Saving the Republican Party

I believe when the annals of this nation’s history are completed some people will hold to the belief that the Republican party of this era did more to push the country towards socialism, compell it on a path to larger government and jeopardize the personal freedoms of it’s citizens than any other entity.

Not only have we threatened personal freedom through the Patriot Act, increased the national debt.  Our poor communication and leadership during the war on terror and the market crash have also contributed strongly towards ushering in a Democratic congress and a President Elect who are talking openly of moving our nation towards socialism.  We have deliverd the nation into their hands.  And as often as not when one of us speaks publicly to try to counter this tide we find ourselves trying to defend practices like wire tapping, water boarding, suspension of habeas corpus and creation of sweeping government agencies that have the ability to do Orwellian monitoring of private citizens.

How did we get to this point?

I recently asked myself that as I was pondering my own political journey this election season. 

As a 20 year supporter of the Republican party I had defended the Bush administration and its actions in the war on terror for most of the past five years.  It was only when the Republican presidential candidates started campaigning that I started to, for the first time in years, take a cold hard look at what the people in my party were saying and doing.  None of them were truly conservative fiscally and socially.  None shared a clear vision of where the party and the country should be lead in the future. 

The experience left me so disillusioned and confused I started taking a look at the Democratic candidates to see what they stood for.  The one who displayed the most conviction in his ideals, and the eloquence to relate them clearly as a leader, was the man who is now our President Elect - Barack Obama.  At one point I even considered voting for Obama because of his stance on lobbying ethics, pork barrel spending and stimulating the economy.  But that idea got dropped quickly when I learned of his role in blocking the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in Illinois.  A leader who could support leaving a living child to die of neglect in a dark and dirty hospital closet is a leader who has neither the moral compass nor the sound judgement to make decisions about human life at a national level, however brilliant he may be in other areas.

It was only recently in the midst of this confusion that I happened to hear a speech being played on the Mark Levin radio show.  It turned out to be Ronald Reagan’s famous message, “A Time to Choose”, which he delivered at the 1964 Republican National Convention.  As I listened, I started to see again with clarity the reason why I became a Republican as a young man, and the reason why as Republicans we need desperately to return to our core values.

Right now the European style of socialism is becoming a popular idea in our nation.  Nothing could be further from the vision of our founding fathers.  America was intended to be the land of the free, and there can’t be freedom when the government is controlling all of its nation’s checkbooks and businesses. 

The following clips of Reagan speaking are long (40 minutes combined) and they perfectly describe what our nation is faced with today.  As you listen to them I hope that you will see what I see:  That a return to the conservative values of personal freedom and limited government is the only way of truly reconsolidating – and saving – the Republican party.