegiality and refuse to take the fight to Obama. Without going issue by issue, I contend Obama is still an Indonesian citizen. Don’t believe me? Prove me wrong. You can’t. The biggest problem is that neither can McCain nor Obama. Phil Berg tried, but the clinton-appointed judge said he didn’t have standing to bring the suit and dismissed it. Where is the Constitution-borne outrage? Oh yeah, the Constitution has been repeatedly abrogated by both parties for the last 100 years.

The country is broken (and broke) and no thinking person can honestly expect it to be repaired either by a broken system or by its two broken component parties. A move to the right and a ticket with either Palin or Jindal would get my attention (remember governors beat senators) and perhaps my vote. Until then, I will not vote “lesser of two evils”. I will vote Libertarian or Constitution Parties. If the Republican Party continues to move to the left, it will rarely, if ever, get my vote again.

We need to stand up and live by the Republican Principles stated on the GOP website:

Each person is to have dignity, freedom, ability, and RESPONSIBILITY
Equal rights for all – legal citizens
Free enterprise -although not free of all regulations
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY – the Achille’s heal of our party during recent Republican Presidents – we need balanced budgets and the ability to say ‘no’ to more federal deficits.
“Provide only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations’ or state or local governments … no more earmarks and pork for items that only have local interest – no more bridges to nowhere or wooden arrow grants.

In order to move ahead we need to embrace the middle – the vast number of people who do not trust us to run any party much less the US. We have lost our way under the current RNC leadership and President. We need a totally new direction based less on conservative ideals and more centrist and fiscal – no more religious right.

I’m a 20 year old college student, and I think the RNC needs to make even more of an effort to tap into young Republicans. 68% of people under 30 voting Democrat = trouble in the near future. I hope the RNC looks to tech-savvy college graduates to help increase its prominence on the Internet. This is so important to young people!!

Also, I know this isn’t the case everywhere in the country, but I know for a fact that what drove many college students from voting McCain was the fact that there is a lot of bigotry/racism in some GOP supporters. I hope there is an effort to eradicate these small factions of our party; it will help our image.

SQ

It’s about time the Republican Party, instead of trying to work out a limp vote-getting strategy for coaxing undecideds, began trying to do what’s right and what they believe in, and stand for something more than a centrist “we can’t get elected with that”. We just saw the results of running a truly centrist campaign, with no references to the vast differences between the Conservative and Liberal views of the world. When we don’t run on what makes us different, we lose. The latest polls say 20% of those who call themselves Conservatives voted for Obama. Why? Because you took on no issues but “we can handle the economy better than him” and nobody believed it; you never pointed out the critical differences of moral, political, and economic vision between Conservatives and Liberals. And I worry it’s because our strategists lack those critical differences that we in the rank and file hold.

I’m tired of hearing how our candidates reach across the aisle. I want a candidate who actually stands up for what we believe in, win or lose. Who thinks principles are more important than pollsters or election strategies. Ronald Reagan won not because he was the most photogenic or charismatic, but because he had rock solid principles and vision for the nation that people could get behind. The two party system is about two different worldviews….Conservative and Liberal, Capitalist and Marxist, and all the other moral and economic differences that lie between them….fighting for who controls the nation. I don’t see the Republican Party doing much fighting for or articulating a different worldview. If the Republican strategists do not share that different worldview, then they need to step down and get someone who does in there to fight. Because if you don’t show people genuine *difference* between us and them, they’ll see no reason to choose us over them.

That lack of genuine difference is why they chose them over us. Instead of trying to be on everyone’s good side from the center (which clearly failed), it’s time we had a genuine Conservative worldview that understands what’s good for the country and what’s not, and pushed for that. A worldview that means something and is reflected by our candidates and still reflected by them when they get into office.

The Dems were everwhere rousting out the “dispossessed”. They even captured my mother in law’s nursing home.

It is time to start finding quality candidates for the house and senate. The likelihood of serious continuing economic and world challenges inadequately and incorrectly addressed by a strong big spending government. An opportunity will inevitably present itself as the government struggles to find money from its citizens to fund its overzealous welfare state. The Party needs to be structurally prepared for a better marketing and organizing approach. It needs to be on colleges finding new faces with a concern for the world as well as capitalism. The DNC leveraged every aspect of the process to squeeze out every last vote.

Second, we need to tie the loss of jobs to illegal aliens in housing etc.

Third, start looking for some stars to sponsor in some key areas such as VA, NC, FL, PA, OH.

Fourth, much of the energy and new face for the party is to be found in successful GOP governors such as Sarah Palin, Bobby Jinal, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Mitch Daniels of Indiana–one of the few states not in the red.

Fifth, I recommend speaking with Amy Holmes (former Sen Frist’s speech writer and conservative commentator for CNN etc.) about running for Congress. She is dynamic and bright–a potential VP in a decade or so.

Thank you for your hard work, lets learn and get better with this opportunity for the future.

Charles McDaniel
COL (RET) USA
DMIN, MBA, MDIV, MSS

This week’s election results were unfortunate, however, not unexpected. Although I voted for Bush, it was clear to me that he did not surround himself or accept advice from the right people – however, the options were not inspiring at the time. Today’s domestic and international situation is different than it was 4 yrs ago – and it is beyond time for the labels of conservative/liberal; Republican and Democrat to be shelved if solutions are to be developed that help to strengthen and restore our country.

My hope is that the Republican Party will begin today developing strong, inspiring, ethical and intelligent candidates who value integrity and truth – for national leadership positions. My hope is that they will start with Sarah Palin and others like her (men and women), who have the drive, courage, fortitude and commitment to be national leaders and provide the American public options for the race in 2012 and forward.

I saw in Sarah Palin something that was inspiring, and although she was handicapped by a number of factors when she accepted John McCain’s offer, she threw herself and her family into the fray. When she caught the national spotlight and her instant popularity was recognized, the mdia machine went to work to discredit her, and she was very gracious under fire! She displayed great courage, verasity, and conviction by comparison to most other Washington insiders. She also struck a chord with women that Hillary did not. As much as I would like to see a woman in the Oval Office, I want the best “person” for the job. Gov. Palin, I hope we haven’t seen the last of you!

The RNC has a lot of work ahead in preparation for the 2012 election – and hopefully I can contribute in some small way.