This week's two prime examples of self-serving guns on the Right pointing inward? On the one hand, Kathleen Parker caricaturing and lambasting me and millions of evangelical Christians:To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh. Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party.... It isn't that culture doesn't matter. It does. But preaching to the choir produces no converts. And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party -- and conservatism with it -- eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one's heart … [Read more...]
Rebuilding Colorado’s GOP: The Good Advice Keeps Pouring In
It bears repeating: Any effort to rebuild Colorado's Republican Party that's done in a strictly top-down fashion is destined to failure. In that spirit, Joshua Sharf makes an excellent case (echoed at Rocky Mountain Right) for pursuing a 65-district statehouse strategy going into 2010. I can't add anything more at this point than a simple and hearty, "Let's do it." Other must-reads: John Andrews has some sobering reflections, and Night Twister offers some hard advice. While there are many tasks before us, I believe all of them must be imbued with the mission of reclaiming the mantel of fiscal conservatism - or as Mark Hillman puts it, to once again become "the party of freedom". … [Read more...]
The Mantra: Rebuilding the GOP
When this morning I wrote "Any effort to rebuild Colorado’s Republican Party that’s done in a strictly top-down fashion is destined to failure", I hadn't yet seen Patrick Ruffini's post "Change Won't Come from the Top Down". Great minds think alike? Remotely possible. Anyway, if you share this point of view, and are a conservative interested in doing your part to help rebuild the GOP, may I recommend you sign up to join this site and get involved in the conversation. … [Read more...]
Reasonable, Principled Compromise Needed to Rebuild GOP Coalition
Lately I've struggled for the time and energy to put together some coherent thoughts about what the GOP needs to do to rebuild. Jim Manzi at The Corner said it almost perfectly for me. You need to read the whole post, but here is a key excerpt:While it is always possible to imagine some arbitrary configuration of 51% of voters who have the label “conservativeâ€, Rod’s point [ed: that "no conservative movement that hopes to be successful can do so without religious conservatives"] strikes me as correct as a practical matter. Further, more important than the question of electoral advantage, is the fact that tens of millions of citizens have deeply held beliefs that should be considered in making and enforcing the law. I also believe … [Read more...]
GOP Voter Registration Fraud Story is Bad – Not As Bad As ACORN, Though
I find this story out of California quite disturbing. The Los Angeles Times reports that a Republican contractor has been targeted with serious allegations of engaging in voter registration fraud - a stupid, repugnant, and unethical activity (H/T Volokh Conspiracy):Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.... It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small … [Read more...]
Cory Gardner Spearheads Grassroots Defense of Colorado Charter Schools
To his credit, State Rep. Cory Gardner is spearheading a grassroots effort to support public charter schools and the families they serve. Recently the Adams 12 school board unanimously decided to support legislation unfriendly to charter schools (see Resolution 1.3). Adams 12 effectively wants to beef up its own authority to deny charters, to limit parents' authority to appeal rejected charter school applications, and to undercut charter schools' already sub-par funding. But Cory Gardner (R-Yuma), a rising star in the GOP, took the initiative to craft a letter alerting charter school parents and supporters to the attack and urging them to get involved in the fight. In all, 17 Republican state representatives and 9 Republican state … [Read more...]
The Only Place Democrats Want to Drill Is Your Wallet
From the Tennessee Republican Party, this is a great idea: Could the Colorado GOP follow suit? … [Read more...]
Colorado Primary Election Predictions
Today is Colorado's primary election. There aren't too many contested races going on, but the ones that are have rightly been described as "extraordinary" for their competitiveness. Anyway, here are my predictions for the few farthings they're worth (note that they're not all necessarily whom I'm cheering for to win): Congressional District 5, GOP: Incumbent Doug Lamborn wins narrowly, as Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn split the protest vote Congressional District 6, GOP: Businessman and political newcomer Wil Armstrong pulls off a surprising late comeback victory over favorite Secretary of State Mike Coffman, who goes on to mend fences with the state party leadership and prepares to run for U.S. Senate in 2010 Congressional District … [Read more...]
Feeling Out of the Loop: John Lerew (not LeGrew) and CCM Comes to Denver
Oh joy, I've finally figured out who my Republican Congressional candidate is: John Lerew, not John LeGrew (how bad is it when your name gets misspelled in a key publication that introduces your candidacy to a key audience of activists?). Longtime Colorado blogger Jack Ott, whom I met back in 2004, has posted information about Mr. Lerew. Certainly, he seems an ardent and passionate conservative, but it's apparent the GOP went pretty deep onto the bench to bring him forward as the candidate. Or, as one Lefty blogger quite accurately put it, Mr. Lerew is "the sacrificial lamb" to run against incumbent Rep. Ed Perlmutter. (I feel out of the loop to have taken so long to learn about this one. But it also speaks ill of the candidate's … [Read more...]
1861 Was Not 1776: An Essay
Update: An astute observer has corrected a factual mistake. James Madison wrote "much of" - not "most of" - the Federalist. Alexander Hamilton wrote more, though Madison wrote many of the key essays that frame the meaning of Union. My faux pas. The following is adapted and expanded from an email listserv essay I wrote recently, inspired initially in response to the following phrase someone had written: "The American Republic created by the founding fathers was destroyed by the civil war...." Here is my argument why libertarians should think long and hard before embracing a defense of the Confederate cause: Quite simply, the noble libertarian impulse to champion resistance to government encroachment on people's freedoms has led many … [Read more...]