Conservatives Move to Point GOP in 'Right' Direction

Rebranding is an interesting practice. Take a product... change it (perhaps minimally)... repackage it... rename it.... and BOOM, you have a brand new item. Remember when Cingular suddenly appeared? Billboards and television commercials were touting the "new" cell phone company. But, of course, it was merely a repacking of an existing carrier. Then, Cingular became the "new" AT&T. The new AT&T? Isn't AT&T over one hundred years old?

A similar rebranding effort is going on within the Republican Party. The problem is that when you talk about conservative values, the idea of rebranding should be approached cautiously. For the Republican Party, rebranding MUST be about principles... not packaging.


In a story titled 2007 Elections Offer Little Guidance for Republicans in 2008, FOX News notes, "Republicans on Capitol Hill have been engaged in a re-branding exercise since losing their majorities in the House and Senate in 2006. But GOP lawmakers and strategists are divided over whether the party should espouse conservative principles or a more moderate image in light of 2007 election results."

This is EXACTLY why we are now in the mess we are in. If our party leaders and so-called "strategists" can't figure out whether a conservative or moderate approach is better, it simply shows they have no guiding principles in the first place. There should be absolutely NO debate on where the party should be on the issues. America embraced the Republican Party because we stood for conservative principles and reform. To succeed, we simply need to return to those core values.

FOX News reports that the conservative tide may be turning within the Republican Party:

Eight of the 17 Republicans who have announced their retirements from Congress this year are staunch moderates, and reports suggest that Republican freshmen and junior members appear to be eager to swell the ranks of House conservatives, and are enthusiastically trying to recruit like-minded candidates for 2008.

That's also the case among some in the emerging leadership, including Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam of Florida, who was put in charge of helping advance a new brand.

"We lost our way," said a leadership aide who did not want to be identified. "There is a division, a healthy discussion in the conference. That is going to be resolved in the coming weeks and months. There is time to work that out."

Hopefully Putnam can help guide the Republican Party in the right direction, and recruitment is key. Republican leaders must realize that we can't be afraid to take a conservative message to the voters. If we dilute our message, we lose. If we run as conservatives but govern as moderates (or liberals), we lose. It's as simple as that, and election results prove the case.

FOX News turns to Virginia as an example of the internal battles that are ongoing:

This branding battle is also taking place in the states, where recent elections could be interpreted to show either the first step toward a Republican revitalization or another step toward GOP disintegration.

The reasons for the Democratic shift in the state are complex, but some conservatives say the GOP has moved too far away from its right-leaning principles.

"It's very sad," said James Parmelee, head of Republicans United for Tax Relief, a grassroots organization in Virginia. Parmelee says state Republicans bombed on Nov. 7 because they lost their conservative ways.

Parmelee, who also serves as GOPUSA's Virginia state editor, hits the nail on the head when he notes, "If there was ever an election that showed that abandoning Republican principles doesn't work, this would be one of them."

In our two-party system, the Republican Party is the vehicle for conservative policy. If the vehicle is broken, we take it "into the shop" for repairs... we don't abandon it. We fix it from within by recruiting conservative candidates (party function), voting for those candidates in the primaries (grassroots function), and ensuring that once elected, these officials stay true to conservative principles (party and grassroots function).

Thus, it takes all of us to keep the Republican Party pointed in the "right" direction. Selling a conservative image may help win elections, but, as we have seen, long term governance depends on sticking to those conservative principles. We can "rebrand" until the cows come home. In the end, the only thing that matters is that we stand for conservative values.

http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=614