Poll Finds America Is Conservative

By Joe Gruters

A recent poll by The Hill has given us some extraordinarily revealing insights into the electorate that Republicans keep losing nationally.

There is a strong conservative majority in America. They just don’t know it, because of labeling and branding problems.

On four questions, voters were asked which solution they preferred to handle a known problem, without party affiliation identifying the solution. On the question dealing with the budget and deficit, they overwhelming went conservative — choosing the equivalent of Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget over Sen. Patty Murray’s budget nearly 2-1. Even regarding Obamacare, they were clearly conservative — an 8 percentage point difference favoring full repeal over full enactment.

I know you are thinking that this must be a Republican tilted poll. But here is the real kicker and revelation. When the pollsters asked respondents which party they trusted more on budgetary issues — the issues just covered in the poll’s preceding question — respondents flipped: Democrats won 35% to 30% over Republicans with 34% saying they trust neither party. The poll itself even has a five percentage-point sampling advantage for registered Democrats.

It’s a good poll. And that means that there are a lot of conservative-minded voters out there who are automatically pulling the lever for Democrats. Sure, the disconnect is media-induced to a degree. That is a big hurdle to get over. But it is also just the facts. Can’t fight gravity. Can’t fight media bias. Have to deal with the realities.

The most obvious reality is that Republicans are not losing because Americans do not like their policies. We are losing despite the fact that Americans do like our policies. It would be a grave mistake to change policies, compromising on principles, as some in the media and the Republican D.C. establishment recommend.

The Hill Poll did not ask about social issues, but other polls have uniformly shown that on the seminal cultural divide, abortion, the country has been trending dramatically more pro-life for 25 years. Facts will do that for some people, and the facts about the humanity of an early-term fetus are now undeniable.  People are informed, and now they are rejecting the pro-choice stance. That can happen on other issues with the right message — which is definitively not “moderating.”

Moderating — becoming more liberal on issues — would be a political disaster. It would depress the base, give impetus to third parties for frustrated conservatives, and still not win any votes because Americans agree with Republicans on the issues!

The Hill Poll

Do you prefer budget Plan 1 with $1 Trillion in Tax Hikes and 100 billion in cuts that does not balance budget, or Plan 2 that does not raise taxes, cuts $5 trillion and balances budget?

Plan 1  28%

Plan 2  55%

Neither  17%

 

Should U.S. budget deficits be reduced mostly by cutting spending or raising taxes?

Cutting spending  65%

Raising taxes  24%

Don’t know  11%

 

Should the healthcare reform law known as Obamacare be fully implemented, fully repealed or neither?

Fully implemented  37%

Fully repealed  45%

Neither  14%

 

Budget constraints were recently cited as the reason for cancelling tours of the White House. Should those tours be resumed?

Yes  54%

No  28%

Not sure  18%

 

Which party do you trust more on budgetary issues?

Democrats  35%

Republicans  30%

Neither  34%

Source: www.thehill.com

 

Thanks for being informed and engaged.

Advertisement

Standing For What We Believe In!

By Joe Gruters

Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster Wednesday was more than political theater. Sure, it undoubtedly gave his political ambitions a boost. But that was not the driving factor behind it, nor should be for any Republicans.

In those 13 hours of standing on the Senate floor and controlling his bodily needs,  Paul represented what so many conservatives are yearning for: someone who will stand up for what he believes in.

And he presented in force an answer to the interminably successful Obama media spin: An articulate, principled conservative who would not back down, or moderate, or capitulate, speaking directly to the American people beyond the media filter. You don’t have to agree with all of Sen. Paul’s views to appreciate the honest dedication he holds to his core beliefs and the brilliance of the decision.

It wasn’t the specific issue so much — although wanting to know the administration’s views on the constitutionality of targeting Americans on American soil who do not pose an imminent threat is worthy. Very worthy, if we still treasure our freedoms.

And it wasn’t even so much that finally conservatives had a man standing up to President Obama, who becomes more imperial in his actions every day. We have yearned for Congressional Republicans to get a spine and Paul displayed his. And his spirited defense rallied others, including Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, John Thune and many others.

It is no small irony that Sens. John McCain and Lindsay Graham were at the same time at a posh D.C. restaurant enjoying a luxurious dinner with Obama, who had just closed the White House to tours to save few bucks and blame Republicans. Those methods of schmoozing where everyone gets a little something for their political gain just don’t work for the good of the country anymore — if they ever did.

