Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan(CNSNews.com) - Republicans lost control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and possibly the U.S. Senate, in midterm elections Tuesday because the party "lost its Reaganite soul," according to conservative leaders reacting to the results.Brent Bozell, the executive director of the Conservative Victory Fund, criticized Republican congressional leadership for abandoning the values advanced by the late former President Ronald Reagan."The Republican Party has lost, slowly but surely, its Reaganite soul," Bozell said at a news conference in Washington, D.C. But, he added, "If conservatives go back to their roots ... I think all will be well."(...)"It's time for conservatives to return to Reagan's roots," he said, warning Republicans who remain in Congress to not sign on to "enormously bad legislation" in the name of bipartisanship.
I'm a Canadian and a Conservative Party member myself. And I know very well the tumultuous history of the conservative movement in my country, so I understand what Mr. Bozell is saying.
Our now-gone Progressive Conservative Party lost its conservative soul and was reduced to a mere two seats in the election of 1993, although the real conservative party of the time, the Reform Party, for whom I voted, won over fifty seats, increasing its seat count each election, preventing the then-effectively-liberal PCs from recovering. Long story short, Reform became the larger Canadian Alliance, later merging with the PCs to become today's governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, albeit with a minority government which the leftist Opposition is blocking at every other turn, preventing Canada from moving forward by preventing badly-needed legislation from passing. (I predict that the Democrats of the US will be much like the Opposition up here, which has more seats than the government, so I can appreciate the position President Bush is now into.
So as a Canadian commentator, I can add my friendly voice to those of American commentators from a position of experience with a conservative party losing its essential conservatism.
Speaking of losing the "Reaganite soul", I urge my Republican friends to take a long, self-critical look at their party, ask what went wrong, determine what it was and immediately proceed to heal that which ails the American conservative movement and Republican Party. Believe me, it's critical. Don't try to move "to the center"... many conservatives will be repulsed by any leftwards move and demand rightwards movement so as to be motivated to get out and vote in the Presidential election in two years' time. It's most likely the GOP lost the midterm election due to conservative voters staying home, believing perhaps that the party has left them. I don't know, but that's the experience up in Canada, and as we're pretty much the same people, I would expect that that's what happened. It doesn't feel like the Democrats really won... it's more like the GOP defeated itself. But the fact that the votes are so close indicates that if those who stayed home and didn't vote had voted for a party they believed in, one that was truly conservative, the GOP would likely still have a majority in both the House and Senate. But, admittedly, analysis and speculation are just that...
Don't water down the Republican brand. That would be political suicide. Leftism is NOT the mainstream; the votes aren't towards the so-called "center" at all- they're with the people, people who know what's what and who think for themselves (and who know the Democrats are the wrong way to go, as we up here know the Liberals and NDP are the wrong way to go, too).
Republican leaders, movers and shakers, activists, members and voters need to force the Party to return to its wonderful, tried, proven and true Reaganite roots and soul!
The time is NOW! The starter's pistol has already fired, so get up and go! Don't let the left take over America!
I see frightening signs already from the Democratic win. There's speculation that the free trade we now enjoy may be harmed, damaging both our economies, and I note that the stock markets took a beating following the Dem win. Those who understand what's what know the Democrats are a negative force and are showing it, with their investing decisions.
Don't ever forget how odious the Democrats are and how negative, deleterious an effect they'll have on America the longer they have any power...
