If you thought the nation was beginning to fall apart before last weekend, you might feel it’s well on its way today.
That is if you attended the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans Thursday through Saturday.
It was obviously a one-sided meeting which all national political conferences are. And there are two definite conclusions the attendees came up with. One is to win Congress back for the Republican Party in the November election this year. The second is to win back the Presidency in 2012.
But there was a hold on the second objective. Don’t worry about defeating Barack Obama in 2012 until number one is accomplished.
There were two major objectives expressed at the meeting. “Yes we can” and “No you can’t.” The “Yes we can” objective referred to taking over Congress and electing a Republican president. The “No you can’t” was about liberal outlooks of the Democratic Party.
This meeting was one of the most spirited this writer has ever attended. It was very orderly but there was more shouting and whistling from the audience in between sentences by the speakers almost than between plays at a Saints game.
When it comes to enthusiasm, the Republicans have it all over the Democrats. Even though they have several directions, they come together at the end on most of them. The Dems usually stay divided.
The speakers were excellent in expounding how most Republicans want to run the country. Reduced government, spending and taxes and more dependence on the private sector to provide for the people were their main proposals.
Our own Gov. Bobby Jindal gave an enlightened speech along those premises and received a big ovation. Others who gave similar proposals were Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, J. C. Watts plus many more.
Ron Paul, who has been a candidate for President and will be again in 2012, was a bit different in his talk. Much of it was about bringing troops home such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has always been an opponent of sending troops abroad and, instead, concentrating on protecting our own shores.
All of the speakers, many of whom will vie for the GOP presidential nomination, gave excellent talks and excited the audience almost as much as the Saints can. If they get out now with that enthusiasm in campaigning for Congress in the November election, watch out Democrats.
All in all, it was a one-sided show of force. We would like to attend a Democratic Leadership Conference and see how it compares.
Since the Democrats do not seem to be as much on the same page as Republicans, they may not exhibit as much enthusiasm about their platform. But don’t count them out. They don’t have as long a way to go in preserving their majority and presidency.
Former congressman J. C. Watts talked about the changes that happened during his lifetime. He had to sit upstairs at the movie theatre while his friends sat in another section. His father had health problems and one day the doctor told the younger Watts if he didn’t want to have those same problems, he had to take charge of his health. He said there’s nowhere in the health bill that really talks about health. “We can’t deal with health care until we get serious about our health.”
Watts also said that Republicans can’t look the other way when they realize that for many years they have squandered things. “We have the right to protest. We don’t need more taxes. We spend too much. We have a generation who doesn’t know what a land line is and that blackberries were a fruit.”
Newt Gingrich said the President “has thrown down a gauntlet saying ‘I own Washington and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ But a Republican President and Republican Congress will repeal his bills in 2013.”
Gingrich added that we need to make clear to the American people that this is a fundamental fight. We have a work ethic in America and the Obama machine exists for the purpose of taking away our money. The most important government idea is that 2+2=4. It was a decisive moment in Poland when Pope John Paul II was there and three million people in Warsaw who had come to hear him looked around and said there are more of us than them so why are we afraid of them? They knew that if the communist rulers told them that 2+2=5, they would have to go along with it. They decided to go with the truth and knew there are times when a man can be killed for saying 2+2=4 because their leaders can’t stand the truth. Gingrich thinks we’re in a fight from John Orwell’s “1984” when it was written that the more planning you have at the center in Great Britain, the less freedom you have. These are problems that Obama does not want to hear.
Gingrich said that Republicans can say yes to balancing the federal budget, yes to spending money helping American soldiers get better equipment and yes to work on smart things to do to save America.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the 10th amendment provides that the federal government be an agent for the state, not the other way around.
Governer Jindal, who is always making lists, gave these eight things to do:
1. End this era of big government.
2. Accept the will of the people.
3. Stand on principal.
4. Repeal the health care bill and say not “no” but “hell no” to health care experiments.
5. Cut up Washington credit cards and stop the debt.
6. Cut government.
7. Cut the new trillion dollar spending bill. We will not transfer problems to citizens.
8. Take a stand to protect innocent babies.
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