Whenever people start talking about the Republican Party and its current state of disarray, the "Big Tent" analogy is immediately trotted out to show that we need to be "inclusive" and willing to compromise for the sake of including more people. I hate the analogy because the image I get when I think of it is a circus tent with three rings, one of which is filled with clowns, another with one-trick-ponies and another with true performers trying to shine, but the audience is distracted by the other two. Nothing stands out and nothing gets done. In the end, we just become "Democrat Lite" and end up having it used against us. This has been on my mind since Arlen Specter abandoned any sense of principle and announced that he was now a Democrat.
Since Specter announced his defection, I read the endless MSM analysis (or what passes for analysis from the press in these days of Obama worship) telling me that the GOP was too conservative and not inclusive enough, blah-blah - retch, Their "learned' conclusions are forced down our collective throats like some horrible tasting medicine. In this case it's Doctor Democrat's Party Fixin' Elixir and Tent Repair Solution. All we have to do is take a dose of it and VIOLA, our party will unite and we will be on our way to regaining control of the wheels of government. It's 100% pure poison but somehow, they are convincing us it's right out of the fountain of eternal knowledge. Are we that stupid? Are we just too lazy come up with our own ideas and solutions? Are we so afraid of being branded a racist, xenophobe, homophobe, hater, extremist, Nazi, etc. that we allow ourselves to be kowtowed into silent submission? Do we really think the Democrats want us to become a force again or do you think maybe their tent anology just might be in their best interests and not ours? I don't know about you, but I'm inclined to think we are being hoodwinked.
The resurgence of the Republican Party that occurred in the 1980s and led by the immortal Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich happened not because we became "Democrat Lite". On the contrary my dear Watson, it was because we moved to the right of center. We united under the Reagan banner after Jimmy Carter's disastrous one term and we brought our economy back from the brink of collapse. We didn't do it with bailouts and socialist solutions. We did it by lowering taxes and allowing free market principles to work. We also were successful in disbanding the very system of government that we seem to be rushing headlong toward establishing here 20 years later.
If we are to regain the majority, we need to understand several things. The first and foremost is that the Press will be hostile to anything we say or do. They will do whatever they can, including lie and misrepresent, to thwart us. We must understand that much of Academia is downright hostile. They too will use every resource to counter our message.
The third thing we have against us is the trial lawyers and that is probably the most powerful and hardest to overcome. What most people don't understand is that Trial Lawyers are a de facto fourth branch of government. Understand what I'm saying here. Trial lawyers have established themselves as an unelected, self-appointed body, dedicated to forcing societal change, not though legislation where their ideas can be examined and debated, but through endless litigation until they get the outcome they wanted. Robert Reich alluded to this when he once said: “The era of big government may be over, but the era of regulation through litigation has just begun.” In other words, they stopped us in the legislature, but they can't stop us in the courts. It should be noted that the Press sometimes considers itself the "fourth estate" (a term attributed to Edmond Burke) or even the "fourth branch". That may have been the case years ago, but I believe these days, they are not much more than cheerleaders rather than the actual drivers of government. They do have their moments, but their last big hurrah was over 30 years ago with Watergate. As much as they despised Bush, they were ineffectual in keeping him from re-election.
We don't need a tent. A tent gets blown down with the first big wind that comes along. First, we need a foundation built upon the bedrock of liberty; a foundation composed od sound conservative principles. Our foundation should be made up of basic materials such as small government, lower taxes, free markets and private ownership. We should be explaining how this provides opportunity for all people regardless of color, religion (or lack thereof), ethnicity or even sexual orientation. We should be out there extolling the benefits of capitalism and exposing the false ideas of the statists. Do not be afraid to be a conservative.
We are not extremists. The left are now the extremists and if we can't show that and prove we are the solution, then we may as well welcome our socialist overlords.
Forget the tent, build a building.
VW
