An awful lot of Republican incumbents as well as Democrats are feeling a bit nervous these days. Attribute that situation to the existence of the recently created TEA (taxed enough already) Party. From the git-go, Democrats have reacted with undisguised hostility and sought to besmirch and marginalize the TEA Partiers and dismiss their concerns with constitutionality and fiscal responsibility as the ravings of racist extremists. That policy is not only ignorant and loathsome, it also hasn’t worked and has only served to highlight just how out of touch the Obama administration and Democratic leadership as a whole has become.
Republicans are also “edgy” about the future created by this new activist force. Blogs are springing up all over conservative websites saying some version of this . . . “The tea party seems to be thinking they can pick our candidates for us, and they openly prefer candidates that are not incubents or not already “part of the establishment . . . of course, they’ll want us to fund the campaigns for these newcomers. This doesn’t make any sense to me . . . “ Republicans are treating this situation as a quagmire when they should be embracing it as raw opportunity. If Rajjpuut were named Head #1 Republican Honcho tomorrow here’s how he’d approach the “problem.” It’s been said, there is none so blind as he who will not see. It seems that Republicans canNOT see the future clearly because they don’t know their own history? Allow Rajjpuut to refresh some memories . . . .
Sixteen years after the Dixiecrats walked out (at the Democratic National Convention that nominated Harry Truman) during Hubert Humphrey’s speech in favor of civil rights legislation, they found a home in 1964 favoring Republican conservative Barry Goldwater. To be blunt, they were about the only truly enthusiastic voters for Barry. Four years later, Nixon courted them as the “Silent Majority” and the Republican Party stopped being the “Party of Lincoln” in the eyes of many minorities and that condition still exists today. Times have changed, but perceptions haven't. For example, Obama received more White votes and a higher percentage of White votes (almost 48%) than either Kerry or Gore, but McCain only received 4.3% of the Black votes . . . so the Democrats could fairly be excused of having the most racist party. In any case, politically there was an enormous plus for Nixon and many Republicans . . . the G.O.P. was now a much more conservative party and since in any given year, 65-70% of the voters describe themselves as “fiscal-conservatives” Republicans since Nixon’s days have had a natural advantage that has led them to winning seven of the last eleven presidential elections.
With those numbers in their favor, Republicans are a natural “slam-dunk.” Frankly, however, the G.O.P., from the standpoint of Conservative Democrats and Independents (a good percentage of the 65% fiscal-conservatives in America) especially, has gone so far out of the way to make itself UN-attractive that in local, state and national elections they have largely squandered their birthright and continually snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Four key perceptions in many voters’ eyes have cemented inside them the picture of numerous Republicans as Racists, Old-Fashioned, generally intolerant and an even “ugly” group because . . . .
• They believe that the party is “wagged” by its tail, that is, they believe that former Dixiecrats control the party to this day and they are still racists.
• They disagree with the party’s UNcompromising Stand on abortion even when the woman’s life is in danger, or in cases of rape and incest or for retarded mothers.
• They abhor demands for teaching Creationism in public school science classes and teaching Christian songs in public schools. This is why God created private schools . . . and the founding fathers created Separation of Church and State! This is the TEA Party’s only constitutional beef with Republicans but it is a big one. However, they believe that the Democrats are trying to destroy the Constitution.
• Their perception is that the Republican Party is a sectional (southern) party and not really involved in national issues . . . even for people who don’t regard the G.O.P. as “racists” this view is widely-held.
(Setting aside the detractions mentioned above perceived as “Republican” weaknesses,) here’s what observation and common sense tell us about the TEA Party movement. It is a fiscally-conservative movement. It is a constitutionally-conservative movement. The members of the TEA Party are somewhat older, somewhat wealthier, and somewhat better educated than the average Republican and much moreso than the average Democrat. In short, the TEA Partiers are naturally aligned with the Republican Party, but oooops -- there is that “Republican ugliness” to contend with. So they are definitely an anti-Obama group; anti-progressive group; anti-socialist group and much, much more likely to vote against a Democrat than for one. The problem Republicans are really worried about, however, is that many Republicans feel as threatened by the TEA Party as the Democrats do. They could split the conservative vote for many years to come and ensure a long continuation of Democrats in power nationally and on the state and local levels as well.
