Fix the Movement, fix the Party

 ...resides within its membership. If we want to revive the "movement" from within the Party, the Party has to insure its leadership accurately reflects the political asperations of its members. The easiest way to insure the leadership accurately reflects the political asperations of its members is to give the membership a VOICE and to allow it to SPEAK.

I would suggest that the Internet be applied to this task. I would also suggest the name of this new program should be called: Operation  Rednet

What the grassroot Republican membership is telling us now is that they are tired of others articulating what "their" movement is.  It's time for the leadership of the Republican Party to recognize the fact that through the Internet grassroot Republican members can create their own message, their own movement. All they need is a voice, an opportunity to speak, and a political party willing to listen.

The political goal of Operation Rednet then would be to never again allow the voice of grassroot Republicans to be left unheard before, during or after any election at any level, at any place, at any time -- especially during any primary -- never again.

Three cheers for Sarah Palin's "unapologetic appeal to resentment and victimology!"

ex animo

davidfarrar 

After Goldwater's defeat in 1964, Goldwater refused to get involved in taking over the Republican. Instead he and the conservative movement spread out across the nation, elected seveal candidates and proved that its principles were the ticket to victory at the polls.

We need to get behind conservative candidates and take our vision to the people.

...is good for some laughs.  Who are these "top conservative leaders"? Meeting at some weekend home in Virginia.  Weekend home?  Only elitists have weekend homes.   This "who's who of conservative leaders"???  What an absolute hilarity!! An oxymoron of sorts.  There is zero leadership in the GOP!   Which is why we're in such trouble.    And then we're treated to this quote: "Should McCain lose next Tuesday, the conversation will include who to groom as the next generation of conservative leaders – a list that will feature Palin at or near the top."   So these arrogant SOB's think "they" are going to "groom" Palin?    They try that and they're liable to draw back a bloody stump.  They're the ones that need to be groomed.  Or rather pruned. 

These pompous, @%&^%$(&^!!!  They still don't get it.  Its not up to them.  Its up to the voters!  The first order of business on 11/5/08 is to purge the GOP of these Globalist, WSJ/US Chamber elitists that have hijacked "our" GOP.  Who will do that?  I'm hoping it'll be Sarah.  But, again, the jury is still out on her.   And if she's willing, how will she accomplish the task?  What should be her strategy for taking contol of the GOP?   DD

Education - Democrats don't oppose choice, they oppose a voucher system that would take limited resources from failing schools and insure they continue to fail for everyone that remained, which would be the vast majority of students.

Unions - Unions are a representation of liberty, only a true spinmeister could spin defending the right to bargain with an employer as a group as a restriction of liberty.

Healthcare - Obama favors giving people the choice of employer healthplans, with better incentives for employers to continue or improve their plans, or individuals can have the CHOICE of buying into the Federal Employees Health Benefit plan, or an equivelant plan.

Nanny state policies - You're kidding right? Republicans have been supporting and passing laws that require grown men to have a waiting period before getting a vasectomy, and a Texas law that prohibits divorce for two years if the couple does not undergo marriage crisis classes, and take a look at all the dry Republican counties across America.

But this is small stuff.

The big stuff, in my estimation, would be the Bill of Rights, and here's how that fared under Republicans...

First Amendment:

George W. Bush has shown an outright hostility to freedom of speech. In the name of combating "indecency," the FCC under Bush has raised its punitive fines to outrageous new levels, wasted money on an "investigation" of Janet Jackson’s breast, and pressured Clear Channel to drop the Howard Stern Show. Bush has applied and maintained draconian restrictions on the press in Iraq, even forbidding the photography of flag-draped caskets returning home.

Second Amendment:

Bush's Justice Department turned up the heat on enforcing unconstitutional gun laws, boasting: "Under the President’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program, federal gun crime prosecutions have increased by 68 percent over the last three years. Last year, the Department set a new record of charging 23 percent more individuals for violating federal firearms laws." The Bush administration has asked for a $95 million increase in spending on gun control programs for 2005.

Fourth Amendment::

The Patriot Act's "Sneak and Peak" provision allows the feds to come into your home, search your residence, and leave without telling you for up to six months. It has expanded the government’s powers under the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act to get warrants for wiretaps from special courts, not subject to the same oversight as typical courts. Another provision allowed the FBI to obtain library records from librarians, who had to keep their mouths shut about confrontations with officials. Within months of 9/11, law enforcers had visited nearly 10 percent of America’s libraries "seeking September 11-related information about patron reading habits."² The Justice Department has resurrected COINTELPRO, a surveillance program that subverted groups and incited violence between political dissidents in the Vietnam era. The administration’s ultimate goal of "Total Information Awareness" flies in the face of any decent understanding of the Fourth Amendment.

Fifth Amendment:

Shortly after September 11, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Justice Department detained more than a thousand individuals, whom Bush labeled as "terrorists" even after the Justice Department admitted the detainees had no connection to terrorism. In addition, at least dozens of Americans were detained without due process of law because of a phony "material witness" status.The Patriot Act has greatly expanded federal asset forfeiture powers, which allow the government to confiscate property without even accusing its owners of a crime. Those who "smuggle" their own money out of the country may now see it seized. The administration has worked to extend the despotic power of eminent domain.

Sixth Amendment:

Guantanamo Bay is the clearest and most troubling example of accused criminals detained without any of the benefits of an impartial trial with the due process spelled out in the Sixth Amendment. They do not receive the rights of war prisoners, nor of criminal defendants, because they fall under the makeshift category of "enemy combatant." Of course, Bush does not "accuse" these prisoners of being "enemy combatants" – because then they would have the rights of the "accused." He simply asserts they are "enemy combatants," and that settles that. The assertion that Guantanamo is constitutional because it is located outside America is ludicrous and unsettling. It is ludicrous because the U.S. has jurisdiction there, and if the government can violate your liberties by moving you outside the country, the Bill of Rights is meaningless. It’s unsettling because it is an admission that the goings on in Guantanamo are even more oppressive than the run-of-the-mill Bill of Rights violations that Americans will tolerate at home. Bush has violated the Sixth Amendment in other ways, but Guantanamo typifies his attitude toward its basic principles. The Founding Fathers would probably have an impossible time believing Bush’s flagrant disrespect for the rights of the accused. Of course, the Founding Fathers would have probably been considered terrorists, and would likely find themselves detained as "enemy combatants" for all their un-American beliefs and subversive political activism.

Ninth Amendment:

The Bush administration has abrogated the right to travel with his no-fly list, which uses the pretext of fighting terrorism to prevent political dissidents and those with names similar to those of suspects from flying. On September 11, 2001, the federal government even impeded the right to emigrate by forbidding anyone from leaving the country. His Patriot Act made it a crime to carry significant amounts of cash on a plane. While the Bush administration assaults the liberties specifically spelled out in the Bill of Rights, it also punishes those who wish to relieve their pain from cancer, improve their lives with commerce, or quietly leave the country with their savings – all unwritten, essential rights that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson would be appalled to see so routinely eviscerated in America.

Now, being a rational, fair minded individual, I can acknowlege the argument that if democrats were in charge, they may have taken the same actions. And this might be true, and also true is that if they were in charge, and they violated the Bill of rights like this, I'd have beren working my butt off to throw them out right now. But the fact is that it has been the Republicans in charge of this Constitutional evisceration, and any party that leads such an abrogation of the Constitutional responsibility of their respective offices needs to be thrown out hard.

And you complain of indoor smoking bans and an opposition to vouchers.... yeesh