Former Newt Gingrich staffer Matt Towery, who heads the political firm Insider Advantage, has the “right” idea about what’s next for the Republicans. Notice I did not say “conservatives” because some mild conservatives might find a comfortable home inside the Democrat Party if the Blue Dogs continue to growth. If the White House initiatives actually start to kick-in, the Blue Dog conservative Democrats numbers could counterbalance some of the liberal weight and produce a near center party. That nightmare scenario could be real trouble for the GOP.
Why Fox or CNN hasn’t put a pile of money in front of Towery is a mystery because the guy makes good old common sense. In a recent column, Towery wrote of the need for new blood in the GOP. I personally don’t think the Republican party is on life support quite yet, but they could use some new style points to get their swagger back.
(Here comes a classic ramble)
So I am watching ABC Private Practice last night because that show is almost as thought-provoking as Grey’s Anatomy (recorded CSI and NBC’s Southland—I need a life). The guy who saved the lady president on Fox’s 24 is starting a cutting edge medical facility and trying to woo the attractive sister over to his operation. The lady with the cool southern accent who runs the regular hospital wants the job but the guy from 24 said no and by the way, you are fired because you don’t have a heart. Ouch.
My point is that you must have a heart to go with your mind or the people will notice and react. Love him or hate him, Obama has a heart and cares about moving America forward. The same statement can be said about Newt Gingrich, Obama’s obvious opponent in 2012.
On the subject of heart, contributor to this blog Helen Blocker Adams of Augusta is celebrating her birthday today so I assume the local schools are closed for the holiday or for flu prevention. Helen is an asset to the region because she has a kind heart and the area elected officials must be hearing the footsteps of her approaching stylish pumps—watch out.
Republican Ray McKinney of Savannah brought new blood to the 12th District congressional race last year but the blue bloods wanted a D.C. insider. The return of the GOP starts with new blood from existing sources.
Project Logic Ga 
Towery only has it half right. We do need new blood in my party, but we need new ideas. I missed it, but apparently the GOP use to be a party of “new ideas.”
I’m not calling for a purge, nor a witchhunt – but frankly it is time for some of the old guard to lay down. Then there are others who have yet to rise. And then there are those who can adapt, and despite their seniority they are capable of innovating and guiding.
For example, we have some people who are absolutely on fire like Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor in the House. We have people who have been around for awhile, but have yet to reach maximum potential – such as Gov Mark Sanford and Gov Mitch Daniels. There’s the old guard who can adapt, such as Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Jeff Sessions. Then you have those who’s time is simply up; John McCain, Saxby Chambliss,
The 2012 field is a lot better than many are willing to admit. I think Senator John Thune could be the next Robert Taft, except pulling out the win. Senator Taft was a Republican when they were in a very small minority, but through careful maneuvering he paved a way in the Senate. Thune is a young guy, much like President Obama and just as well spoken. The two would be a great match up. Gov. Sanford is another prime candidate, representing the more Ron Paul inclined members of the party – he’s a perfect avatar of the fiscal Republican movement. Gov. Daniels won re-election last year in the anti-Republican environment, in a state that went blue and voted for mostly Democrat Congressmen. He’s doing something right in Indiana. Finally, Newt could come in and be a golden wrecking ball. Slyram, you’ve met him and I have not – but everything I have ever heard about him is that he is a genuinely brilliant. Obama is a smart guy too, can you imagine those debates? Perhaps the first time we would ever hear an analysis of nanotechnology in a Presidential debate.
The old guard has to stand down and become elder statesmen. I developed a respect for Senator John Edwards in 2004 when he resigned from the Senate to run for VP. It’s a thing about honor, and I think McCain should take heed of that. The GOP Bench is all aging at a rate that is unhealthy for the party, it is time to infuse new blood.
With new blood comes new ideas. New ideas is how we get this party and this country back on track.
It’s very easy to define a national agenda.
1. Environment – I’ve never understood why this is not a Conservative issue. As much as the GOP is called a pro-business party, it is completely false in relation to the environment. Chevrolet designed the Volt, but it’s being canceled despite the environmental benefits it would bring and the profits it could bring General Motors. Think about this; if the GOP is so for businesses why not channel that to eco-friendly solutions? It’s time to stop giving subsidies to oil companies without results. I understand that research is best when it is serendipitous, but after years of research there is no benefit – that means it is time for new minds. The GOP could become the party of environmental concern if they direct tax cuts to the right companies. it fits in perfectly with the mindset of Conservatives. This is our country, it is our duty to protect from invaders from the inside and out – including our own reckless abandon.