Let’s bring our history lesson up closer in time: three potentially great things have happened relatively recently:
1) the TEA Party came into existence and is threatening to hold ALL incumbent politicians’ feet to the fire . . . and isn’t that about time? Big spending irresponsible Republicans should face the same ignominious fate as big spending irresponsible Democrats. Our nation is in a constitutional and fiscal crisis and the voters must solve the problem.
2) The Republican Party finally wised up. They abandoned their old ugly-right “litmus testing.” Instead they took to heart Ronald Reagan’s words, “If a fellow votes with me eight times out of ten, I regard him as a friend.” They created the “Republican Purity Test”:
http://uscommonsense.net/blog/2009/11/25/republican-purity-test/
You’ll remember that the need for such a test arose when the Republican Party chose a candidate to run for a seat in Upper New York and funded her with over a million dollars. It was a conservative region and the locals had not wanted her and were hopping mad. Their ire increased when it came to light that this was a candidate possibly to the left of Barak Obama and that the Democrat running against her was far more conservative. A real conservative entered the race as an Independent Conservative against them both and almost won after the TEA Party money and fury; and national contributions forced the FAKE Republican to withdraw with only about 7% of the voters committed to her. Her parting shot was to ask her supporters to support the Democrat who won by roughly 2.5%. Unfortunately, the G.O.P. as a whole has not acknowledged the purity test and as far as I know has not enforced the purity test before the primaries. So it appears that this very good idea is just lying dormant.
3) The TEA Party released its “Contract From America” as part of their rambunctious “Tax Day” protests on April 15th:
http://www.contractfromamerica.com/Idea.aspx
Looking closely at the two documets with Reagan’s jelly beans over his eyes, Rajjpuut suggests that if the G.O.P. Purity Test rates an 8.2 on a scale of ten, then the TEA Party document deserves an 11.0!
So, in answer to the worries about the TEA Party. How exactly does the Republican Party respond to their presence and even exploit the common ground between the two political entities?
Rajjpuut (as #1 Head Honcho Republican would suggest the following ACTION PLAN for exploiting the common ground existing between the TEA Party and the Republican Party. What should the nominees and candidates do?
1. Ignore the TEA Party. Don’t kowtow to them; don’t treat them as special. Don’t go out of your way to welcome them as likely-Republican-voters or to exaggerate the commonalities. In other words, don’t be political at all. Treat all voters and all campaign contributors the same (with respect but without debasing yourself).
2. Look over their “Contract From America” and see if 8, 9 or 10 of these items can be adopted/adapted for the G.O.P.
3. Look over the “Republican Purity Test” and seriously consider leaving items #9 and #10 out of the picture. 9 is redundant and 10, while important, is about 30th on any sensible list of crucial items for dealing with the crisis year 2010.
4. Using the phraseology of the “Republican Purity Test” modify and combine the two lists and with big drumming and fanfare announce the “Finalized Republican Purity Test” of about fifteen items. Then see which Republican primary candidates meet the purity test and which do not and let the party faithful know who had 15/15; who had 14/15/; who scored 13/15; who had 12/15 and who did NOT pass the test.
5. Ignore the TEA Party and set about fielding a slate of true statesmen and true stateswomen who meet the new Republican standards at least 12/15 and emphasize the key fifteen points at every step of the campaign.
6. Impress the TEA Party and all voters by seeking NOT to impress anyone, but steadfastly and seriously approaching the challenge ahead without pause until voted into office (Then take a break for about three weeks to refresh body, mind and spirit. Read the Constitution and start planning for your swearing in and beyond).
7. Defeat every possible Obama sycophant across the board and start repealing all his garbage. Consider impeaching the communist SOB for not upholding his oath of office and constantly attacking the U.S. Constitution.
Ya’ll live long, strong and ornery,
