Yesterday, my friend Patrick Dorinson penned a column for Fox and Hounds Daily, Inherit the Wind, where he questioned the wisdom and tactics of my decision to introduce a resolution for the upcoming California Republican Party convention that would officially censure any Republican legislator that voted to increase taxes. This resolution is accompanied by another one that praises Republican legislators for holding the line against higher taxes. It is my sincere hope that the first resolution gets tabled as being inapplicable, and that the party faithful will be able to unanimously pass the latter – a well deserved thank you to Republican legislators that have, despite a very high degree of pressure on them from the special interest groups that dominate the State Capitol, and the battering by the political left who occupy their high chairs on many of the editorial boards of major California newspapers.
In Patrick’s piece, he makes this statement: “Political parties exist to win elections. Period. That is what we should be focusing on.”
Patrick goes on to talk about things the Grand Old Party should be doing – voter registration, strengthening grassroots, raising money, upgrading technology, and reaching out to new voters.
In order to do these things, the Republican Party has to have a positive and strong message and vision to sell to the American people. Right now, our party is hemorrhaging due to what I would call an extreme lack of credibility – which, by the way, is not the fault of our GOP State Legislators. Our challenge comes from the fact the Republicans in the last decade won the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives on campaign rhetoric about limited government and individual liberty. Yet, during this time of Republican dominance in Washington, D.C., we watched the party of Lincoln and Reagan preside over massive increases in federal spending, and the adoption of policies such as No Child Left Behind, that preempted the authority of the states, and moved it to the federal government.
As a grassroots activist, I have seen first-hand the results of the “breaking of faith” that took place – demoralized and disenchanted GOP donors and activists.
It’s time to get those leaders back, and excited about being Republican. It is a critical first step to ultimately being a majority party once again. But in order to do so, we have to be honest brokers, and we have to be true to our principles. I think it is awesome that virtually every Republican State Legislator has pledged to oppose any tax increases. Making core promises and keeping them is an essential component to building up credibility and trust.
Breaking core promises to our constituency is the political equivalent of turning ship straight into the proverbial iceberg. The opponents of the Grand Old Party are already salivating at the idea of dealing a knock-out punch in 2010 and perhaps ending the GOP’s ability to hold up tax increases by depriving Republicans of at least of a third of the members in the State Senate and Assembly. If our party holds tight, and stands for our core principles, I feel very comfortable about our positioning for next year. But if we as a party have to suddenly struggle with redefining our party, and explaining away more broken promises, well…
As for Patrick’s recollections of former Governor Reagan’s decision to raise taxes four decades ago, I would only say that I believe that if Ronald Reagan were with us today, he would be quite upset that the state of California’s finances, which are in significantly worse shape than when he was Governor. Since President Reagan is gone, I guess it is fair game for anyone to theorize about what he might have done or said in this situation. But I suspect that given what the public employee unions and the far-left ideologues that they have placed into the legislature have done to our state — you would have seen Reagan handle things a lot differently than he did back when I was in elementary school.
It is good that Republicans can debate this issue – Patrick Dorinson has been a leader in our party, is a great communicator, and I hold him in high regard. But at the end of the day, my actions represent what I feel is a needed change in the way that the Republican Party interacts with our Republican candidates and officeholders. The party needs to be “partners” with them throughout their elections, and service as a Republican officeholder.
Registering voters, getting those voters to the polls, raising money – all of those things are important projects for the Party apparatus – all of which will be infinitely harder to do if the GOP retreats from being the party of limited government and lower taxes, and instead because just a paler version of the other party.
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