The Specter Lesson: Moderate Republicans Like Christine Todd Whitman Must Lead GOP
By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It was January of 1995, and I was pregnant with our oldest daughter, working as a speechwriter at the Republican National Committee. My assignment was to help New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman write the first State of the Union response ever delivered outside of Washington, D.C.—she was going to speak from the state capitol in Trenton. More importantly, it was the first time in American history that a woman would deliver the response. Here's what she said to the nation in the wake of Republicans taking control of the House for the first time in 40 years:
Time after time, Republicans—and Democrats—have found that things work better when states and communities set their own priorities, rather than being bossed around by bureaucrats in Washington.
Our colleagues on Capitol Hill are facing the same opposition we did, the same cries of "it can't be done" from the Washington-knows-best crowd—people who think government can't be too big and that there's a virtue in raising taxes. Well, there is nothing virtuous about raising taxes. There is nothing heroic about preserving a welfare system that entraps people. And there's nothing high-minded about wasting other people's money on big government spending sprees.
We overcame the same objections, the same stalling and distortion, the same foot-dragging. We've heard it all. And in the end, we have won the battle of ideas in our states.
Now it's time to win the battle of ideas in Washington.
Hard to believe that was almost 15 years ago (that same daughter is going into high school next fall). In politics, some things don't change at all; other things can change very quickly, as we saw this week with the defection of Sen. Arlen Specter to the Democrats. Gov. Whitman writes in today's New York Times about that:
Unfortunately, a preview of the Republican Party's future came from the reaction to Senator Specter's switch—many conservatives evinced a sense of "I told you so" satisfaction and denigrated his service to the country. As was to be expected, the blogosphere is full of people saying that Arlen Specter was always a Democrat and now he's simply proved it ...
Moderate Republicans should use Senator Specter's switch as the impetus to force a re-evaluation of where our party is going—a review that can happen only from the inside. Besides, third parties in the United States don't have a particularly successful history.
In the coming election cycle, we have the opportunity to remind the nation that our party is committed to such important values as fiscal restraint, less government interference in our everyday lives, environmental policies that promote a balanced approach between protection and economic interest, and a foreign policy that is engaged with the rest of the world. The responsibility of ensuring that the party follows the right path lies with those moderates who are willing to work to make it happen. I anticipate that centrists will convene in the coming days to discuss how we can return the party to the sensible middle.
Time for a serious re-evaluation of where the party is heading, and it sounds like Gov. Whitman is willing to work to make it happen.
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Reader Comments
Moderates behave like Democrats
We NEED a CENTRAL party that knows REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT PRINCIPLES and has social tolerance. Our problem now is a generation that never studied History and somehow believes the WORLD owes them an entitlement. When those that pay nothing out-number those that support, Democracy WILL fall.
For all those that believe Goverment IS the solution to all our problems...WELCOME TO SLAVERY/SUBSERVIENCE/SERFDOM.
Freedom is all too easy to give up but painfully hard to regain.
moderate manifesto part 5
I've intentionally stirred things up to show how difficult it will be to unite moderates.
Let's begin, now, to use conciliation, cooperation, and compromise, all those terms that progressives
and conservatives disdain, to unite moderates and save America before it is too late.
Please, somebody respond. We don't need any more radical and destructive minority rule.
Mark Fruehling
Des Moines, Iowa
moderate manifesto part 4
Unfortunately for Americans, progressives and conservatives forgot to watch out for their one legitimate special interest. Americans.
THE GOVERNMENT TOOK AWAY ANY MORTGAGE REGULATION, AND EARNERS OF MONEY HAVE ALWAYS NEEDED REGULATION.
THE RESULT WAS THE MORTGAGE MELTDOWN; one of the biggest scams in American history.
Laws will always be needed to stop predatory practices in capitalism.
Laws will always be needed to stop predatory practices in socialism.
Next time, before writing a law that undermines capitalism (as if capitalism doesn't do a good job undermining itself sometimes),
we should ask some economists how the law would effect the economy before it becomes law.
If the law is not good for the economy, we should think hard before making it law.
lAWS THAT STATE THAT MORTGAGES SHOULD BE WRITTEN REGARDLESS OF THE ABILITY TO PAY, OR AMOUNT INVESTED, SHOULD BE THROWN OUT.. NOW.
FOR THE GOOD OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. This is not ideology. This is fact; proven since 2008.
Those who participated in a TEA party on April 15, but believe their taxes shouldn't be raised:
Where will the government get the money to pay its gigantic debts?
Devaluation of money caused by excess printing of money won't allow the government to print money forever.
The government will continue to borrow against other programs like Social Security, or the bridges and roads fund (if you live in Minnesota).
The government will continue to borrow from other countries.
The governent will continue to try to ensure its debt against itself (FDIC, Fannie, Freddie).
The government will continue to kick the "debt payment can" down the road to future generations.
All levels of government will try to raise taxes.
A big question for all Americans: are you willing to accept higher taxes to enjoy today's government benefits,
or will you accept less government benefits in the future so your taxes will stay the same? (I don't foresee taxes dropping any time soon).
It will be time to begin to balance the budget once the government's spending spree caused by the CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS ends.
The government should try to pay down some of the principal.
A question to ask Obama's administration: under which conditions, and how soon, do you foresee a slow down of federal spending?
The government needs to spend less money; this needs to happen soon.
Private individuals and big business must be more philanthropic.
One of the biggest mistakes big business made was letting health care coverage for their employees lapse.
I don't think the federal government can handle another MASSIVE spending program that would be government-run health care.
However, MASSES of people cannot be left without health care coverage. Businesses must pick up their responsibility.
BUSINESSES MUST PAY FOR HEALTH CARE COVERAGE FOR ALL OF ITS EMPLOYEES.
And, of course, we must always try to find ways of lowering health care costs.
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