Our Vision As West Virginia Republicans Going Into 2010

Historically, the West Virginia Republican Party has succeeded best when it has effectively sold its message. A lot of factors go into that sale, including the willingness of the opposition to live up to the image that we apply to them. Republicans in 1888 controlled nothing in West Virginia. By 1896 they wrested control of the state. Why? Because they sold their message of industrial based prosperity, asserting that the state could only do more to better people's lives if it had an economy that could pay for things such as roads and schools. The Democrats, in turn, offered no pragmatic vision.

Just my opinion here, no one else's, but I suggest that we tailor our message in this coming year to fit our national mission statement: the Declaration of Independence.

Citing this document makes it very clear that we as Republicans are drawing parallels to the past, when a government pushed its authority beyond acceptable limits.

We base our message on the three basic jobs of government as cited by Jefferson and his inspiration, George Mason. Jefferson and Mason both talked about the government's role in protecting innocent life and promoting liberty, but Mason finished the phrase with "pursuit of property." These three roles of government reflected a belief in the natural rights of each individual to live their life and make choices.

I would center the message around those three roles.

Life: The Republican Party backs the right of each innocent individual to live their lives. Each human being has the right to be born into this world and make choices about their lives. They also have the responsibility to live with the consequences of those choices without a nanny state bailout.

Liberty: The Republican Party believes that a democracy can rest upon nothing less than the belief that individuals have the capacity to make choices that reflect their own personal taste and interest. The state has no right to force its citizens to conform to its idea of education, health or welfare.

The Republican Party backs a strong interpretation of the Bill of Rights for each United States citizen. The Second Amendment does not refer to hunting. It gives each citizen the right and even the obligation to defend his property, his life, and his country against all enemies.

Every citizen should have the freedom to speak his mind without fear.

Every citizen should enjoy a reasonable right to enjoy his property without fear of seizure or overregulation.

Taxation for revenue is acceptable. Taxation for social engineering is theft and a transgression on the natural right to pursue and retain property.

Governments should never "take an inventory" of the lives of individual citizens.

Information is power so we call upon the United States Census to have a constitutional limit upon what information a person is required to give. The more the government knows, the less freedom we have.

Pursuit of Happiness/Property: The American economic system is built upon the premise that every participant can make sound economic decisions. When each person pursues their opportunities, some succeed, some fail, but we all end up prosperous. The current economic problems were started in large part by government intervention into the financial sector. We must remember that twenty five years of economic prosperity came after some Democratic congressmen and Ronald Reagan pushed to deregulate and remove the weight of burdensome and unnecessary rules from many businesses.

The Republican Party is devoted to removing all reasonable obstacles in the path of people pursuing and keeping their property. Property ownership in the hands of the people creates a valuable check on the power of government.

This is not an exhaustive list and it may need to be trimmed down to essential, but more general points. Personally I believe we should stick to issues that revolve around personal and economic freedom along with limited government. We must sell ourselves as having the right plan and vision for the economy and society. West Virginia needs less government, especially at the federal level.

Only Republicans have the right ideas going into the next election. With work, we'll get our country back.

Time For the Republican Party to Get Back to Basics

The Republican Party since its birth in the 1850s has traditionally stood in some way or another for rights. At that point its rights platform emphasized the right to not be owned just because of your skin color. The Grand Old Party has always been at its best and truest when arguing a positive platform of the right of each individual to enjoy what was promised by the Declaration of Independence and enshrined by the Constitution.

Constitution? Declaration of Independence? Even now that they are terrorist manifestos, they ought to be easy sells to the American people in the upcoming elections right?

The art of selling (and it is an art despite pollsters trying to turn it into a science) requires focus. Right now the Republican Party lacks cohesive focus. Remember when we stormed back in 1994? We had a strong and deep vision that was well articulated. It was based upon the political values and economic principles that have always been Republican strong suits.

We believe in the right of individuals to choose within the law except when those choices result in direct bodily harm to another individual.

We believe that America must retain a strong role in world affairs because we realize if we do not, more unpalatable nations will rise to the fore.

We believe that when the government is knee deep in the private sector instead of an impartial referee, it leads to favoritism and corruption. The Credit Mobilier scandal of the 1870s sprang from direct government involvement in railroads. Lots of politicians stuck their hands into that cookie jar, including future President James Garfield.

Obama is gutting the Constitution and is a real threat to our natural rights. We need to focus our message on a positive alternative vision. Right now we are simply reacting and muddying the water with other issues.

Social conservatives will argue with this, but it is time to jettison gay marriage as a major issue. This is my own opinion, not Gary Howell's. This issue contradicts our general stands on limited government and individual choice. Now on the issue of extending sexual education into elementary school with the idea of teaching children in ways that contradict parental prerogatives, that is an issue of rights where Republicans stand on firm ideological ground. Honestly what are we going to do if gays want to call themselves married? Put shock collars on them? The private sector already recognizes these relationships for insurance and other purposes. This issue muddies the waters and drives away to the Democrats many victims of Obama's stealing, I mean, tax policies.

Abortion, on the other hand, is an issue we need to continue to fight. It is a human rights issue. Children have the right to live, regardless. When the Declaration of Independence says that every person has the right to life, it gets no plainer than that. That is why this is not only a social conservative issue and should not be fought as one. We can even take this one into traditionally Democratic territory. One in three babies aborted is black. That is an astounding statistic. It should be better publicized by the Republican Party.

It's very simple. We only need to get back to the ideals upon which this country was founded. We separated from Britain for economic and individual freedom. We made those ideals our law. They are based upon the right to choose. If we stand by these two founding documents and fight on issues that flow directly from them, we are always strong.