The Republican Party MUST Return to its' Roots:

Bringing Back the Passion in The Grand Ol' Party...

So we all say we want another Ronald Reagan to show up.......

We fantasize the emergence of a strong Republican figure like Ronald Reagan or even a progressive Conservative figure like Newt Gingrich who led the 1994 Republican Congress to finally take back the Majority in the House and the Senate after a long, drawn out 40 year stint.

We all wait & anticipate that next Republican GREAT to take this 2008 election and restore a concrete Conservative foundation back into the whitehouse.
So far --we have yet to all agree that we have found that ONE.......right?

Republicans and Conservatives alike, made the 'Reagan Factor" such an important requirement for our GOP contenders that we actually posed that Reagan factor challenge to the canidates a couple nights ago during the South Carolina GOP debate on FOX News. The question that was posed to the candidates had to do with 'what happened to Reagan legacy and how each of them could best repeat that legacy.'

...After having heard each GOP Candidate's response to that Reagan factor inquiry---can any of us say yet that we have found him?

SO I SIT & CONTEMPLATED.............

......AND THESE WERE SOME OF MY THOUGHTS THAT TRANSPIRED......

Why are we not looking for the return of a figure like Abe Lincoln in 2008? I mean honestly, the Lincoln legacy is what MADE The Republican Party. And the fact of the matter is; the ingredients that made up the Abe Lincoln Republican Party just may be the most desirable dish that we "true" Republicans and Conservatives have to date on our Party's resume.
Why not take this Party's core foundational ORIGINS and for once, USE those to work in our favor, TODAY!

OR EVEN BETTER....I wondered if it just might be a much more viable concept to invent a NEW, more IMPROVED and UPDATED leader to represent The Republican Party of TODAY, instead of concentrating so obsessively on raising Republican Legends from the grave to save us from a Party meltdown. Just a thought.

SO HOW DO WE INVENT A NEW REPUBLICAN GREAT RIGHT NOW, HERE; IN THIS MOMENT IN HISTORY???

...SO I CONTEMPLATED MORE.......

Why not take this Party's core foundational ORIGINS and for once, USE those to work in our favor, TODAY! Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I started to realize how idiotic it really is that we don't use our founding Republican principles and passionate convictions MORE to work in our favor.

Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Newt Gingrich....anybody remember a man by the name of John C. Fremont?

How about the very first man who ran as the first Republican nominee for President, using the slogan:

"Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont."

If thats not inspiration to all you freedom fighting Republicans, I don't know what would be then.
So how DO we create a present day GOP Legend?

My answer:
-We create a Republican Great today by simuntaneously RE-creating & modernizing a few past legendary THEMES FIRST!

Before we can all even AGREE ON let alone CREATE another Republican Legend we can all rally around, we should probably first decide on how the Republican Party's core foundational principles can be applied to this 21st Century America and the modern day American society.!!! And it also wouldn't hurt to decide and agree upon a few Conservative, Passionate, all-persuasive themes, as well!! Just a thought.

But even before we do all that, it is my observation that just maybe Republicans need to be reminded and maybe even introduced for the very time to just WHAT the origins are that made the Grand Ol' Party a GRAND Ol' Party.

SO, JUST WHAT ARE THE MAIN INGREDIENTS THAT MAKE UP THE ORIGINS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY?

Here are four ingredients that I came up with:

1) The actual creation of the Republican Party is ultimately what led to the freeing of the slaves, unifying this Nation, and introducing this Nations' very first de-segregation legislation into Legislative and Constitutional actuality.

2) The Republican Party was once all to well known for being the Party "For the People". Believe it or not, at one time, the members of the Republican Party consisted primarily of Blacks and Whites who were anti-slavery activists.

3) Republicans were the FIRST Political Party to introduce anti-segregation legislation. It was actually Republicans of the 1860's that are responsible for the passing of the first Civil Rights laws. **(It was the Democrats that repealed those Civil Rights Laws)**

4) The Republican party was created as an act of defiance against what activists denounced as the 'Slave Power' -- the powerful class of slaveholders who were working together to control the federal government and to spread slavery nationwide. **(If we compare that to who we are faced with today--The "Slave Power", and those who seek to "more control of the Federal Government" are still, hands down..the Democrats. Yes. We, Republicans are still activists in defiance of the Democratic Party.)**

--SO WHAT HAPPENED???----

.......AND SO MY CONTEMPLATION CONTINUED...........

