In today’s world there are two types of activists. The first are those that like power, position and prestige. They do not care who or what wins or loses, as long as they get credit and no one challenges them.
The second are those who take winning and losing seriously. The people who believe in right and wrong and are willing to stand, even as a minority, for principles and the Constitution.
The “leadership” of both the Republican and Democrat Parties lack guts. They prefer to sit at the cool kids table instead of working for a better California or America.
I like Tea Party conservatives and Progressive Democrats. Both have the same thing in common, they stand for principle. The rest? They stand for power. In the GOP leadership prefers to be big fish in a small pond—while conservatives are willing to be small fish in a winning big pond.
This is why NPP’s are growing so fast—these folks stand for principle. Good for them.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY LACKS GUTS
By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 1/10/24 www.capoliticalnewsandviews.com
The Republican Party is adrift.
So is the Democratic Party.
This column will focus on the Republicans.
Where are the Republicans’ new ideas for a stronger, more prosperous America?
And where are the party’s strong leaders –- leaders like Ronald Reagan?
Looking abroad, where is there a leader in the mold of Margaret Thatcher, a former prime minister of Great Britain, who took a nation bedeviled by labor-union strikes, tepid growth, a declining currency (the pound), and timidity in foreign affairs?
Since taking over the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republicans have had a leadership problem. Congresspersons like Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Steve Scalise (R-LA) were supposed to be the House speaker. Instead, the speaker became Mike Johnson (R-LA), a political unknown.
At the presidential level, the Republicans are offering the nation another dose of Donald Trump, who brings a history of political defeat. In 2016, Trump won the Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote. In 2018, Republicans lost the House. In 2020, they lost the White House and the Senate. Democrats kept control of the House.
Trump wants a 10 percent tariff on all imports into the U.S. If he gets his way, America’s trading partners will retaliate, leading to a shrinking of world trade and possibly a severe depression in America.
In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill, which was supposed to protect American jobs during the Great Depression. Instead, the Depression became worse, unemployment skyrocketed, and Hoover overwhelmingly lost his 1932 re-election bid to Franklin Roosevelt, a liberal Democrat with some socialist ideas.
Trump has been ambivalent about supporting America’s allies in Europe and Asia. There is concern that America will withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — a withdrawal which could lead to the unraveling of European unity and the resumption of centuries-old rivalries among such nations as Germany, France, and Great Britain.
In Asia, Trump, early in his term as president, a term which went from 2017 to 2021, withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade agreement among nations that included the U.S., Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. The partnership was designed to be a counterweight to the expansion of Chinese influence in Asia and elsewhere.
At home, Trump, if re-elected to a second term in 2024, said he would act as a dictator during his new term. There is nothing in the American Constitution calling for dictatorship.
In several recent debates among Republican presidential candidates, Trump refused to participate, preventing Americans from knowing Trump’s views. Is Trump a coward?
Under President Reagan, the U.S. supported its allies, built up the nation’s defenses, and encouraged free trade among friendly nations.
The current group of Republicans in Congress leans toward isolationism, protectionism, xenophobia, and authoritarianism. The openness and optimism of Reagan is lacking.
About the only issue on which Republicans agree is cutting off illegal immigration across America’s southern border. Most Americans, not just Republicans, believe that illegal immigration from Latin America has gone too far.
Perhaps Republican objections to illegal immigration will, in 2024, carry the party to victory in the Senate, the House, and the White House.
But will such a victory be enough to offset Republicans cowardice and ignorance on economics, national security, and democracy?
Where is a leader like Ronald Reagan when Republicans need someone like the Gipper?
OK! Richard Colman hates Donald Trump. The Republican party has lacked leadership since the days of Ronald Regan. The last real leader of the House was Newt. Can Colman tell us anything we don’t already know?
If Donald Trump doesn’t win the White House in 2024, the base – the folks who do all the heavy lifting during campaigns – will properly blame Never Trumpers and RINOs. At that point, the Republican party will become a useless third-party.
There are many Republicans in California who would switch to No Party Preference or Independent but remain in the GOP primarily so they can vote for Trump in the primary. That should change depending on what happens on Election Day. Already, there is a lot of DISGUST among America First Patriots that Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are spending so much time and money to be #2 in the vote. That time and money would be better served uniting behind Donald Trump and going after the pitiful Joe “Big Guy” Biden and his Marxist agenda.
Yes, Donald Trump is boorish and unpresidential. However, he is not a career politician who needs to get along with the status quo to remain in power (i.e. to have a job). The status quo is the downfall of America. Trump, unlike the career politicians, not only knows that but is wiling to tackle that. Trump does not need meaningless debates, since anyone can go to his website, click issues, and understand why the status quo is desperate to take him down.
WOW. This is a very fact-challenged article, with illogical conclusions Amazed that it would appear in such a Conservative, constitutional publication.
Donald Trump is the strongest leader that the Republican Party has had the good fortune to have in my lifetime, which goes back to the Truman administration. There are no good leaders in the Republican Congress leadership, but there are good Republicans with the needed leadership abilities.
Fighting a battle on two fronts is folly. I hear more Republicans beefing about Republicans than I hear them beef about Democrats. Can’t we knock off the BS long enough to get Trump elected and pull the US out of it’s downward spiral? This constant bickering among Republicans is discouraging and negative. The best way to stop it is to do just that: STOP IT. The one thing Democrats do well is they stick together. There is so much focus on Republican leadership and they withstand so much criticism from Republicans, that it must be terribly discouraging. They have to fight the Democrats, who all stick together like glue, AND their own constituents. Gee, I wonder why it is difficult to get Republicans to run for office? Why do Dems win so much? Because sticking together and having each other’s backs is a successful plan of action. So STOP IT!
Every husband knows that feeling, where you come home from work and you’re tired. You’ve worked hard all day, and she is standing at the door with a big spoon all ready to stir the pot as you’re stepping across the threshold. I know about this, because I used to be that wife. I learned to keep my mouth shut when my husband came in, hand him something cool to drink, and let him decompress in front of the TV for 20 minutes after he arrived home. When he was ready to talk, then he would come into the kitchen. You see, we have a team. We’re not perfect – I’m not perfect and he’s not perfect. But we’re all we’ve got now that the kids are gone. Sometimes it is a good idea to shut up and go along with the program. Sometimes it is a good idea to have an ounce of trust in the leadership and not be harping on them.
We are facing the election of our lifetime and we need to stop the harping and stand by our people in office, get out there and register Republicans to vote, keep an eye on the election integrity, and vote early.