Got to Get This Off My Chest. I am Damned Proud to Be a Republican

I have to get this rant off my chest. I am tired of Republicans running around being attacked by Democrats for being too extreme and libertarians for being moderate. I'm tired of seeing good Republicans get bashed when they stray outside what some people say is the party line. And I think I know what the problem is.

It is about what we are looking for as a group to move us forward. We are looking for that once in a lifetime individual to capture the attention of all factions and lead the troops against the ramparts of Democratic socialists. We have the energy, the desire, and the fear of worse things in the future driving us, but we have lost our sense of what defines us. Part of that comes from people shying away from the word "Republican." We should remember what our party has stood for over the years and allow our history to help unify and define who we are.

Friends, let me say this. I am damned proud to be a registered member of the Republican Parties of West Virginia and the United States of America. I am always proud of that. I have identified myself as a Republican my entire life and I do not see that changing.

Why am I proud? My party freed the slaves and preserved the Union. It fought for civil rights for blacks. When recessions hit and Republicans held power, they generally (except for Herbert Hoover) stepped back and allowed for self-corrections that took less time than Democratic interventionism. My party supported the fight for freedom in Iraq and deposed one of history's most evil dictators. My party saved this nation from the malaise of Carter and when it seizes power from Obama it will be morning in America yet again. My party understood the evil and brutality of Communism and is fully responsible for setting in motion the events that led to hundreds of millions getting a chance at freedom. When an Iraqi, a Pole, an eastern German, or others in countless countries vote, they can thank in part the Republican Party. When a Democratic president called for America to respond to the Soviet threat and also provide aid to war torn Europe, the Republican Party responded.

For all this and more I am proud to be a Republican. This is what we are missing. Some concentrate on the hairs breadth differences that separate us, or the few who vote and act in ways that we do not like (but often do it for political rather than ideological reasons.) I want us to concentrate on our long history. There are times when we have not always lived up to our ideals. But they guide us nevertheless. Our forefathers of the Founding generation laid down principles that life, liberty, and property were to be protected by the government, not threatened by its lawless policies. We stand by those ideals even as others declare them anachronistic.

Today I am prouder than ever to be a Republican. They declared us dead in 2009, but we defied the pronouncements of the Left. Why? Because we want what the people want. We want an America where hard working people keep the rewards of work and risk. We want an America where anyone can dream of being rich, then work hard and make it happen, a place where wealth is a goal, not a dirty word.

We are Republicans. We are back. We should be proud of who we are, where we have come from, and where we are going.