And yes, this includes Muslims.

If you think that its just that Christians are aghast at what passes for education these days – with more resources being put into teaching children about how to put condoms on phallic objects and the ins and outs of anal/oral sex, than Math – you couldn’t be more wrong.

Looking forward to more on this from you.

to reach across the aisle. Specific actions we can take to convince people to come back home.

One thing I can think of is to be a little nicer to those who hold wrong ideas. We have to correct the false information without telling them that they are stupid. I’m as guilty as any of being a little harsh on the people who come here thinking they’re going to teach us a better way, but we truely need to be kindler, gentler conservatives.

Oh.. not “campasionate conservatives”, but people who hold conservative ideals and are willing to share them. To gently correct missinformation from the left, carefully explaining where their idealogy is false, and sticking to our own principals.

Name calling is something the left engages in. Not us.

Demonization is something the left engages in. Not us.

Celebrating the death or ill fortune of polititions is something the looney left engages in. Not us.

Identitiy politics is something the Democratic party engages in. Not us.

And probably a thousand other things that the left does that polite members of society won’t accept.

If we live and behave as examples of good conservatives, we will win over some of those who have believed the propaganda of the other side. People aren’t stupid. They can be fooled by the press and by the left and by many other sources for a while, but if their own experience shows them a different truth than they hear from other sources, maybe they’ll start believing us instead.

:>)

I like the optimism, but there are many other factors that would pull these groups towards the Democrats. Black will vote Democrat for a generation now. They are a lost cause polticallly. Soon Republicans wll attack Obama and Black Americans wil take it personally.

Teachers unions aren’t voting Republicans any time soon. I loathe unions, but they bring the butter for their people. Most teachers are liberal. They like the fact that unions push a Leftist cultural agenda and the unions deliver fat contracts from cash strapped towns and cities.

I think the key is letting Obama make his decisions and choose the tent for us. We cant be so naive to think we will win every block, but neither will Obama hold every block.

Look for natural rifts. Amnesty is one. There is a grwoing rfit between latinos and cultural conservative union voters on this. I think Obama pushes amnesty. This may open the conservative Democrat union vote in places like Michigan.

Gays in the military, hate crimes egislation is another. The military and the Southern whites vote Republican, but this is dangerous turf for the Jim Webb Democrats. We can grow our margins in NC and VA again and take them back in 2010 and 2012.

Let Obama actually make hard choices. Sooner or later he is going to piss some people off. He is already alienating those who thought they could trust him on security. Gitmo, black sites, and interrogation methods on day two.

Our big tent will grow with those who become disillusioned by the silver tongued demogogue.

Their policies are proven failures and bad for America. For 100% of the population and the unborn.

http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2009/01/22/obamaconstitution-dead-on-oathalive-for-roe-v-wade-deaths/

great diary bro

Non-believers/agnostics/atheists/secular humanists. People without any religious affiliation can still believe in conservative fiscal policies and still have a strong sense of ethical purpose and duty to our neighbors. There is a very, very large group of Americans (including myself) that aren’t thrilled with the Democrats but are more afraid of an American theocracy.

If the Republican party has any hope, it must bridge the gap with Libertarians.

that I’ve read in the past few months on RS. Everyone needs to get back off the ledge, realize that this election year was a “perfect storm” of events and a very flawed candidate/s and just a very strange year overall. Some people including myself wandered off the reservation because of that perfect storm, but the fundamentals haven’t changed. This remains a center right country, and this party needs to represent a center right constituency. It also needs to realize that what IS center right varies by region. Federalism is our friend in that.

BTW, am I the only one that finds being in opposition more fun and interesting than being in the majority? (Yeah I know that is NOT the best for the country).

There are a few Republican Latinos in my state who are trying to get a Latino group together in order to promote conservatism, and to talk to other Latinos to point out to them that the Republican Party is the better path for them. They say we are strongly religious, very family oriented and hard workers. My perceptions of Latinos is that they are all of those things. I participated in some of the discussion on the website, and asked what their ideas were on Amnesty, and so did a few others. The answer was that it was not good to talk about Amnesty on a website because it was a very volitile and heated topic, and that it was best to leave the discussion to in person debate within the groups. One Latino said that one of the problems was that Latinos were expected to learn English right away. Another view was that in order to become a legal citizen, it takes too long, up to 5 years and more, and that in order to become a citizen they had to pay Immigration Attorneys very high fees, in addition to the application and processing fees required by the government. It was also stated that the “immigration debate” last year with the McCain/Kennedy bill only alienated the Latinos both legal and illegal because of the cries to not pass a bill that included amnesty. If I am not mistaken more than 80% of the population polled were against a bill that included amnesty. I find it hard to believe that that 80% were all Republicans. Therefore, it means that Latinos have adopted the impression that the Republicans are cold, heartless and nonwelcoming. While I say that I believe Latinos are Social Conservatives, I also then must believe that Latinos have not bought into one of the very basic ideas of conservatism which is “the rule of law.”

