Riffs off Laura Ingraham's opening monologue - social issues and the Republican Party. - Granite Grok

Riffs off Laura Ingraham’s opening monologue – social issues and the Republican Party.

I like Laura Ingraham, a Conservative talk show hostess, and I do listen into The Factor when she guest hosts.  I had DVR’d the program for a different segment, but this morning upon playing it back, her opening monologue caught my attention even more:

The question of what sort of culture our children are going to inherit is more important that the results of any one election.

This SHOULD be true: “culture our children are going to inherit is more important that the results of any one election.” The problem for Conservatives, especially Social Conservatives, is that the Progressives ARE making elections all about the culture, that they are playing “Culture Survivor” and we are in the process of getting thrown off the island.  I hear calls that “times are changing”, for folks like me to “get over it” or that I am “a Christian bigot”, and that my political Party just wants me to die off (shades of US Rep Grayson of Republicans wanting people to die quickly (although that was in terms of Republicans not wanting Obamacare)) just to take a flock of issues like gay marriage and abortion off the table (or any other issue on which they seemingly can’t articulate a clear message that could persuade even an ant).

The social issues are not merely a political football to be used by grasping politicians seeking to win power.

Yes, but that is how politicians and the rest of the Political Class see it. Power first and then we’ll….do something, sorta. BUT WE HAVE TO WIN! Yeah, winning is nice and winning feels good and winning lets you do things. But THAT is the question! After we pour in all of our money, and all of our effort, and all of our intellectual and spiritual effort, and our votes – what do we get?

Politicians who are already looking for the next election and Republican campaign promises end up having the same expiration dates that Obama’s do. I’ve oft posted about Frank Guinta and his failed votes on the Continuing Resolutions that only spent MORE than before (regardless of promises to cut spending). For a couple of YEARS, I’ve heard the the DC House Republicans say they will cut Obamacare funding – and Constitutionally they CAN as they are the branch of government that starts the appropriation process. Did they cut a DIME out of Obamacare on this last CR? Course not – the Party that proclaims “You can trust us – we’re not Democrats” makes a lie even out of that thin phrase. The very THOUGHT of being blamed for “shutting down government” turns them into statues of stone for a microsecond – my GOSH, I might get booted from office!

They really do establish the framework for the many aspects of American life, from our schools to our churches to our families.

We ARE supposed to be the land of the Free, yet with all of the laws and regulations that they allow (explicitly or implicitly), it no longer is just a framework but a set of concrete barriers. The Dems do it on the Progressive mantra of “we know what is best for you” and using that raw power to satisfy their collection of identity group voters. Republicans? Many are just the “I have the power” and not the “I have the courage” that Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz are showing. They have the power and are trying to do EXACTLY the right thing – put Government back into it’s pen that the Founders wanted. They are the true measuring stick and the Quality standard by which all of our national politicians (and State ones) should have – “What does the Constitution say FIRST, then make (or, heart be still, delete) laws that leave US to make our own framework.

So instead of worrying about political tactics, Republicans should focus on what they truly believe, and what type of country they want to have.

I would like to think that they think like me. OK, that tells me I need more Mtn Dew – am undercaffenated if I believe that. Laure Ingraham is right – that’s what SHOULD be done but the Republicans aren’t – but the Progressives are. Instead of just leaving us alone, they are using their levers of power, not to allow us the freedom to self-determination of our own future, but to give themselves the freedom to determine it for us. That is the Progressive Political future.

The time has come for a serious debate within the GOP over all of the social issues with all sides making the best case for what they think is right. Only then can the GOP reach a new consensus, and move forward in a united effort to reach the rest of America.

Right now, I don’t know whether the GOP really wants to do that. I truly believe that the Elites in the Party wish to “lessen the friction” of issues they believe keep them from winning – the social issues to concentrate on the fiscal ones. Problem is, as I point out earlier, Republicans can’t seemingly do that in DC and out in the States, only Governor Perry of Texas and Speaker of the House Bill O’Brien here in NH was able to accomplish that – cutting the size of Government.

Yes, we need a long hard discussion about ALL of American life. Here in NH, I thought Mike Biundo’s new company had a great start to doing just that (and yes, they even invited me!) but since that first meeting, I’ve heard nothing at all. Is the ‘Grok the right entity to start that anew? Dunno – being unabashed Conservatives (w/libertarian leanings) in a 360 degree fashion, I know that there are those out there with which we would have “estranged” relations (for we are not shy about saying what we believe. However, folks like us need to be at that table.

Laura Ingraham is right – we need the discussion. But those of us that are social conservatives, based either on our faith or for other reasons, want people to represent US and our views. Go too far away from that, and Gov. Huckabee may well be right – they would either leave the Republican Party at worst or sit on their hands at best. “Oh no, they won’t”, I hear, “where else would they go”? A sign of hubris in my mind – taking votes for granted gave Obama a second term.

If the Republican Party continues to ignore a very important percentage of their current base, the social conservatives that believe that the culture IS important and the culture they see being allowed under “the policians setting the framework” is not one they (we) see as a long term recipe for America’s success. They see a significant part of the “top of the Party” all too willing to blow their concerns off all for the sake of Power. They believe that single focus, of simply Power attainment, being wrong – that Power needs to be used for the betterment of America.

And that IS all about the culture. A culture where people no longer believe in the work ethic but simply game the system? That right and wrong are all mixed up at best, and often, seen as being irrelevant in an increasingly libertine (not libertarian) “ME ONLY” social clime pushed by Progressives? The children borne out of wedlock, never having a stable pair of a Mom or a Dad? A country that has laid down a fiscal debt ($17 Trillion – with Republicans actively helping Democrats to spend that all) that all but ensures a lower standard of living for society as a whole. A culture that no longer believes in self-responsibility but that they are entitled to the resources belonging to others so they “can be happy”. A politican that hungers for “free money” that springs from elsewhere for a pet project, and never acknowledges that his or her consituents are being milked for other’s free money at the same time.

Yeah, the culture matters and the Party MUST care. The observation was made, and I believe correctly, that politics is downstream of the culture. Which means, if we take Laura’s words seriously, the Republicans have to change that framework to alter the culture that affects elections. When will the Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to do so, even at the risk of their own political careers?

For THAT is what we at the bottom ledges of the Party will support. Do that, and you won’t have to worry about a political career…

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