The Future...

I have been doing a lot of thinking since the election.
What is the future of the Republican party - what does it need to do to survive and flourish?
What is the future of this blog?
How will Obama govern with the Dem majority in Congress?
How will the world react to Obama now?


I have felt for a while now that the future of the GOP is the moderate vote.
I believe the GOP must become the party of the moderates, the open-minded, etc.
This does not mean we throw aside our conservative message, but it does mean we start to welcome more views in, we start being willing to fight hard for our beliefs, and be willing to compromise on some.
The Democratic party has for as many elections as I can remember had a larger amount of people registered than the GOP, which means that the Republican candidates need to, and have gotten, a larger percentage of the Independent, generally moderate, vote.
This election was odd. We selected a rather moderate (especially in comparison to Obama) candidate, but Obama won a larger percentage of Independents than Kerry did four years ago, or Gore won 8 years ago, and I think Obama is the more liberal of them...
The reason this happened, I think, is that the far-right "base" of the party was in outrage at McCain being selected - so he had to extremely visibly court them. Obama on the other hand already had the far-left part of the Democratic party behind him, so while McCain had to look ever more right-wing, Obama was able to portray himself as the centrist candidate.

Personally, I think it is not McCain, or Palin, or even Obama that cost the GOP the election this time - I think it was the right-wing part of the party. We need to get to the place where no one wing of the party is "the base" - and we need to get it so the "social issues voters" (ie, the pro-life/anti-gay voters) are not the primary focus of the party - because at the end of the day, it will be whether our economy is strong, our military is strong, our trade is strong, and our future is strong that will determine whether we continue to have the right to even debate the "social issues".

I am not trying to demean those issues, I believe that allowing abortions is taking away the right to life of infants, and hurts our society as a whole, as life no longer becomes important. If we have the right to kill others simply because they depend on us, then it becomes a slippery hill that will eventually destroy this nation to follow that line of thinking through.

I do disagree with the anti-gay crowd, I believe gay should be able to have civil unions (though not marriages, the word marriage is specifically defined as a social institution between a man and a woman - dictionary.reference.com, let's not have the government changing the meaning of our language just to benefit one group....) as they should be able to get the same benefits from living in the same house, or insurance, or being family or whatnot in the event of death - that is their right under the constitution, but I am willing to debate that with people, I just think it is more important to first ensure we will have the opportunity to debate it.

I think we need to become more visibly active in the environment - I don't care whether you are doing it because of global warming or not, it is also a national security issue, an economic issue, a quality of life issue (regardless of global impact being from man or not, it is never good for our health to live in polluted areas), so let's start showing people that we mean business about the environment and aren't just going to keep pushing the status quo - which is what people think of us.

We need to lay out specifically what the government should and should not do, and then explain why we believe the way we do on each issue using that as a reference - because from what I have seen most people agree that a smaller government is ideal - so let's show them why that is, and why our views will accomplish that to all of our general good.

Another thing we need to do is start reaching out and bringing in more minorities and young voters.
In California, Prop. 8 passed (the ban on gay marriage), and one of the biggest reasons is that the majority of the black population that voted for Barack Obama also voted to ban gay marriage.
Many of these voters are more in-line with what Republicans believe than what Democrats do, it is just the Democrats have always made a big show of helping them, and are now reaping the benefits of that.
We need to show them why our views will in the end help them more, and help everyone more.

For the young voters, I think we just need to talk to them and show them why we are correct - I think the GOP does not target them enough, at least from what I have seen.
Young voters like to think they know everything, or at least "enough" - they also feel they are on top of the world - so because of that they tend to gravitate toward the party that claims to offer everything, because they firmly believe anything is possible.
We need to lay out for them why we can't have everything right now - it is possible, but it takes time to work towards it and make it happen, and, in the end, what Conservatism offers is better than what Liberalism does, once it is working.
Do you really want a good, strong, working system, plus high taxes and a huge government that barely functions - or do you want a good, strong, working system that also has low taxes and a small, functional government?