I am in full agreement that the (legal) immigration process needs to be streamlined and speeded up, however, another part of me believes that if we did not have the enormous amount of illegals, there would be more resources, and the whole process would go more timely and smoothly, rather than to spend time, money and manpower trying to reslove the overwhelming illegal problems that exist.

McCain has been back in the news since the Coronation saying that he has every intention to work with Obama, especially with regards to the immigration issue. And, since he has been back in the news, the group has been using McCain as their champion. They are thrilled that McCain will be their voice, and will work with Obama in order to push this important agenda for them.

I can only then come to the conclusion that nothing short of Amnesty will please them. And, I believe they mistakenly think McCain will get the credit for fighting for their cause. If amnesty is passed on Obamas watch, Obama and the Democrats will be their heros. Then, how many Latinos will be convinced that the Republicans/Conservatives are the party that has their best interests at heart?

The key point to winning over black votes is to distinguish between the Urban blacks (who vote Democrat for reasons similar to Urban whites) and the Suburban and Rural blacks who are more Socially Conservative and therefore more likely to switch loyalties. It works the Same way with Hispanics, as New York City and Los Angeles Hispanics are as firmly Democrat as their black counterparts, but the rural and Suburban Hispanics in places like South Texas are much more closely divided. We need to win over the latter group in both cases before we can even think about going after the former group, simply for practical reasons.

I think the best chance we have at courting the socially conservative blacks is to run black, state-wide candidates in conservative states. Ideally this would be in states like Mississippi or Alabama, where Conservative candidates can usually win by safe margins and Blacks have long been denied chances to run for state-wide offices by the White Democratic party leaders.

The initial election would probably be contested by the race-baiters, but they should presumably be elected without much problem. Then they spend a huge amount of energy reaching out to Black voters and championing their priorities, and begin to chip away at their blind allegiance to the Democratic party.

Even if we could get one black candidate to campaign like this it could be the turning point, as once a Conservative could get something like 35-40% of the Black vote, Blacks all across the country will begin to pay more attention when Republicans campaign. After all, if Conservatives can point to a fellow conservative whose ideas perform well among blacks, they have a metaphorical “foot in the door” that could be used to break the entrenched belief that Conservatives don’t care about them or their priorities.

And at that point it becomes a battle of ideas between us and the Liberals, instead of a partisan rout.

Thank you. Couldn’t agree more.

I almost didn’t even read it because of the title. Once it hit #1 on the now-working reco list (thanks Steve!!) I figured I’d at least take a look. You’ve summed it up pretty well, and I hope your message reaches far and wide. I’lll do everything I can to help spread it.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/january_2009/59_fear_too_much_government_spending_is_coming

But with a caveat.

I tend to agree with Rush that conservatives don’t self-identify in groups. I’ve heard the GOP described as an “organization of individuals”, which is sort of like a herd of cats.

The arguments listed are excellent, and, if presented face-to-face, one-on-one, with the context that they are consistent for each individual, not designed to pit one group against another, they well may be persuasive. We will never be able to play the “identity politics” game as well as the Dems, who have honed catering to antipathetic groups down to a science.

Not just BO, but any Dem, could give the “bitter-clinger” speech to the fat cats and pass himself off as a “man of the people” to the masses without a hitch.

what we have to worry about is who we pick as leaders.

Look, if somehow Obama manages to pull off peace, and prosperity then we will have lost for a generation at least, But if, as we suspect, his administration ends up like another Jimmy Carter, then we also don’t have to worry because people will seek us out.

What we do have to worry most about is that we don’t end up electing a bunch of career opportunists, job shoppers, and people with wide stances. We need to ensure that everyone we choose is at VERY LEAST a fiscal conservative, or a libertarian. And not a “maverick”.

S149 – Sponsor: Sen Kohl, Herb [WI] (introduced 1/6/2009)
The Weekend Voting Act (Introduced In Senate)

HR254 – Sponsor: Rep Israel, Steve [NY-2] (introduced 1/7/2009)
Weekend Voting Act (Introduced in House)

To change the date for regularly scheduled Federal elections and establish polling place hours.

Saturday and Sunday ……. Right in the middle of College and Pro football seasons.

I wouldn’t worry too much about these bills passing. After all, we just had the last free election this country’s going to see for some time.

Hope the tent is armed !

Cheers !

How do we do this? Simply put, education – not relying on government schools, but educating & communicating our principles & values to people. It would help immensely if we had that single, passionate leader doing it. We do have some who are, however the leader’s leader hasn’t yet emerged. We can’t wait to begin or shouldn’t wait to continue. The conservative Republican platform, built on strong national defense, fiscally responsible economic policy, limited government conservatism, & conservative social values is almost invincible – when communicated with passion.

There is a vast army of conservative Republicans & those who share our values waiting for an overall leader. When that leader emerges, great. Until then, we must fight in the “trenches” in the war of ideas with mind to mind combat, educating people.