Today was the Oakland County Republican Convention. As an elected official, it is my duty to attend and be active, and I was. I chatted with several people about the auto loan, voted on procedural stuff, and listened to the speeches. It was a good time. If you're not an elected official or precinct delegate, I encourage you to do so and become active in the party- the only way to truly effect change is by using the tools that are out there, which include the Republican Party.
For those who were not there or who wonder what really occurs at these events, it is an attempt to meet people and get hear some good speeches. The speeches that were at the convention all had pretty much the same themes, and I write about them now to give you a window into what the Republican Party in Oakland County, Michigan, is thinking.
Ronald Reagan featured prominently in every speech. In fact, the keynote speech (found here) by Oakland County Executive L Brooks Patterson was basically just a series of quotes from Reagan. Apparently when Republicans talk about getting back to the basics and being a party of ideas and solutions, what they mean is going back to Reagan and the points he talked about- and that's not a bad thing, because the more I learn about Reagan, the more I think he got it. For example, see my earlier post about his "A Time for Choosing" speech.
Patterson drew heavily on Reagan's 1975 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). You will immediately see its relevance to today as I quote from it:
Since our last meeting we have been through a disastrous election. It is easy for us to be discouraged, as pundits hail that election as a repudiation of our philosophy and even as a mandate of some kind or other. But the significance of the election was not registered by those who voted...
...Now, it is possible we have been persuasive to a greater degree than we had ever realized. Few, if any, Democratic party candidates in the last election ran as liberals. Listening to them I had the eerie feeling we were hearing reruns of Goldwater speeches....
...But let’s not be so naive as to think we are witnessing a mass conversion to the principles of conservatism. Once sworn into office, the victors reverted to type. In their view, apparently, the ends justified the means....
...Our task is to make them see that what we represent is identical to their own hopes and dreams of what America can and should be. If there are questions as to whether the principles of conservatism hold up in practice, we have the answers to them. Where conservative principles have been tried, they have worked....
Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness. I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party”—when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.
It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls.... Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?
Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.
Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.
Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.
Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people.
Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.
Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.
Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.
We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.
A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers. I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.
I couldn't have said it any better than Reagan, and I hope that the Republican Party in Oakland County really believes in returning to the wisdom of Reagan, Goldwater, Coolidge, Lincoln, Jefferson, Madison, and Washington. Our country and county will be better for it.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar