Republican National Committee Vice Chairman Jim Bopp has a great column in today’s Washington Times. You can read it here. It ponders the future of the Republican Party.
Bopp has been at the center of controversy lately for his proposal that the RNC adopt a "litmus test" on key GOP issues that candidates must meet before being eligable for RNC support.
Many people do not like that idea.
Yet, Bopp’s proposal addresses a serious problem, which you will see me write about a lot in the coming months. Which, most simply put, is how does the GOP track towards a majority that will achieve the party’s policy goals? It clearly is not the purpose of a political party to accumulate power for power’s sake. Earlier this decade Republicans controlled the Presidency, the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. With all of this, we presided over growth in the size and scope of the federal government, and the expansion of entitlement programs.
If GOP leaders don’t like Bopp’s proposal, what is theirs. Because I have little interest, as a party leader, in working hard to achieve a Republican majority if the only result is that it is Republicans, and not Democrats, who preside over a big fat federal government.
All of the work that goes into a majority is a waste of time if we cannot return some liberty and freedom to Americans by substantially shrinking federal government. Doing this again reminds me of hamsters running on the round treadmill at length, going nowhere but thoroughly occupied.
President Obama and Capitol Hill Democrats are pushing so hard on an ideologically liberal agenda that it presents the GOP with an unprecedented opportunity to make political gains in Congress. The question is whether GOP officials understand that not all Republican majorities are created equal, that care must be put into what kind of majority we achieve. A principled one dedicated to limited government. Or a repeat performance of what we saw before?
I will give Democrats some kudos — they are willing to risk their majority in pursuit of their socialist, progressive agenda. THEY BELIEVE IN THEIR CAUSE.
Are we focuse