Well... I thought to myself; there's a few obvious things that have happened that have probably contributed to the early legacies and achievments of the Republican Party becoming long forgotten and overlooked by the majority of Americans today.

Here are three influential events in history that played important roles in that amnesia:

1) The New Deal introduced by FDR in 1932, established a political alliance between blacks and the Democratic Party that survives into the 21st century.

2) Barry Goldwater, a Republican who ran for President against Lynden B. Johnson in 1964, was known for his expressed support for states' rights, which was a signal of opposition to federal civil rights legislation for blacks.

3)JFK --and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

----AND SO THE REPUBLICAN ACHIEVEMENTS WERE FORGOTTEN & LOST TO THE DEMOCRATIC PROPOGANDA THAT HAS FOLLOWED THOSE THREE PIVITOL MOMENTS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY.-----

Over time, Democrats began using those three American events as their political tools to win, for the very first time, the HEARTS of Americans. The changing times and manifestation of a societal evolution demanded that they abandon their usual pro-segregationist, pro-racist, pro-exclusionary positions.

Republicans have been way to passive about this outrageous American fairytale that the Democrats have been telling since 1932.

Bigotry, racisim and segregationist rhetoric was not in style anymore. The old big money, Bourbon Democrats and Dixiecrat propogandas were just not as socially acceptable anymore. And so, by the 1960's Democrats were forced to accept the fact that in attempting to hold onto their old ways, they would eventually loose seats which would ultimately also make them lose power.

It was in the wake of those realizations that the Democratic Party decided that they needed a face-lift; a new compassionate social facade, if you will. Democrats also recognized that they now needed to work overtime to convince African Americans and 'average' citizens to overlook one unmistakable fact; that it was the Republicans, all along, who were fighting for the end of those Democratic pro-discrimination, pro-racism and pro-segregated positions. The Democrat Party needed their face lift to not only make themselvs look better, but to also cover up and overshadow the already compassionate, Republican Party.

Democrats used Social programs to secure a dependency on them which would also, in turn, help to maintain a victim-based mentality, inferiority complex, and co-dependence in the very ones they fought hard to keep seperate from society; African Americans. This manipulative, legislative tactic could just possibly be their redemption and maybe even persuade African Americans to forget about the Republican Party, all together.

The Democratic Party did this in the hopes that eventually, over time and as the new generations emerged, that African Americans would become accustomed and assimilated into a co-dependent way of living. They could only keep them economically inferior, if at the sametime, they also became their largest source of economic security.

This is not to say that helping African Americans to be econonmically secure was and/or is wrong or bad, because alone, in itself, it is not bad. However, what IS wrong and bad was and still are all the strings that come along with the Democratic economic security. For example, giving someone a house and some cash, but telling them they have to stay within a certain geographical parameter to get their education, healthcare and groceries from, and on top of that, forget to mention that those places they must live, learn and shop at is an area that recieves the least government funding in the state is both VERY WRONG & EXTREMELY BAD.

Medical assistance, shelter, food and clothing are nessecities of survival in modern day society, so its no wonder that the conditions that one is forced into is overlooked and/or accepted. This also creates a ugly cycle that consists of recieving and then settling for the lower standards so one can recieve again. The Democrats have perfected this cycle of give and take.
And let's be clear; I am not talking about the humanitarian/spiritual philosophy of give and take.
The Democratic welfare system of give and take goes a little something like this: GIVE people money, house, medical, food and education, but when they aren't looking, TAKE AWAY those same people's right to free choice in education, free choice in geographical location, free choice in where they get their food from, and most of all, they take away their dignity, self-respect, individual accountabilities and even more tragically, they take their OPPORTUNITIES.

The Democrats of today are still fighting to keep some enslaved, while, at the same time, they also attempt to convince us that the enslaving isn't really enslaving at all, since on paper, it is called assistance.

