Now Who's the Party of No?

You know, I have at times been critical of the Republican Party. I believe in conservative ideals, but I have often thought Republicans tend to be very spineless and weak in fighting for them. I know at one point on this blog I even urged my readers not to give money to the Republican National Committee because of their habit of giving big bucks to some very liberal Republican candidates. I have also said that I am not necessarily pro-Republican; merely (fiercely) anti-Democrat.

However, I have to say that I have been very encouraged lately about what I am seeing from Republican officials around the country. Many of them are showing a lot more leadership and backbone than I expected to see. The Republican governors, especially, are doing both their states and their party proud. When Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was first elected at the end of 2009, I expected him to be a typical Northeastern liberal Republican squish. Boy, was I wrong! He has been fierce in taking on the unions and the political interest groups and fighting to get New Jersey back on a solid financial footing. Gov. Bob McDonnell has also done a great deal in only a little over a year to balance Virginia's budget and bring more jobs to his state. Gov. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania is cracking down on abortion clinics in the state that violate health & safety codes. Not only did he succeed in exposing the disgusting & murderous activities going on in Kermit Gosnell's "abortion clinic" in Philadelphia, but he has also fired numerous state employees who were responsible for looking the other way for years while these violations occurred. Now, I am watching as Gov. Scott Walker and the courageous Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature take on the deeply entrenched public employee unions in the state in order to balance the state's budget. Despite intense pressure, angry mobs, and threats of violence, they are standing tall on their principles and refusing to back down. Other Republican governors are also standing up to the money-hungry unions, including Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.

Then there is the newly-elected GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. They too are courageously standing up to the President. They recently passed a package with $61 billion in discretionary domestic spending cuts, including de-funding Planned Parenthood. Granted, it's small compared to the overall deficit, but at least it's a start -- a start staunchly opposed by the Democrats who want no cuts at all. John Boehner and the Republican leadership in the House have also announced that they intend to take on entitlement reform in their budget coming out in April. This is a somewhat risky thing to do, especially since the President wants to do nothing but use entitlements as a political football to get re-elected -- but it is the right thing to do. It is encouraging to see this new class of lawmakers willing to take on such an important issue that lawmakers have cravenly avoided for decades.

Who knows how everything will happen in the end. Maybe the Republicans will end up caving in the end. Maybe the Democrats will effectively demagogue the spending cuts to worm their way back into power in Congress. But for now, we have every reason to be encouraged at this new generation of Republican leaders. They seem to have principles, and they seem to be willing to fight for those principles. We should pray for them and support them in any way we can. And those "conservative" critics who claim there is "no difference between the two parties" and "all politicians are equally corrupt" should be ashamed of themselves. There is a very clear difference between the parties, and people who think that it doesn't matter whether you vote Republican or Democrat are not paying attention to what's happening out there.

Obama's rhetoric to the contrary, the Democrats do not stand for change. Public employees are not screaming epithets against the Wisconsin governor in the streets because they support change. They are reactionaries trying to defend a failed system that is tetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Democrats have no solutions to our looming financial crisis and our out-of-control deficit spending. I have known for a long time they are cowards -- I saw how they demagogued Bush's sincere attempt at Social Security reform back in 2005. What I have recently come to realize is that many Republicans actually do stand for change. Many of them are sincere about wanting to solve our deficit crisis and tackle entitlement reform. Many of them are willing to take risks and stand up to powerful & corrupt interests to do what's right. I don't put my trust in politicians, but I will say that I've rarely been prouder to be a Republican.

For a great article on this contrast between the parties, check out this column by Charles Krauthammer.

What Dede Scozzafava says about the Republican establishment

While the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey are getting most of the attention this election cycle, there is also a special congressional election taking place in the 23rd district of New York to replace a Republican congressman who resigned. The "Republican" in this race, handpicked by the GOP establishment and endorsed and funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is Dede Scozzafava. Here are the pertinent facts about Ms. Scozzafava. She is pro-abortion and supports gay marriage. As a member of the New York legislature, she repeatedly supported Democratic budgets, higher taxes, and bank bailouts. She supported the Obama stimulus bill, which every single Republican in the House opposed. She has close ties to organized labor (her husband is a union organizer) and she strongly supports "card check" legislation that would increase the power of the unions. She also has close ties to ACORN and is a personal friend of Bertha Lewis, ACORN's CEO. Although branded as a "moderate" by the media, she is down-the-line liberal on almost every issue. She has even been endorsed by the founder of the DailyKos website, who stated that she is to the left of many Democrats on social issues. Her latest antic is to file a false police report against a Weekly Standard reporter, which has resulted in calls for her resignation.

Thankfully, there is a real Republican in this race. Bill Hoffman, also a Republican, is running as a third-party candidate on the Conservative Party ticket. Hoffman, unlike Scozzafava, actually believes in conservative principles of less government and lower taxes and protecting human life. And he is running competitively in the polls. The sad thing is that the Republican establishment has not given Hoffman the time of day. Not only has Scozzafava been endorsed and funded by the NRCC (and the RNC), but this committee has even spent money making ads specifically attacking Hoffman. Scozzafava has a string of endorsements from GOP congressman and even from Newt Gingrich.

Sadly, this is not the first time this has happened. The Republican party raised a significant amount of money to re-elect liberal Republican Jim Jeffords in Vermont in 2000. Only a few months later, in April 2001, Jeffords switched parties and gave the Democrats a majority in the U.S. Senate. Of course, he didn't give back the money. Then in 2004, the Republican party and all the leading officials, including President Bush and Rick Santorum, endorsed and raised extensive funds for liberal Republican Arlen Specter, who barely squeaked out a win over real Republican Pat Toomey in the primary. Now, Arlen Specter has joined the Democratic party as well (surprise!). In 2006, the RNC endorsed very liberal Republican Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island against a more conservative primary challenger. They not only endorsed Chafee, but also ran harsh negative ads against his conservative challenger, insisting that only Chafee could get elected in Rhode Island. And what happened? Chafee, the "electable" candidate, lost, despite giving assurances to various potential donors before the election that he might switch parties after the election. As can be readily seen, the Republican party establishment, including the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, has a history of endorsing very liberal candidates simply because they have an "R" after their name, and aggressively funding them even if they are running against conservatives.

If the Republican party continues to behave in this way, their funds are going to dry up. Voters are fed up with all the government spending, and they want real change in Washington. This is why the Republicans lost their majority in the first place. Sadly, many party leaders seem more concerned about electing anyone with an "R" after their name instead of standing up for freedom and conservative values. Isn't ObamaCare enough to make the Republican "leadership" develop a backbone? Where's the passion and the energy and principle with our supposed conservative leaders in Congress? Remember, most of the funds raised by the Republican party come from conservative donors who believe in conservative principles. If you are interested in making political contributions, I would strongly urge you to contribute directly to specific candidates that you support, instead of giving your money to the RNC or NRCC. If you give it to the party, it could end up going to support a candidate who has very different values from yours. Instead, target your support to candidates that deserve it, like Bob McDonnell in VA, or Bill Hoffman in NY, or Pat Toomey in PA, or Marco Rubio in FL.