2. RESPONSIBLE Spending – I have said many times that I have yet to meet a person who is not a fiscal conservative at heart. I’m starting to tread into what my Pastor calls “corn bread language”, but bear with me – we all know what it is like to live on a budget. Who hasn’t been faced with the dilemma of having to be a smart shopper? Most of us have faced hard times when that pay check window wasn’t open. America is in hard times. Let’s not worry about blame, we can blame later – it’s time to fix it. America has to learn to live on a budget. If something doesn’t work, then cut it. If I have a headache and I buy a bottle of Asprin and they don’t work, I don’t keep taking them. I don’t go back to the store and buy another bottle and a bottle of Tylenol and take both. I cut out the Asprin and go buy the Tylenol. i see our government leave outdated, inefficient, and malfunctioning programs intact all the time. If it doesn’t work, then replace it. Cut the waste out. We have to be responsible with our money.
3. Common Sense Solutions – This is the point where I diverge with Libertarians. I’d love to live in a country where everyone is responsible for themselves, but it is not practical for America right now. When you start talking about eliminating SS and welfare you upset a lot of people, and allow everyone else to exploit those groups. It’s time for some common sense solutions. How about requiring those on Welfare to have to adopt a portion of a local highway to cleanup? or requiring them to work at a local food bank? Why not put the power to watch over citizens in the hands of the state and local governments, you know the people who understand what their citizens are like. A man in New York City can’t tell you what a little boy living in Rhine Georgia needs, and a law student in Sumter County can’t tell you what an elderly African American woman in Harlem needs. Some government subsidy is needed – I wish it weren’t, but it is needed. Here’s another common sense solution – why not send all the peanuts we pay farmers to destroy in Georgia to a country that needs food supplies? We could make some money off of it and they would get enough protein for a year off a single crop.
4.Security and Prosperity – These two words go hand in hand. Our country is faced by challenges inside and out; prosperity is dependent upon our country being secure. What do I mean by security? Economic security, that means handling our debt. Environmental Security, finding alternative power sources while trying to protect our natural surroundings. Traditional Security, we need to revamp our military to a modern force – smaller units that are better trained. Cultural Security, this one will upset a few – and boy do I have some gall saying this here – but our educational system is a huge mess. Vouchers would be nice, but let’s cut deeper than that. Have you seen what kids get taught these days? Let’s cut out the National Board of Education, let the States control things unless they prove they can’t. Give teachers a voice in the direction of the schools. Let’s cut out Black History Month; I know this won’t be so popular here but hear me out. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to studying black history in one month. Our children should be taught history – white, black, Hispanic, Asian – all of it all year long. Certainly it is ok to have a month to focus on black history, but too often schools limit themselves to this. Perhaps the alternative is to simply rename it African Culture Appreciation Month, to encourage the inclusion of African American leaders year round. And it shouldn’t be a history of despair. We have had dark spots in our history and bright shining spots, our teachers shouldn’t run down our country simply because we made mistakes. Who hasn’t made a mistake? We can really trransform our educational system, but it is going to take a lot of work and innovation.
5. Healthcare – The 500 pound elephant sitting in the corner. We know it is a problem, but how do we fix it? Back in the 1970s you could go to the Doctor cheap. Why not now? We need to make it so that Insurance companies can’t gouge prices, and that Doctors can earn a profit without charging outrageous prices. Malpractice suits have to be controlled. What about drugs? Walmart sells generics for 4 dollars a month – looks like the private sector can come up with some ideas huh? We need to make more programs like this available, which will likely require FDA changes.
6. Social Issues – The GOP must divorce itself from the mentality that we are simply a party of social morals. We have them, but so do Democrats. So do Libertarians. We shouldn’t exclude people for their social beliefs, but rather we should encourage their support for returning decisions over these matters to the rightful executors – the State governments.
7. Balancing Free Trade and Union Control – I’m going to refrain from throwing out ideas, but you get the gist of what I’m aiming at here.
We need innovations like the ones I have listed above. We need to think smart. We need to convince the American public that politicians aren’t just here to “lie to me and kiss my butt” as Bill Murray says in Ghostbusters 2.
These new Republicans are out there, I know it. And hopefully soon they will eb a force to be reckoned with.
Ron: did you just play the senior senator from the great state of Georgia? Saxby is still cool with me and would be cooler if he did have to deal with the crazier elements in the GOP.
When you get to law school, remember they call them “briefs” for a reason—you did write a book but it’s good to see a detailed young person in the game.
The most important thing regarding the future of your party is that you and a few others realize that change is needed. I think you have done a fine job of evaluating your bench. If the recent electoral success of the Democrat Party forces the GOP to be more flexible and tolerant, a good situation just got better.
Reader of this blog (all 12 of them) know I like the Art of War’s vibe about respecting and learning from your opponent. Working in the Congress was like the ultimate grad school because the professors (members of congress, the administration and K Street lobbyists) came to D.C. from the top of their professions.
Hell, I worked for Charles Hatcher, Don Johnson and then Sanford Bishop—brilliant legal minds and I had to write memos for them. As the lyrics to “Gimme Three Steps” said, I was shaking like a leaf on a tree.
But, Newt and Bill Clinton were policies geniuses; only Obama and Hillary can match them. Newt, coming from the History area, is preoccupied with his place in history like Churchill, Washington and Caesar. He wants to be the one who designs America’s future to create a great, lean society.