The most disgusting thing about the Democratic model of economic assistance is that the things the Democrats are TAKING from those who they CLAIM to be helping are the very tools that could actually be what could TAKE themselves OUT of that cycle of subsidized entrapment and Government enslavement. THIS is the TRUE meaning of what exploitation really is. THIS is inhumane. THIS is the greatest American social INjustice there is.

The Democratic Party once fought to keep slavery legal and ethically acceptable. After losing that battle to the Republican Party, they fought to keep those now-freed slaves legally seperate and ethically unacceptable. They originally lost this battle also when the Republican Party passed de-segregation laws in the 1860's; however and unfortunately, their resistance prevailed and they got their way and repealed those laws.

And to be perfectly honest, the Democratic Party we know today hasn't changed all that much. The Democrats of today are still fighting to keep some enslaved, while, at the same time, they also attempt to convince us that the enslaving isn't really enslaving at all, since on paper, it is called assistance. Then, on top of that, they demand that if we don't agree with their definition of 'assistance' that it is the REST OF US who are ethically unacceptable. They then add that the unfavorable conditions that those they are "assisting" are in are even more ethically unacceptable, even though, it is their "assistance" that is enslaving those people and forcing those who are "assisted" into those unfavorable conditions. Go figure.

The Democrats of today have also made it perfectly clear but disguised that they are still in fact fighting hard to keep certain people seperate from the rest. This is most evident in the limitations, restrictions and all the "parameters" they set for those they "assist" / enslave. This is proven every time the Democratic version of the "give and take" philosophy plays itself out in American society. The Democrats are still repealing civil rights, however, they may not be repealing those rights constitutionally, they are defintely repealing them covertly, through their economic and social control, iwhich appears in the form of economic and social welfare assistance programs.

To sum it up, since 1932, Democrats have been finding ways over time, to make themselves appear to the general public that they are the real party "for the people". Unfortunately, the Democrats have appeared to have gotten their way again. And as long as the Republican Party continues to deny that unfavorable social conditions exist in America, the longer it will be that the ones who are dependent on that Democtratic assistance will continue to believe that the Democratic Party is the real "party for the people'.

We can also assume that as long as Republicans REFUSE to address the various social ills and the unfavorable conditions that really exist in America, the longer the Republican Party will continue to be a political target and a scapegoat that Liberals and the Democratic Party can use to keep their social and economic slaves distracted. Anything to keep The Democrat Party's TRUE historical track record OUTof the view and away from public scrutiny, believe me, they will do.

Republicans have been way to passive about this outrageous American fairytale that the Democrats have been telling since 1932. Actually, if you want to get technical, it is our passivity that has helped to keep their fairytale believeable. Sad, but true. This is 'what has happened' in a nutshell.

SO WHAT NOW?

WHAT DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS????

.......SO I CONTEMPLATED SOME MORE............

After having had conducted some thorough study about the history of The Republican Party, I came to the conclusion that we should not just be praying for the ghost of Reagan to reincarnate in 2008, but maybe we should be more focused on the SPIRIT of Abe Lincoln and the original CONCEPTS & PASSIONATE PRINCIPLES that two anti-slavery activists from Wisconsin FORMED on that cold night in 1854.

WHY?

BECAUSE---the argument from Democrats and Liberals alike, is that the Republican Party USED to be the Party that was more likely to attract Blacks, lower income Americans and those labeled as "Average" Americans.

Democrats & Liberals and unfortunately a majority of African Americans argue and believe that the Republican Party of today is NOT that same Party that once existed. They argue that the present day Republicans have lost that humanity and compassion, and have transformed into a Party that is more dedicated to making the rich richer. They unfairly accuse The Republican Party & all its members of being discriminating, greedy, racist, assholes who are 'out of touch' with the "average" American.

AND HERE LIES THE DILEMMA WE REPUBLICANS FACE.
HOW DO WE RETURN THIS PARTY TO BE THE PARTY THAT IS ONCE AGAIN ATTRACTIVE TO AFRICAN AMERICANS & THOSE WHO WE REFER TO AS "AVERAGE" AMERICANS?

..............AND I CONTEMPLATED EVEN FURTHER..................

After pondering this, I came up with more ideas of what Republicans should NOT do:
We should stop condemning fellow Republicans who seek to offer compassionate messages that actually address social ills and issues that the "average" American is concerned with.

