Why we lost

I have heard that the Republican Party needs a new “message,” new “policies,” new “direction,” and to reach out to “new voters.”

The people advocating all this “new” nonsense or who talk of “re-branding” as if the principals that guide the Republican Party & the Conservative movement are commodities that simply need new color schemes or slogans, are frankly out of their mind. There is one reason and one reason alone why Republicans experienced the titanic defeat they were handed in 2008 and it has nothing to do with Obama’s charisma or a lack of message. The Republican Party lost because of a complete and utter loss of confidence in the public’s trust for the Party to govern. In the past conservative voters elected Representatives to govern and not to sell books or get cozy with CEO’s. Voters did not elect Representatives to spent their Sundays on Meet the Press or to sell off the public’s future for a few pet projects. Voters lost confidence in elected Republicans because they did not do their jobs and therefore did not deserve to be re-elected.

Many Republicans were willing to sit this election out. Their fear of a radical socialist with no experience was nothing compared to the realization that the leaders they had supported in the past were incompetent at best and most likely criminal in their neglect of their office and in their disregard for the public’s welfare. Their was no alternative to Obama, just empty rhetoric and a graveyard of broken promises.

We can build the greatest databases, tap the largest donors, create a magnificent on-line infrastructure and field “feel good” candidates. All of that won’t get the Republican Party back together if we don’t believe our candidates or the Party will actually deliver.

 

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There was a moment during the final weeks of the 2008 election when John McCain broke down. In any other circumstance it may have been noble to witness a man suspend his campaign in order to return to his job and solve a national crisis. The problem of course; he was on the wrong side. McCain ran to Washington to support a $700 Billion plan that had no substance. He did it to cave into the impulse of the moment, to give into fear and to embrace the very worst aspects of government rule.

Until that point the key difference in Obama’s plan for fiscal responsibility & McCain’s was in the Arizona Senator’s pronouncement that he would veto any wasteful spending bill that hit his desk. Both candidates had plans to spend more money than the nation had, McCain was at least willing to stop the Congress from adding some of the things they wanted to his. It was a promise that made a conservatives heart flutter and McCain seemed like just the guy to actually deliver. Unfortunately it was a promise that was usurped by his actions in those final weeks as he raced to trade principal for politics and accept a pork laden, oversight free assault on capitalism that would put even the most liberal socialist to shame.

As bad an organization as McCain’s campaign was he was actually gaining momentum before that moment. Once McCain embraced big government he embraced his own political death. The bevy of Republican Representatives who would only cave into this bailout only AFTER the pork was added deserved to lose as well.

 

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The solution is a simple one. The next two years we need Republicans to act like Republicans. They need to fight the onslaught of big government and restore the public’s faith in their ability to reform and repent. The support of Republican and conservative voters cannot be assumed but earned, repeatedly. Yes we need ideas and occasional compromise, the Party cannot simply oppose everything and offer nothing. Yes we need Internet outreach, the media can never be expected to promote our ideas and we are being clobbered online. We need a lot of things but chief among them are Representatives of our Party who can govern. Leaders who understand how policy effects the lives of constituents, the budgets of states, the ability of business to employ, the defense of our nation.

We need leaders who actually show up for work more than a day or two a week, who write laws instead of books, who understand when government should be limited and when it can play a role in our security and prosperity, who understand that liberty is a right from God and not a list of options for the government to respect, who stand by capitalism and fight communism, put simply we need leaders who lead and conservatives who act like conservatives.

This was not an election where the conservative movement lost the confidence of the people; it was an election where conservatives lost confidence in the Representatives of the Party to govern.
Now the Republican Party & elected Representatives need to regain the voters trust, without it they cannot win.