Just Say No

Fred Barnes reacts the same way I did earlier to the Republican meme of not wanting to be the party of no. I'm not optimistic. Except for some few good conservatives, many of today's Republicans think the way to eventually win is to sing kumbaya, we love to compromise, while the nation slides significantly to the Left. They're more interested in trying to keep their jobs, as opposed to fighting for an America that still resembles our founding principles. And that's why many of them will find themselves out of a job, eventually.

Improving the party's image is a worthy cause, but it isn't what Republicans ought to be emphasizing right now. They have a more important mission: to be the party of no.And not just a party that bucks Obama and Democrats on easy issues like releasing Gitmo terrorists in this country, but one committed to aggressive, attention-grabbing opposition to the entire Obama agenda.

Many Republicans recoil from being combative adversaries of a popular president. They shouldn't. Opposing Obama across-the-board on his sweeping domestic initiatives makes sense on substance and politics. His policies--on spending, taxes, health care, energy, intervention in the economy, etc.--would change the country in ways most Americans don't believe in. That's the substance. And a year or 18 months from now, after those policies have been picked apart and exposed and possibly defeated, the political momentum is likely to have shifted away from Obama and Democrats.

I think Romney is calculating some type of middle road. If he were to have a chance in 2012, he'd be setting himself up as the opposition in chief to Obama's agenda. His not doing that may cause many people to write him off. I don't question his competence as a manager. But as a politician, his instincts do not serve him well.

We need some consistent, principled opposition to join voices with the DeMints of the world. The American people are leading today with the Tea Party movement. But too many of the Right's politicians just aren't showing up. They're too busy reading the Washington Post in hopes of spotting some positive coverage to send back home.

Comments

[Scott]

Actually, being the party of No is a bad thing. We Republicans should aspire to greater heights than a simple "No" to our fellow man. I think that the motto of the Republican Party should be "Hell, no!"

I'm thinking of selling t-shirts and bumper stickers.

[DaveinPhoenix]

"With as many as two million homeowners finding themselves entering foreclosure in 2008, some aren't leaving without taking out their anger on the home itself."

"A recent national survey of 1,500 real estate agents found roughly half of all foreclosures have significant damage."

"Realtor Anand Barnes said he see major, intentional damage in at least two out of every 10 foreclosed homes. It's such a problem nationally, lenders are increasingly authorizing "cash for keys." It has agents like Barnes pay thousands of dollars to the person being foreclosed on, to not trash the house.”

So, we've endured at least 6 federal government interventions into American home ownership since 1949.

The Housing Act of 1949:
The 1968 Fair Housing Act/FHA Section 235 program
The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987
The 1990 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act
The Housing and Community Development Act of 1997
The American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003

The result: 200,000-1,000,000 homes at risk of being trashed by owners facing foreclosure. A national housing crisis and pricing collapse. The catalyst for a financial meltdown which has now resulted in massive federal government intervention. Is there any possibility that Americans might possibly someday learn a lesson from this ? Please ? How much longer should we fool ourselves by sustaining the illusion that home ownership is the "right" and "privilege" of every American ? How much longer do we continue to blame politicians for all of our problems when faced with the level of maturity and responsibility which results in the trashing of hundreds of thousands of homes ? At what point will Americans accept the idea that our "rights" and freedoms come with a certain amount of maturity and responsibility ?

The former Speaker of the House during the 104th Congress recently stated it perfectly: "It's time to declare the end of adolescence. As a social institution, it's been a failure. The proof is all around us: 19% of eighth graders, 36% of tenth graders, and 47% of twelfth graders say they have used illegal drugs, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan. One of every four girls has a sexually transmitted disease, suggests a recent study for the Centers for Disease Control. A methamphetamine epidemic among the young is destroying lives, families, and communities. And American students are learning at a frighteningly slower rate than Chinese and Indian students."

The party of "no" ? How about a 60 year party of "yes, ok, anything to get along...". Why is not every Republican lawmaker in the nation citing this failed 60 year Democratic inspired government intervention into the American housing market ?