1) We should stop accusing fellow Republicans of "sounding liberal", just because he/she addresses social issues in a 'compassionate' manner.

2) We should stop denying the ills and concerns that seem to be of most signifigance to African Americans, those with a lower econmomic status and the "average" Americans. For example, poverty, crime, healthcare, housing and drug addiction.

After I addressed some of the "SHOULD NOT'S"--the "SHOULDS" seemed to be much more transparent:

1) Republicans SHOULD RE-address what the "war on drugs" really means. Republicans need to address drug addiction and its statistically evident role it plays in lower income families, crime and the African American community. Republicans should use their firm position on faith and family values as the foundation for introducing some new legislation that seeks more to heal the causes of the social ills, rather than deny them, which ends up ignoring the disease of addiction, which is really the root cause of so many crimes--instead of handing over the the effects of these ills over to the courts and the legal system.

2) Republicans SHOULD offer solution-based, pro-active initiatives that seek to HEAL the social ills and crime that plagues the ghettos, inner city communities and the government-funded housing projects across America. In doing this, Republicans will be making a huge step towards re-establishing that relationship with African Americans, lower income Americans and in general, the "Average" Americans ONCE AGAIN.

***[ When Republicans ignore the realities that exist inside America's ghettos, inner cities and gov't-funded housing projects, it only makes it that much easier for Democrats/Liberals to weasel their way in and play superhero and look like they are the ones "saving" those who live within those communities.

The Democrats use victim-based strategies that HURT these people more by influencing them to become more dependent, rather than independant Americans. And we all know that the Democratic agenda THRIVES on this dependence and milks this at any cost, in order that they APPEAR to be the Party "For the People". Which we all know is a LIE.]***
....This is a beginning...if we all put our heads and hearts together, I am sure we can come up with sooooo many more SHOULDS that the Republican Party can do to improve and revive its' image and message.

Let me leave you with this.... The origin of the Republican Party is ultimately what led to freeing the slaves, unifying this Nation, and introducing the ideology of desegregation into the American consciousness...which ultimately promoted a new social awareness and acceptance of equal rights which then led to the freedom to be any color you wanted and still be an American.
That is something every Republican should be proud of. This Party completed no small task---funny even then, Republicans seemed to be on the side for preserving freedoms and making sure that every American had access to those freedoms. We also seem to be the only Party that has truly wanted to see others rise above their struggles and achieve the American dream. Republicans seem to be the Party that has always been dedicated to keeping the freedom to succeed in this Country alive and well..

...and we always chose love over fear ....we did not fear another race, we saw differences and welcomed them, knowing that diversity was what made America so special. Diversity represented the freedoms that Americans have. Without the freedoms, diversity could not be. As Republicans, we fought from day one of our Party's conception to make differences equal under the law. We fought hard to end an evil that wanted to see another human stay enslaved and inferior.

It's not like Republicans need to find something to fight for...its obvious.

Now, we just need to re-charge the activists that lie in us. Freedom activists...no doubt, over the last few years, Liberals have seemed to make the word activist sound like a swear word...but it was the Republican Party that gave birth to true political activism...in the name of freedom, equality and Liberty.

THE HUCKABEE EFFECT:

The Reemergence of

THE TRUE REPUBLICAN...

~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~

It would just be naive and just plain impossible (if you are paying close attention) to overlook the emerging shift in regards to what the average American demands from a candidate.
And the fact of the matter is...the "Average" American demands a candidate they can TRUST, UNDERSTAND, BELIEVE, and LIKE.

Another matter of fact is that the "Average" voting American would rather see a leader that can work with both sides of the aisle. Just because we Conservatives sit around and communicate our strong political ideals to one another and listen to people like Rush, Sean, Ann, etc... for our mental sanity --doesn't mean that the majority of "Average" Americans subscribe to those same strict ideologies that we do. And you can bet that those "Average" Americans that make up the Majority of the voters in this Country surely don't call on those strict, radio-rhetoric Conservatism as the basis for what political candidate best fits with their needs/desires/hopes as "Average" Americans.

