I just got through listening to a most interesting caller on the Rush Limbaugh program. I record Rush during work, so I can listen to him later, and I was just flipping the tape over at the end of the first hour when I caught a little of her call, and it riveted me so much that I kept the show playing in the background so I could listen live at the beginning of the second hour. Read the transcript of Gail’s call.
Gail from Birmingham, Alabama, is one of these highly courted independents who decide every election. She voted for Obama, and Rush was very intrigued by her views. She’s a solid conservative who strongly believes in the American way of life, the free market, and American exceptionalism. But she doesn’t want to affiliate with either party. She is totally disgusted at this point with Obama, and Rush wanted to know how Obama fooled her during the election.
It turns out that she picked up some of the red flags about Obama and suspected that he wasn’t up front with all that he believed, but she simply couldn’t pull the lever for McCain, whom she looked on as not being true to her conservative ideals. As she went on to explain, she feels that many Republicans are failing to rein in big government. Her exact quote was, “the Republicans and Democrats are pretty much going in the same direction, they’re just going at a different speed.” So she was willing to take a chance with Obama, who said many things about change that appealed to her.
This is the big mistake that many Republicans make. They think that when Republicans get more liberal, they will attract more support. But liberals are in a small minority in this country. There are twice as many conservatives as there are liberals in the United States. The country is conservative, by a wide margin. But Republicans are a minority party. Put this together and it becomes plain what Republicans need to do—be more conservative. But it’s tough for Republicans, when they get to Washington, to cast aside the trappings of power. They end up aspiring to be a part of the ruling class. So they get disconnected from real Americans who are sick of the ruling class. This is why only a fourth of those voters who identify themselves as Republicans say that Republicans in office represent them well. (See the American Spectator piece on The Ruling Class.)
And this is why Republicans like Mike Castle of Delaware do more harm to the national Republican party than good. They get in the way of Republicans being able to define themselves as the conservative party, the party of small government.