As far as what we need to do right now - we need new leadership and a clearer message.
I think Michael Steele is an awesome choice for Chairman of the RNC.
Eric Cantor is running to move up to the head whip position in the house (running unopposed last I heard), which is another good choice.
Both of these reach out to minorities (Steele being African-American, and Cantor being Jewish) as well as bringing a clearer, more Conservative, as well as a more level-headed, view for the party.

For the next election, and future leadership, I think Palin will be up there, but she won't be ready yet in 2012, I would say 2016, but who knows?
For 2012 I am personally watching Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, and Tim Pawlenty.
I think if Eric Cantor runs he will be up there too, and he is getting more of a national name for himself here of late, but I think he will wait and get a little more experience first.
Also, if Palin does run this time, she will definitely be popular, but on her own I don't know how well she will stand up against more experienced candidates...

I think of those that ran this time, only Romney will be a quality candidate in 2012, and I think he will pour himself even more into 2012 than he did this year, as I think that will be his last real shot, the others I am watching will all also do fine in 2016 or later.

Huckabee was only viable among the "social issues only" voters to begin with, and that is not the direction we need, as he would tear a huge rift in the party.
Ron Paul was always a joke as a candidate - he was older than McCain, few Republicans will take his foreign policy, and he just seemed not to have a good television presence.
Ron Tancredo won't tread any better a second time than he did this time, especially with the decreased focus on immigration (though that may cause him to run again itself...).
Duncan Hunter will do better I think if there is no good "Reagan Republican" running, but I think in a field with Romney, Jindal, Pawlenty and possibly Palin and Cantor he will be overshadowed.
Fred Thompson and McCain won't even run again - or if they do they will be perceived as too old, or has-beens.


As far as my blog, I have two options I think.
I will be turning 19 here soon, and will no longer be a teenager the next time an election comes around.
So, I can either end this blog at that time and start a new one (or rename this one possibly), or, I can pass it on to another to continue.
It has been surprising to see that my blog has generated some spin-offs in it's short existence already, like the Asian Conservative Teen or the ConservativeTeenager, so I would like to see this blog continued as a voice for all of the "young voters" out there who are Conservative.
If anyone would be interested in helping out (the more the merrier I think, we can have multiple people writing here, and I think more perspectives, even disagreeing ones, would be awesome) just comment here, or email me at gallfire [at] gmail [dot] com (replace with "@" and ".").


How will Obama govern?
I am really quite apprehensive of what he (and Reid/Pelosi) are planning, but to be honest, I hope it is not as bad as I think it will be, rather, I hope he does well.
If he does really well I will be the first to admit it - I probably won't just give up my views just like that, but if he is successful for two terms AND the President after him does well that will certainly shake some of my views.
Waiting time now though, to see what it will be, heaven, hell, or the same.


How will the world react to Obama?
I think they will do exactly as Biden predicted they would.
Several nations have already made it clear they will wait for Obama to discuss things, because they don't like what they are getting with Bush.
Russia seems to have either though Bush was weak now, or Obama would be weak, as they began to more visibly flex their muscles after the election.
I see nasty days ahead, but perhaps Obama will be stop them, otherwise I hope he has what it takes to get us through them...


I'm going to try and keep following politics and the news on this blog, but updates will be less frequent now.
I will continue to write about my ideas, and probably criticize the government.

So, my first criticisms of President-elect Obama:

1. Rahm Emanuel - while I appreciate the sentiment about reaching out to the Jewish population and Israel, Chief of Staff is hardly a foreign policy position, so I interpret this as a meaningless gesture.
2. Has anyone else noticed Obama is acting like he is already President? I think he should scale back and let Bush finish his term before he starts dictating policy.
3. Obama's government growth program - he is already planning an Environmental Security Agency (or something to that effect), and two of the top candidates for the Secretary of Environment Security are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Al Gore - why can't he just wrap "whatever" it is he plans to do with this into the other environmental agencies?
4. Will he now, finally, start dealing with all the allegations of his heritage? I can understand not wanting to give credibility to them during the election, but he really needs to address them now.
   

There are probably more I have forgotten, but that is enough for now.