Even Sean Hannity stated a few months back on his Radio program that he would much rather prefer to label himself as an "Independent Conservative", rather than how he had normally been branding himself as a "Republican". His justifications behind his new political label were because he finally got so fed up, as did so many other "true" Conservatives, with the representation, or better yet, LACK of representation that was and has been coming from Congressional Republicans and the beltway lately.

...And this is one of the best explanations behind why we see such a confused, divided and UN-unified Republican Party today...and this unstabelized Republican Party couldn't be better seen than among and in this current group of GOP Presidential candidates.

And so it is.... we all want another Ronald Reagan to show up, we fantasize the emergence of a strong Republican figure like Newt Gingrich who helped the Republicans take back the Majority in the House and Senate after a 40 year stint. We all waited and imagined ...and now we are all asking our GOP contenders to answer for that, as we saw tonight in the GOP South Carolina Primary debate.

The question posed to all the candidates had to do with what happened to Reagan legacy and how each of them could best repeat that legacy.

So, why are we not looking for the return of Abe Lincoln in 2008? I mean honestly, the Lincoln legacy is what MADE The Republican Party. And the fact of the matter is; the ingredients that made up the Abe Lincoln Republican Party just may be more of a desirable dish that we "true" Republicans and Conservatives should really be aiming and striving to cook up in our Presidential GOP Candidate. Having said this, I must admit, it is pretty moronic to spend to tooooo much talking about the legacies of this Party's Greats.

Instead, a much more viable concept might be to invent a new more IMPROVED and UPDATED leader to represent The Republican Party of TODAY. Why not take this Party's core foundational ORIGINS and use that to work in our favor. Actually, I think it is just plain idiotic that we don't use our founding Republican principles and passionate convictions more as a means to invite more "average" Americans into the Party?!

Here is the bigger question...Which one of the current GOP Presidential Candidates can we honestly say is attracting more "average" Americans then ever before???

Mike Huckabee.

This is not an endorsement. This is also not in anyway some subconscious persuasive ploy to get people in his camp. This is an well-informed observation based on the messages I have heard/seen via various polls, media trends, along with Huckabee's unique track record and the way he communicates his positions, ideologies and political proposals.

As one Republican strategist said Monday, Huckabee is "as unconventional to the Reagan coalition on those issues as some of the other candidates are on social issues." That's exactly what I meant by "invent" a new Great for this Party.

And right now, modern times calls for this Republican Party to invite those who once dominated this Party's member base back; African Americans.