And that may have been the primary accomplishment of Paul’s filibuster: He stood athwart the dangerous trail of history we are traveling and shouted, “Halt!”

He has as a core belief in the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution in governing and restraining the actions of the federal government. That is a core of conservatism and the Republican Party that sets us apart from liberal progressives and the Democrat Party. We stand on the founding principles spelled out in the Constitution. We believe that document has done more than any other (outside the Bible) to free men and keep them free.

It instituted free speech, freedom of religion and freedom to bear arms — freedoms never found in one place before in history. It instituted the incredible hope and prosperity that drew millions and millions of immigrants from every country in the world.

American liberals dismiss the Constitution and the religious underpinnings of the men who wrote it. Obama has been a leader in doing that. And both the freedom and the prosperities are ebbing backwards. Today’s announcement that more than 89 million Americans are not working is the latest evidence.

Obama promised fundamental change in America and has been delivering. Paul stood up and shouted, “Halt!” against this advance of totalitarian-leaning liberals.

And finally, people began to listen.

Conservatism is always a winner with the American people. But it needs to be forcefully defended. That’s what happened Wednesday.

Thanks for being informed and engaged.

Do we really need 5,100 more IRS agents?

A brief editorial in the Wall Street Journal should make you ask a few questions, after your skin stops crawling:

President Obama’s fiscal 2012 budget doesn’t cut much of anything (see above), and certainly not the Internal Revenue Service. The White House is requesting that the most beloved of all government agencies get an additional 5,100 agents next year, no doubt to wring further tax revenue from Americans. The White House wants to give the IRS a 9.4% raise in fiscal 2012, to $13.28 billion. Reuters reports this would allow for a roughly 5% increase in agency manpower to 100,537, including $460 million more for tax enforcement than in 2010.

I’m not for more government, but I will advocate for a big government idea to make a larger point.

What if instead of hiring 5,100 new IRS agents, the government instead gave 5,100 people $500,000 under the watchful eye of the Small Business Administration, and let them go out and create real jobs, and real wealth in America? We could play with the numbers one way or the other, at the high end this is $2.5 Billion. $250,000 instead would be $1.25 Billion. Something like that would be a real stimulus, not creating more government workers.

Memories of Ronald Reagan at 100

By Steve Parkhurst

So many people are documenting their thoughts about Ronald Reagan on this, his 100th birthday, so I will give in to the temptation and offer some of my memories as well.

My earliest memories of President Reagan go back to my third grade year. One of my best friends at the time (Mike M., he knows who he is) and I stood up in front of our class and each recited the 40 Presidents at the time, in order. And of course, at that time Reagan was the 40th and last President. Mike M. and I both got extra credit for doing this, and we were the only two in the entire 20-25 student class to do this.

Our third grade class wrote letters to the White House when we were studying the Presidency. Each student who mailed a letter, received a package in the mail which contained an 8×10 of President Reagan (the now infamous bust shot of Reagan with the American flag in the background), a book/magazine about the White House (a book/magazine that I still have to this day) and a letter from the President thanking us for writing and encouraging us to study further. Yes, I realize this was not a personal letter, but the 8×10 got thumb-tacked to my bedroom wall, how many third graders can say that? What can I say, I always thought President Reagan looked cool. He was the same age as my grandfather, and I thought that was cool too. My grandfather would have been 100 later this year, I’ll write about that in due time.

In 1984, my classroom did a secret ballot vote for Reagan vs. Mondale. The 22-1 defeat I suffered that day was made better when I read about the landslide victory the next morning on the front page of the San Antonio Express-News. I’ll take 49-1 across the country every time.

Finally, I remember President Reagan speaking to the country the day the space shuttle Challenger exploded. My class at the time was watching tv live when the shuttle took off, as we were studying astronomy and all the teachers in America were especially intrigued with Astronaut (and teacher) Christa McAuliffe being on that space flight. I remember President Reagan speaking to the country, and especially singling out the students of America, practically talking directly to us. Again, it was like grandpa was speaking right to me.

I was an adult when President Reagan revealed he was suffering from Alzheimers. I was living in Georgia, working on a congressional campaign, when the President died in 2004. I have been to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, three times, the first time being in 1999. I have even visited the Library there as a researcher, where I was able to look at papers from the archives. I have twice been able to stand where the President is buried, where he will forever face the sunsets in the west, when the sun drops below the mountains of Simi Valley at the end of each day.

