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November 17, 2006
How Conservatives Can Set The Agenda For The GOP

Over the last week, I have written several posts on the meaning of the midterm debacle for the Republicans, and how their approach to leadership selection underscores their inability to understand it. While Democrats attracted centrists and independents who stopped trusting the GOP to deliver on their promise of fiscal responsibility and clean government -- promises which won them control of Congress in 1994 -- the GOP has continued to promote the same leadership that led them to the midterm debacle. In some cases, that may make tactical sense, but the symbolism of these choices communicates an unwillingness to change from past strategies that led them to embrace big government, bloated budgets, and pork-barrel politics, all of which inevitably brings corruption and defeat.

The ascension of Trent Lott as Minority Whip seems especially significant in this regard. Many tried to excuse this by saying that the GOP needs infighters, or that Lott somehow was less egregious than Lamar Alexander on pork, but those are just excuses. Lott has attacked people who want to reform government abuses of taxpayer money and derailed reform legislation intended on exposing the use of earmarks by individual members in order to show taxpayers how influence is bought and sold on Capitol Hill. It's a sorry display of expediency over principle, and every Senator who voted for Lott has underscored the cluelessness of the post-midterm GOP. If Lott truly was the lesser of two evils -- and I don't think he was in this race -- then the GOP has a personnel problem that needs fixing immediately.

Several CQ readers objected, however, when I suggested that Mark Tapscott had a point when he opined that conservatives could not prevail within the GOP and should look for other outlets. With a war upon us and the coming economic catastrophe of entitlements waiting just out of sight, readers told me that the last thing this country needs is to have conservatives abandon the field to the liberals and the Rockefeller Republicans. It would take a generation for such an effort to have any success if it ever did, and by that time, we might not be able to reverse the damage done during our walk in the wilderness.

These are all good points, most of which I've made here in the past as well. However, if conservatives are to stay within the GOP to effect change, then we have to start now. That means we need to pursue a formula of first principles that will have broad appeal and eliminate those political pursuits that significantly narrow our reach. We have to determine what will satisfy us as a group in the next ten years. If we can actually shrink the federal government, eliminate pork and earmarks, confirm judges that will stop legislating from the bench, protect private property, eliminate the levers of corruption in government, and secure the nation from infiltration and attack, then conservatives will have won a generational achievement -- and those are the issues on which we should focus.

In order to do that, we need to solve the personnel problem in both chambers of Congress. Given that our choices of leadership have become so constrained that Trent Lott represents the lesser of two evils to some, then it is incumbent on conservatives to start finding better choices for these offices. Over the next few weeks, I'll be dusting off my Not One Dime More domain and developing some initiatives designed to do just that. I'm tentatively calling this the First Principles Project, and I'll eventually need plenty of help from the CQ community.

Right now, though, here's your task: find viable candidates for House and Senate seats. That process has to start now. We waited too long to develop and champion challengers in the midterm cycle; we need to start finding the men and women who will follow the First Principles and use them to build broad coalitions and charge into office in 2008. I'm hoping to set up a new clearinghouse for these potential candidates where CQ readers can get to know them and their positions and start supporting them early enough to make a significant difference. I'm hoping to partner with other bloggers on this project.

If you have suggestions or comments, for now just leave them in the comments section of this post. I'll be setting up a new e-mail and website for this project if it generates enough interest. If we can't create our own political party, then conservatives can remake the Republican Party, one candidate at a time.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at November 17, 2006 6:05 AM

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» Recruting Conservative Candidates from Zeal and Activity
A few days ago, I wrote: The most important decisions any organization makes are hiring (and firing) decisions. … After hammering out leadership for the next session, the Republican party’s first priority should be to recruit outstanding candid... [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 8:52 AM

» Recruting Conservative Candidates from Zeal and Activity
A few days ago, I wrote: The most important decisions any organization makes are hiring (and firing) decisions. … After hammering out leadership for the next session, the Republican party’s first priority should be to recruit outstanding candid... [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 8:52 AM

» Recruting Conservative Candidates from Zeal and Activity
A few days ago, I wrote: The most important decisions any organization makes are hiring (and firing) decisions. … After hammering out leadership for the next session, the Republican party’s first priority should be to recruit outstanding candid... [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 8:52 AM

» Whither the GOP? Now the Debate Gets Serious from Tapscott's Copy Desk
Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters has been especially pondering these questions since the election and is beginning to arrive at some conclusions. [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 10:00 AM

» What the?! - GOP Backslides On Leadership Caucus from Webloggin
The results are in and the Dems are sure to celebrate the GOP’s decision to turn a tin ear to the conservative base and pick their leaders from the same old boys club that failed us so miserably over the last six years. Now that the word is in a... [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 10:45 AM

» The GOP doesn't get it... from Conservative Blog Therapy
A roundup... [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 11:25 AM

» How Conservatives Can Set The Agenda For The GOP from Bill's Bites
How Conservatives Can Set The Agenda For The GOPEd Morrissey Over the last week, I have written several posts on the meaning of the midterm debacle for the Republicans, and how their approach to leadership selection underscores their inability to [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 1:30 PM

» How Conservatives Can Set The Agenda For The GOP from Don Singleton
We do need infighters, and Lott does know how to schmooze and count votes, but we need someone who can do that AND is a true Conservative Republican [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 1:39 PM

» The Bush Conservatives from The Strata-Sphere
It seems I and many other conservatives need to just step back and re-assess the political landscape. As I mentioned in the post below on immigration, I do not see the Republican Party offering a very palatable form of conservatism any more. So let m... [Read More]

Tracked on November 17, 2006 1:51 PM

» No More Trough Sloppers! from The Scratching Post
The pundits all talk about the Republican leadership advancing our ideas. I would suggest that this is semi-delusional [Read More]

Tracked on November 18, 2006 8:20 AM

» First Principles from Degree of Madness
Captain Ed has an idea floating at Captain's Quarters about how conservatives can win back the Republican Party. The party has long abandoned the principles of limited government, among other principles, and if we want bring about change in 2008 [Read More]

Tracked on November 18, 2006 10:04 AM

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