I don’t agree with you about John McCain needing to move on because McCain is bridge builder. Your party doesn’t like him for that reason but dude is cool with me.
Ron: do you realize that your gasp of a range of issues makes you better qualified to run against Sanford Bishop than Lee Ferrell. In a debate, you would grind Ferrell up and hold your on against Bishop.
quote: {With new blood comes new ideas. New ideas is how we get this party and this country back on track.
It’s very easy to define a national agenda.
1. Environment – I’ve never understood why this is not a Conservative issue.}
A problem with the GOP is that, in part, they have defined WHAT THEY SUPPORT as being AGAINST WHAT THE DEMOCRATS SUPPORT.
The perfect example is the environment. A favorite target of many on the right in the early parts of the environment movement was “tree hugging liberals.” This has morphed into an anti-environment bent, even as environmentalism has made it into the American mainstream.
I call this “binary politics”… if they’re for it, we’re against it, even if “it” is a good idea.
This has been a problem for the Democrats as well. But the Dems have become much more pragmatist from both a policy as well as political standpoint.
So, for example, the Democrats will promote moderate or “conservadems” like Shuler in NC and Childers in MS.
But it seems like the GOP is more for ideological purity than Democrats. This will make it harder for them outside the South, which is not so conservative/anti-Democrat. In the South, ideological purity will continue to be a wining strategy for the GOP.
Lunch: you are right because I can’t understand why the Christine Todd Whitman branch of the GOP (which includes Steele) won’t step at around those loud nuts. In her book, “It’s Party Too” she outlined a party that I could actually get down with but that movement never grew because the talk radio crew likes fighting for fighting sake.
Ron is not feeling Saxby these days but I thought Saxby and Isakson in their advanced years in the arena are simply weary of attack, attack, attack, (which has never been Isakson). But, when they sought dialog with the Democrats, the far-right went nuts.
It as simply as this: you can dislike a name which represents actions but over time the actions of the named people can change. What are you going to do then? After World War II, Americans were Jap this and Jap that—we had to stop a vet professor in college from saying “slant eyed devils” in class at Darton College in the early 1980s (we knew he was N-word this and that when the class was all white.) Today, Americans really like and admire our ally Japan and Japanese Americans.
To be fair, at HCBU Albany State in the polly sci department, the professors would say “the other people” in class if the resident White student was sick that day. As a sidenote, I never understood why that white guy (who is an attorney in Chicago) did not listen to my recommendation that he start a Black college chapter of Sigma Nu or Kappa Alpha for the white cats on campus. He could have been in Newsweek.
Back to my point, the Democrat Party that some Republicans love to hate is changing into a smoother crew and the Blue Dogs are too thank. If the GOP were wise, they would target those cats before they make a comfortable home for slightly right of center people inside the Dem Tent. If the GOP laughs about purifying their ranks, they might wakeup one day to find the moderates gone to the Democrats, the fiscal conservatives gone to the Libertarian Party and the religious right in a new party. I guess the GOP would be made of a Talk Radio/Fox News folks only and that marginalized group could have their national convention in the Albany Civic Center with room to spare.
And the Blue Dogs are pulling the Dem Team to the center; making them more palatable in the South and Midwest. Folks realized that Obama and Hillary were sincerely looking for solutions when the “let’s be naughty” part of the conservative movement was trying to label Obama a terrorist, illegal alien or the something. Doing that while the economy was falling a part spoke volumes about poor leadership and the John McCain had to say hell no himself…that was a cool move, go down like a man.
The average grassroots Republicans means well, but those naughty boys in D.C. should be ashamed.
I’m going to hit on a few points here, I promise to shorten up my response.
Lunch, you are right. If you follow the course of American politics, the two parties have gone in circles with being a party of “anti-the other guys.” The social conservatives are the ones who are killing us; uncompromising on any issue. It’s not a federal issue to begin with. Theres a group of the Republican party who wants to be very pragmatic, I cite myself. =) (Calming the ego now, I promise)
Slyram,
I’m not hung up on Saxby. I’m satisfied with him. But he’s been serving for so long, I can’t fathom him going past this term. It’s time to call in new blood from the farm league. Saxby is no Dick Russel. Overall a good Senator who has served the state fairly well. I disagree with some of his spending issues, but overall I am satisfied. Let’s call up Jack Kingston to replace him.
Again, I must point out that the true political spectrum does NOT have ‘liberal’ on one end and ‘conservative’ on the other,but ‘Big Government’ on one end and ‘Anarchy’ on the other.
On THIS spectrum, the Democrat/Republican wars are basically 9 and 8.7 arguing over being ‘too far’ in either direction.
What we REALLY need is someone with genuinely new ideas. That would be the LP, and even they are only somewhere between a 4 and 6 on the above scale.
[…] i wrote this a few weeks ago, but I believe so strongly in many of the things it cites and I feel it is a good read – so I’m re-posting it here. You can check out the original post at Project Logic Ga. […]