Anyway, those are my recollections for this momentous day celebrating a momentous man.

Reagan Super Bowl XLV Tribute

Paul Ryan Dominates

By Steve Parkhurst

The title here says it all. Congressman Paul Ryan dominated with his speech Tuesday night. The whole speech could be viewed as a highlight. But, two sections particularly struck me:

“We believe a renewed commitment to limited government will unshackle our economy and create millions of new jobs and opportunities for all people, of every background, to succeed and prosper. Under this approach, the spirit of initiative – not political clout – determines who succeeds.”

And this:

“We need to reclaim our American system of limited government, low taxes, reasonable regulations and sound money, which has blessed us with unprecedented prosperity. And it has done more to help the poor than any other economic system ever designed. That’s the real secret to job creation – not borrowing and spending more money in Washington.

Limited government and free enterprise have helped make America the greatest nation on earth.

These are not easy times, but America is an exceptional nation. In all the chapters of human history, there has never been anything quite like America. The American story has been cherished, advanced and defended over the centuries.”

Yes, Prime Minister

The events that took place today in London were nothing short of remarkable. If you were able to watch any of the proceedings during our 1pm-3pm hours (CST), you know what I’m talking about.

During that time, Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister, he then left 10 Downing Street to head to Buckingham Palace where he gave the Queen his resignation. Then, within minutes, David Cameron went to Buckingham Palace where the Queen asked him to form a government, he agreed, and with that a new Prime Minister made his way to Downing Street to get to work.

Upon arriving to 10 Downing Street, Cameron gave this speech, with no notes and no teleprompter.

The dynamics of the election last week and some of what led to the changes today, will be stuff of history. We’ll be reading about it for years to come I’m sure. One of the people who had led Obama’s campaign in 2008, Anita Dunn, was a key player in Cameron’s campaign. It’s no coincidence that “change” was part of the Conservative Party logo and message this year.

As I touched on before and will write more about later, the Cameron campaign was a conservative model that we should look at following parts of here in the United States going into 2010. From the “contract with young people“, to their “contract for jobs“, to their “quality of life manifesto“, I think the Conservative Party put forth one positive proposal after another and they earned the trust of the people of Britain (yes there is a hung parliament, but the number of seats that changed hands was overwhelming).

One thing we must understand, and learn to live with, it that in those proposals, people may not have agreed with the Conservative Party 100% on each idea in each proposal. However, the party itself was bold enough to say “here is where we stand, where does the other side stand?”. I think when you make the choices that clear, people will always follow the logical options and the ones based on the most common sense

King: Election winner will be out of power for a generation

In my obsession with the British elections next week, the headline really jumped out at me.

“I saw the Governor of the Bank of England last week when I was in London and he told me whoever wins this election will be out of power for a whole generation because of how tough the fiscal austerity will have to be.”

The column continued:

However, leaving this inconsistencies aside, the comments do seem plausible: King has said repeatedly that the Government will need to impose far more ambitious cuts on the deficit than it currently plans. The comments ought to stand as a reminder that although the focus of the election has switched away to bigotgate, and the economic focus worldwide to the eurozone malaise, Britain faces a decade of hurt in the wake of its decade of debt.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies spelt it out earlier this week in typically frank terms. Labour and the LibDem plans imply the biggest squeeze on public services since the 1970s, when the IMF was in town. The Tory plans imply the biggest set of cuts since records began in 1948.

The Republican party faces the same danger in both 2010 and 2012. With Obama still in office and until he is out of office, there are going to be continual fractures to our system. Our side needs to be ready and be upfront about our solutions and our plans. I’ve written about 1992, 1994 and 1996 before. I will continue to say that we must be bold and we must be realistic. We must have a conversation with the American people.

The damage that Obama is inflicting, including the sense of entitlements, is not going to go away easily. Hard decisions are going to have to be made. If we start having the conversations now, we will not only prepare people for the realities of tough decisions and real life in what is America, but we will start to get people to understand, to work with us and to advocate on our behalf within their circles of influence.

As Ronald Reagan said in 1975: “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 pastels, but bold colors, which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?”

Let’s start presenting our bold colors now. As I mentioned here before, Congressman Paul Ryan’s Roadmap For America’s Future is a great place to start. I love the British and I love watching Question Time. But, I don’t want to be like our friends from across the pond in 2013 when a Republican President is sworn in to office.