In 1998, elected to his first term as governor of Arkansas, Huckabee received 48 percent of the African-American vote, according to a CNN exit poll. In 2002, Mike also received 43 percent of the African American vote, despite the fact that former President Clinton campaigned in Arkansas five times for Huckabee's opponent.
Just for one moment, let me repeat and expand to what I said about using the origins of this Party to work to our advantage.
Here is something for all you Republicans to sit and meditate on:
~~~~The origin of the Republican Party is ultimately what led to freeing the slaves, unifying this Nation, and introducing desegregation into Legislative and Constitutional actuality.~~~~~~~~

And so it is...The Republican Party was once all to well known for being the Party "For the People". Republicans were mostly made up of Blacks and whites who were anti-slavery activists. Republicans were the first to introduce anti-segregation legislation...long before the 1964 Civil Rights Act which now is seen as JFK's astonishing achievement. No offense to JFK, but The Republicans who had the majority in the House in the 1860's passed the first Civil Rights laws.

Unfortunately, the Democrats regained control of Congress in 1892, and passed the Repeal Act of 1894 that repealed portions of laws designed to help African Americans. With that all being said, I invite you to see where our Republican priorities SHOULD be today.

There is a ironic, yet meaningfully REAL metaphor that has emerged from some recent statements uttered by conservative black leaders in recent years which refers to the Democrats' stronghold they have on the African American voters; "Black Americans are still trying to be free, only this time we are trying to save them from the LIBERAL plantation."

What one is likely to find after having had conducted some thorough study of the history of The Republican Party is that we should not just be praying for the ghost of Reagan to reincarnate in 2008, but to also maybe be meditating on the SPIRIT of Abe Lincoln and the original CONCEPTS & PASSIONATE PRINCIPLES that were created by those two anti-slavery activists who FORMED The Republican Party that one cold eve in Wisconsin in 1854.
Now, the argument from Democrats and Liberals alike is that the Republican Party USED to be the Party that was more likely to attract Blacks, but the Republican Party of today is not the same Party. They will argue that the present day Republicans have lost that humanity and compassion, and have resorted mainly to Capital gains and getting rich, staying rich and stepping on anyone who isn't rich to get richer.

AND HERE LIES THE DILEMMA WE REPUBLICANS FACE. HOW DO WE RETURN THIS PARTY TO BE THE PARTY THAT IS ATTRACTIVE TO AFRICAN AMERICANS?

Our principles have stayed true over the years, however, with critical influences such as Barry Goldwater, FDR and JFK's Civil Rights position; Republicans have become to be THOUGHT of as the elitist Party, while Democrats, unfairly mind you, take all credit for desegration legislation and welfare and social program creations. And that is how the transformation evolved into what we witness in today's stereotypes that overshadow The TRUE Republican.

The creation of Social programs in the 1960's appealed predominately to Blacks, since they were more likely to be struggling economically, having recently JUST gained equal rights and protections that the white Americans had well before. This appealed to the idea for minorities at the time as a way to "catch up", if you will to the white American.

However, it is imperative that we understand that the profile of f just WHO struggles economically in this Country has changed. And this is now also WHO Republicans must work harder to appeal to; the poverty stricken black AND WHITE Americans. Republicans of today must win back the support of who and just what this Party was founded for; minorities.


Hope is what lives inside of us; Opportunity is what is granted to this Nation via the Freedoms that our Constitution promises each and every one of us. And this is exactly why the very first Republicans fought SO hard and even DIED just so that African Americans could enjoy those same OPPORTUNITIES that the Founding Fathers bestowed onto ALL the citizens of this Great Nation, which ultimately instilled the very first seed of HOPE for all Americans.

So, let's be clear; the Political Paradigm is shifting in this Country. And the INACCURATE stereotypes that have plagued the Republicans since 1964 have created too much distance between The Republican Party and the "Average" American. Since we all know that is has been the Democrats that have been monopolizing on this misunderstood Republican/Goldwater platform since 1964, it is in our best interest as "true" Republicans to REVIVE the ORIGINS of what this Party REALLY stands for; which is Economic opportunity for ALL Americans; Freedom, for ALL Americans and EQUAL treatment for ALL Americans.

And let us not confuse these three simple Republican Party beliefs with Liberal victim-based control programs. Those three original primary principles don't support a fear-based ideology that aims to give undeserved consideration or victim-based hand-outs to some, while quilting and creating consequences for others, just because of what one has achieved economically because of that ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />OPPORTUNITY. The Reality of opportunity is really what even makes HOPE a possibility.

And we WILL NOT do this by limiting our political dialogue and public approaches that ignore social justice issues. We WILL NOT do this by condemning fellow Republicans who seek to offer compassionate messages that actually address social ills and issues that the "average" American is concerned with. The Democrats will keep tricking those with lower income and those who are considered to be 'minorities' as long as we Republicans refuse to change our dialogue. When Rush, Ann, and some other of our Conservative public mouth-pieces criticize Mike Huckabee for "sounding liberal", just because he talks about how healthcare in a 'compassionate' manner is just pure STUPIDITY. It's what draws the line in the sand between the Republican Party that wants to stay distant from the "average" American and the TRUE Republican Party who IS the "AVERAGE" American.

Get with the program. If Republicans want to win this Presidential election, we need to get our priorities straight --real quick. This is not a time to analyze who SOUNDS more Conservative, or obsess over how "liberal" the message sounded; this is a unique and historical opportunity to revive the Republican Party and RE-invite some of our once greatest kin back.

It's funny that it is taking a candidate like Mike Huckabee to make this internal debate and conflict surface for us. But this conflict Huckabee is stirring among Conservatives and Republicans is a blessing in disguise; mark my words. This conversation we are beginning to engage in and with one another may just be what reframes and packages this Party, so it can once again attract those who have been captured by the "Stay a victim" Democratic Party for WAY TOOOO LONG.