Woody Bass III

You know I get a chuckle about all this talk about saving the GOP. Everyone seems to have their own solution. One pundit argues that they should move further center (IE: be more liberal) while another says “stay the course”, and another believes they should move further right.

Normally, I would relish in this moment of watching the party system collapse in on itself because it does this country no good… but since its a big topic lately… I figured I would dish out my own two cents.

Let me make one thing absolutely clear… the GOP had no shot in hell at winning this past election. To be further clear, the Republicans did not lose the election because they supposedly made a move to “the center”. They lost because too many people were fed up with the way President Bush and the GOP handled their business while they were in power.

This is a three part series that examines two specific areas, both dealing with “conservatism” where the GOP went horribly wrong and what I believe they MUST do if they want any sort of relevance in the future.

The first and probably biggest reason Republicans lost power was due to spending. Republicans were supposed to be the “fiscal conservative voices” of American politics. However, according to a Heritage Foundation report, President Bush “expanded the federal budget by a historic $700 billion through 2008” and managed to increase public debt by $2.5 trillion in the same time frame.

Not exactly conservative spending Republicans were supposed to be known for.

Yes if the Congressional Budget Office and White House estimates hold true… the Obama Administration is slated to increase everything the Bush Administration did three fold… but we’re not talking about Obama or the Democrats now are we? They are mostly only in power because the Republicans screwed up.

Federal spending is one area where I agree with these “New Republican Visionaries”. If they want to be in power again, Republicans need to:

– govern and legislate with better fiscal policies and practices by spending less and more wisely.
– spearhead the effort to completely eliminate pork barrel spending.
– do a complete overhaul of the current tax system including reducing the amount of taxes being stolen and wasted by the government.
– convert Social Security into private savings accounts.

For those of the GOP who managed to maintain their seat… simply changing course to right the ship… isn’t enough. Your image has been tarred and feathered. There will never be any hiding from it. The only way the GOP can safe face on spending… is to replace those that abused their power with someone who has an honest and proven track record of “fiscal conservatism”.

Next up… the other half of “conservatism” that also gave the GOP the boot.