Righting the Ship

Recent headlines like these, do not inspire me:

Obama backers show signs of disappointment

Obama Gets No Health Care Bounce

Democrats’ Long-Held Seats Face G.O.P. Threat

I myself file these headlines under the “I’ll believe it when I see it” banner. The main reason for this: Do we really trust the media to tell us the truth? Isn’t it possible the media is playing us, trying to trick us into believing our own desires?

Even if you want to buy into the headlines, this is no time to get over confident.

We can’t go into November with the mindset that “all signs point in our direction”. We must be different and we must be bold. We must campaign on our ideas and solutions. Just saying “vote for us, we’re not Obama”, does not build our movement in the long term. While we could squeak through an election cycle victorious, if we elect candidates to go and feed the perception of the “party of no”, we will still be on our heels headed into 2012.

A lot can happen between now and November. There are national holidays (Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day), Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and a long summer when people will stop paying attention as they go on vacations. If Obama starts to show signs of recovery, let’s make sure we have a campaign plan that shows we have our own ideas for the direction of our country and that we have candidates willing and able to implement those ideas once elected.

Recently, I saw someone post these comments on Twitter, I was glad to see I am not alone. This person has a lot to say, obviously limited by Twitter’s 140 characters per post:

“Ask yourself this question: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS DAVID AXELROD AND WHY IS HE SO QUIET? He’s prepping for 2012, AWAY from social media #tcot”

“So get your bums off the chairs, sofas and Starbucks chairs, meet your neighbors, your colleagues and tell them the truth about today #tcot”

“FB, tweeting and blogging can only go this far .. while the Left is out there, canvassing OUR neighborhoods, we’re all… HERE… #tcot”

“So if on November 3, 2010 you ask yourselves “What happened?”, just look in the mirror and return to tweeting the same question! #tcot”

“So remember, you’re here or on FB or WordPress or blogger.. Organizing for America is on OUR streets .. WAKE THE HECK UP! #tcot”

I think there is some truth to what this person was saying. Before we start patting each other on the back for what should or could be a great 2010 election, there is work to do.

If we squeak by and win in 2010 on the “we’re not Obama” message, what have we really gained in the future? Think back to the great year of 1994. That year was sandwiched in between 1992 and 1996, years Clinton was elected and re-elected.

I agree with the Twitter poster, the Left is not sitting back waiting to take our best shot to see if they can survive. While they may not be confident going into November, they are still doing the work they need to do. They also had a much better head start in organizing on the heels of 2008 where they collected untold numbers of email addresses and cell numbers for texting. Even if the Left loses in 2010, they are building for 2012.

Let’s work so we don’t peak in April, when the election is in November.

Fix Health Reform, Then Repeal It: The Batteplan For Republicans in 2010

Paul Ryan, one our sides idea machines, has a great op-ed in today’s state run NY Times, how the editors at the state run Times let this one slip by is beyond me.

“To be clear: it is not sufficient for those of us in the opposition to await a reversal of political fortune months or years from now before we advance action on health care reform. Costs will continue their ascent as the debt burden squeezes life out of our economy. We are unapologetic advocates for the repeal of this costly misstep. But Republicans must also make the case for a reform agenda to take its place, and get to work on that effort now.”

The Obama Regime, perennial campaigners, are hitting the streets trying to tell people that they really wanted this bill, before they were all against it. Polling numbers show that great majorities don’t want this plan, but that isn’t good enough for the White House Campaign Team. Our side must continue to advocate solid ideas, good alternatives and we must continue the conversation with America, in true Reagan style. Congressman Ryan makes that point in the next section.

“Washington already has no idea on how to pay for its current entitlement programs, as we find ourselves $76 trillion in the hole. Our country cannot afford to avoid a serious conversation on entitlement reform. By taking action now, we can make certain that our entitlement programs are kept whole for those in and near retirement, while devising sustainable health and retirement security for future generations.”

Paul Ryan then makes the following point:

“As the dust settles from this historic and fiscally calamitous week, we have to try to steer this country back in the right direction. The opposition must always speak with vigor and candor on the need for wholesale repeal and for real reform to fix what’s broken in health care.”

Again, the fight starts yesterday, but it’s not enough to just say “vote ’em out in November”, there is work to be done before then. We need candidates committed to our causes and principles. In states where filing for office has not yet begun, we still have time to shape our ballots there. But, in the meantime, let’s continue to be civil and let’s continue to make sure we’re talking with America and not at America.