Attention Attention, Calling all Republicans, to Save our Country We must First Save our Party

Ok, time for mourning is over. Yes we Republicans lost in 08 and that Barrack Obama is President-Elect, but all that means is that we just lost one battle, the war is still going and we need to regroup and look ahead to 2010 and 2012. The reasons for the loss on November 4th, 2008 are greatly numbered, the economy, the war in Iraq, scandal, and etc. Many articles have been written about what the party needs to do to re-vamp its image. Some have called for a total revamping, moving to the center, others have said that sticking to our base is the way to go. The former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee said it best in my opinion when he wrote “Our problem is not that our views aren’t acceptable, it is that many in our party have abandoned the very principles that once drew Americans to trust us.” John McCain and the Republican Party gathered 57 million votes or nearly half of America. Voters in California, called the “most progressive” state, passed a ban on gay marriage, preserving the traditional American family. Don’t tell me the conservatism and the values of the Republican Party are dead, they are very much alive, we just need to regroup, reorganize, and start getting our message out and getting it out now! The Republican Party doesn’t need plastic surgery, just a little makeover.
First thing is first, we Republicans need to remember that we are Americans first, then Republicans. I saw so many people after the election say that they will no longer salute the flag and are ashamed to be an American. This is the wrong message to send to America. We need not to be sore losers, lets not be like the Dixie Chicks and proclaim to the world that they are ashamed of the President. Lets rally around the flag, we live in a great nation lets never forget that. We can change our nation’s leadership, a privilege that few counties have. Let’s show America the we republicans are patriotic and have America’s best interest in mind, lets be better then the democrats and how they have acted over the past 8 years.
Give it to the democrats, they ran a campaign that was eight years in the making. They were devastated in 2000, soundly defeated in 2002, vengeful after 2004, tasted victory in 06, and won in a sweep both houses of congress and the Presidency in 2008. If the democrats can come back, we Republicans can come back too. We need two things, new and better leadership from the top down, and using technology to our fullest advantage, especially when recruiting young people.
If anyone can answer this question without looking it up, then they should be on Jeopardy. Who is the head of the Republican National Party??? …That’s what I thought, most of you are stumped. The answer is Mike Duncan, now wasn’t that obvious, I mean who hasn’t heard of Mike Duncan and 75 year old + looking co-chair Jo Ann Davidson, I mean they are everywhere. The truth is, they are not everywhere, and most Republicans haven’t heard of them, but almost anybody can name the Democratic Party leader, Mr. Howard Dean. Yes, Dean was made famous by being a screaming manic in 2004 after his third place finish at the Iowa caucus, but at least people can name him. To save the Republican Party, we need new and recognizable leadership at all levels. The leadership we have at both the state and national levels of the party has failed us and has led the Republican Party to defeat in consecutive election cycles. The American people believe in the core principles that define the Republican Party, principles like lower taxes, less government, preserving morals, and etc. We need new leaders in the party, fresh leaders, ones who will not embarrassed the party by scandal, ones who can invigorate the base and take the Republican message to all corners of America. We need leaders who have succeeded in their political careers, leaders like Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. All three of these leaders represent the core of the Republican Party and each can energize the Republican base. The Republican Party needs to run campaigns not based on how evil the other person is, but why the Republican Platform is better. A new breed of Republican leadership can show America that we are not the same party which they have seen so negatively over the years. New leadership can sow America that we are a party of hope, a party of fewer taxes, less government, and a party of the people. Republicans believe that less government = the strongest government and the government closet to the people is the most effective government. A city council is more able to help its city then a national government can, a school board can best address the needs of the citizens it represents, not a national government.
The Republican Party needs a new strategy and a new image and the only way to do this is get fresh leaders in, and old ineffective leaders out. After the Republican Party gets in fresh leadership, we need to be able to take our message to all corners of America. To be able to do this, we will need to take advantage of all technology resources available to us, most importantly, the internet. I not sure about you, but whenever I signed on to the internet, went to Yahoo.com, AOL.com, or others. Barrack Obama and his “change and hope” message was everywhere. I couldn’t hide from it. It wasn’t till the last week of the election that I actually saw McCain/Palin ads on the internet. Obama also had a network of text messaging that kept his followers in the loop, not to mention all the blogs, MySpace, and facebook pages.
The Democratic Party pretty much destroyed the Republican Party when it came to recruiting young voters, college age voters. The new Republican leadership needs to be able to implement a strategy to real in these voters, because when the older generations of Republicans die out, who will replace them? This is a serious issue for Republicans, because the sheer numbers that the Democratic Party has when it comes to young support over republicans is almost overwhelming. If the Republican Party doesn’t recruit new and fresh members, then the party will be extinct in a few years. That why replacing the aging Mike Duncan and Jo Ann Davidson with someone not quite as aged will be a key step into recruiting young people. We need people in leadership positions who understand the technology that the young recruits use. We need text messaging networks; we need more blogs, more MySpace and facebook profiles. We need more email networks and newsletters. As stated earlier, the Republican Party does not need plastic surgery, just a simple makeover. We need new and fresh leadership at all levels of the party. We can no longer afford to have Senators, Representatives, Governors or etc being plagued by scandal or corruption. We need to recruit younger voters and implement the technology necessary to do so. The challenge to save our party starts at the top, but it doesn’t end there. State and local leaders need to be more involved, college leaders need to start getting the word out, instead of being a club for people who already believe, they need to focus on getting the message out and recruiting new members. Most importantly the Republican base needs to get energized. We were not energized in 08, not compared to the democratic base anyway; they were borderline insane, but obviously it worked. We need to not run smear campaigns, but campaigns based on our principles and our beliefs and why we are the best party to fight for Joe the Plumber, Sally the Teacher, Arnold the Butcher, José the Mechanic and etc.
If the Republican Party can do all of these things, there is no reason why we can’t be successful in 2010 and 2012. New and fresh leadership will erase the negative stigma that so many people have of us. Better integration of technology will help spread our message and help recruit young people to our cause. We can save our great nation, but first we need to save and unite our party, and it starts with you, the individual. You need to get fired up and ready for 2010 and beyond. Help spread the word, help save the Republican Party because if you are one among millions united, we can take back our party from corruption and take back our nation from democratic control and restore it a nation the resembles what our great founding fathers had in mind.