[Americaneocon]

I've got you linked up in the best Mother's Day Rule 5 evah! "Rule 5 Rescue: Heidi Klum Mother's Day Action!".

[Evil Red Scandi]

The whole "party of no" thing is in and of itself a media construct and a red herring. Conservatives and libertarians have ideas for moving forward; they just let the media and their political opposition (but I repeat myself) frame these ideas as against all of the super-swell progressive stuff proposed by "smarter, better" people.

[Doug]

I guarantee I'll say "NO to RomneyCare"...no matter how he is repackaged.

[man_in_tx]

Actually, being the party of No is a bad thing. We Republicans should aspire to greater heights than a simple "No" to our fellow man. I think that the motto of the Republican Party should be "Hell, no!"

I'm thinking of selling t-shirts and bumper stickers.

Posted by: Scott | Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 12:40 PM

Great! You GET it! You cut through all the emotional fluff in which our currently feminized society wraps itself and get to cut to the heart of the issue in a "threateningly" masculine manner! I will use your expression {"hell, no!").

Please DO market T-shirts and bumper stickers! (No doubt, Janet Napo will very likely add those sporting your bumper sticker slogan to the "potential bad-guy" list!)

[LOL]

Dude, you can't say the American people are on your side when sum total about ~300,000 people turned out to the tea parties. That's not a large sampling of America. The may day protests and the anti-war protests dwarfed those numbers. And they didn't have people from a major party and a major news network sponsoring their protests.

The american people aren't on your side. America has slid to the left on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, the evils of socialism. This is not necessarily a departure from our founders' principles. Our founders were just men, flawed even in their own times, monstrous by today's standards. It is only natural we would not emulate them in every aspect. But america still emulates them in their ideal of progress. You, and your conservative brethren, will be left behind just like the segregationists, anti-suffragettes, and slave owners of the past.

[tally]

HELL NO is fantastic.

[Philip McDaniel]

Uh...the segregationists, anti-suffragettes and slave owners were Democrats. You need to brush up on your US History, lady. Further, the Revolution was fundamentally a conservative revolution, managed and supported by the conservative land owners in our society.

[SacTownMan]

Phil it is a waste of time trying to reason with Astroturfers like LOL and Lame-O. Their goal is to spread the Soros/Xerxes talking points and take this country on a path to destroy everything the founding fathers envisioned.

Despite the best efforts of these trolls and the lying MSM in this country to try and get folks to mime the "America is moving left" BS there are still those pesky "Tea Party" folks that ain't buying it.

And unlike those bused in ACORN workers and SEIU packed "orchestrated" protests they like to point to they still can't come to terms with the "real" patriots that are showing up for the "Tea Party" protests.

Their only response is to spread their Daily Koz message and blame Bush, Fox and Rush for anyone daring to question Xerxes and his puppet master Soros.

This president was bought and paid for by Soros and the unions and his sick focus on his own self-importance will be the ruin of this great republic!

2010 will be the wake-up call for these trolls and their attack on the Republic!

[Philip McDaniel]

I agree, SacTownMan...but sometimes their nonsense compels me to comment just to let them know they are not entirely getting away with it. By the way, what do you think of the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009, HR45? It will be a cold day in Hell before I comply -- if it passes.

[seekeronos]

"--- Our founders were just men, flawed even in their own times, monstrous by today's standards. ---"

Monsters, eh?

Did they call for, and back the killing of tens of innocent unborn children?

Did they call for, and achieve the slaughter of tens of millions of men who were "unequal" in ovens and gas chambers?

Did they call for, and sanction as "normal" the marriage of sodomites?

Certainly the founding fathers had their faults... but I'd hardly call what were the issues of their time truly monstrous.

As a matter of fact, most of them who were slaveholders - made a very good point of ensuring that their slaves were well taken care of, in accordance with Christian principles. I won't justify the fact that slavery existed, but even within that time period, they did right by their fellow man, inasmuch as some were owned by others.

But until the time of the Indian Wars (which were a matter of the generation of the grandsons of the Founding Fathers), they were quite humane, all other things considered.