This message appeared in the February 2014 edition of the newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.
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Why Be a Republican?
Many people who see clearly the anti-constitutional and socialist path of destruction that our generation’s Democratic Party is taking us down, nonetheless are often reluctant to identify themselves as Republicans, much less get involved in Republican political organizations. There are many rationalizations. Politics is distasteful and divisive. The GOP is impotent in a one-party (D) state. Or, my favorite: “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties.”
Riddle: What costs more than a dime and was brought to you by one party and one party alone? Answer: Obamacare.
Even so, many would-be allies feel that the Republican party is flawed, ineffectual and/or corrupt; too liberal, too conservative, too corrupted, too libertarian, or not libertarian enough. Whatever way it cuts for you, the bottom line is this:
1) The Democratic Party of today has moved galaxies away from John F. Kennedy’s tax cuts, economic growth and strong anti-communist stance; from Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s authority on family morality and welfare; and from Joe Lieberman’s position on the Middle East in general and Israel in particular. In a word, that party today is hopeless (take it from one who was one for two or three decades).
2) The Republican Party will remain less the way you would like it precisely to the degree that you withhold your participation. In other words, if the Republican Party isn’t strong enough on taxes, join a Republican organization and exercise your influence to strengthen the party on taxes. If the party doesn’t communicate its message effectively, volunteer your outstanding communication skills. If you think the party is full of mean, nasty people, then join it and invite your kind, gentle friends to join with you and purge the mean nasties and change the face of the Party. If your name is Bob, make the Republican party the party of Bob. There is no ‘them’. You, I, we, are it, with the accent on YOU.
I am an ex-Liberal Socialist Progressive Democrat from Berkeley. I changed my mind after experiencing living under socialism abroad for 4 years and studying classical political economy and re-examining all of the presumptions of my ‘default factory setting’ (hat tip Evan Sayet). Even so, I wasn’t terribly interested in becoming a partisan political type. But I went beyond intellectual dabbling to become an activist when I realized just how dangerous our country’s direction had become with the implementation of socialized medicine.
What will it take to get you off the bench and involved, proud of the ‘R’ next to your name? See you at our next meeting.
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