This past Saturday was the annual NH State Republican Party Committee Meeting (NHGOP) that I was able to attend as a voting member.
I have been to these meeting before as a visitor and they usually look like an old tired horse going through the motions. We normally get to see a lot of bickering between the different factions of the party and no clear leadership is shown. This is not to say that our past party leadership has been bad, it just seems that we get mired down in the mundane trivialities that surround us. That all has changed with the election of former Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu.
Outgoing Chairman Fergus Cullen did a lot of work to prepare us for moving forward and has some very good ideas on how we need to present the message to the people.
One of the things pointed out is that at there will be nobody under 30 years old that has any personal memories of Ronald Reagan. He was a great president and his words will stand the test of time but we need a new way of sharing those principles he spoke of so eloquently.
We as a party need to move beyond saying “we need a smaller government”, “trust the free market”, “reduce taxes and spending”, and “we will fight to protect our rights”. These are very good principles that we absolutely have to stand by but these things have been said so much that we are viewed as the party of old people and ideas. We absolutely have to prove that we are the party of ideas and solutions. That involves identifying the key threshold issues that are at the forefront of the public’s mind and starting the conversation with positive steps to solve these problems.
Take, for instance, the issue of global warming. I for one do believe in the science that has shown global warming to exist since the beginning of time but will never believe that it is ALL MAN MADE, as presented by the left. That being said, I also believe that we need to be good stewards of our environment. This means that the steps we can take to be more environmentally friendly need to be brought forth for debate. The solutions we present must be viable and conform to our principles. We need alternative solutions to subsidies for ethanol and café standards for vehicles. Solutions need to be viable without competing against free-market businesses by using OUR tax dollars as a prop.
Most people agree that the health care system in place does not work the way it should. Universal Health Care is going to destroy what we have, but people hear “it’s free” and don’t think about how much it will cost or what restrictions will be placed on it. We, as a party have been seen as defending a broken system and we need to put forth viable free-market solutions that will change the system. We need to explain in detail why our plan will work, how it is different from what we have, who will benefit from it and, most importantly what the defects are in the alternative.
It is important to get the youth involved and one way to start getting some interest is by sponsoring our-reach into the high schools and colleges. Local organizations can do some fundraising to sponsor an essay writing contest with a scholarship at the winning prize(s). It could be as simple as asking for 500 words describing “how lower taxes increase government revenues” or as involved as asking for 1,500 words describing “the proper role of government”.
I also imagine that the responses to the essay contest would help to refine the words we use in defining our positions, plans, policies and principles. The responsibility for getting this started rests on our shoulders and we need to gather locally to organize, spread the word and make this grass-roots effort catch fire. It is important to not take on too many issues. Three or four would work well and if you are unsure as to what issues to target look no farther than your state legislature. The bills they will be taking up in the current session will identify what we are facing. Study them to see what is proposed and how it can be changed to fit our principles or, if it completely violates our principles why it is being proposed.
It is time for US to roll up our sleeves and get into the trenches to make it happen.
