The GOP needs to be put in its Place

The Republican Party could serve itself well by remembering a man that helped to define the GOP. Ronald Reagan was noted for saying that "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me." That message resonated with millions of Americans and led to the rise of "Reagan Democrats." Many of them left that Democratic Party too and some (but certainly not all) of them, joined the GOP. This was part of the Reagan formula for success. It was about values, philosophy, and optimism built on common sense. It had little to do with parties.

In 1980, I was a student at Abilene Christian University and was Chairman of that school's Young Conservatives of Texas chapter. I was also a regional coordinator of Students for Reagan. I was attracted to certain ideas and not partisanship. In my area, Grant Jones was a conservative state senator and also a Democrat. Back then, Charlie Stenholm was a conservative Democrat Congressman. I consistently voted for each of them back in those days because their Republican opponents ran to the left of them.

At this time, there was a Young Republicans chapter at my school and many of them would say, after the Gipper got the nomination, "Reagan in '80, Bush in '81." Reagan was the oldest man elected President and you see how these GOP activists thought about his future.

The Republican Party, at that time was dominated by people that, today, we would call "Republicans in Name Only" (RINOs). The GOP had an Eastern Establishment bent that saw followers of Reagan as among the "unwashed masses" and a mere "necessary evil" to promote their cause. Thanks to Reagan, things changed some what. It became "cool" to be conservative.
Some where over the last two decades, things changed again. When the GOP did something well (cut taxes for job creation, increase economic growth, etc.), they were remarkably silent. Instead, they tried to get fame in a sick form of "me tooism." The left believes government needs to bailout financial institutions and the automobile industry. The GOP's response is "we do too." As a result, I hear conservatives defend Bush's bailout policies. This is a terrible mistake. We should only embrace a candidate's policies that reflect our values and not the candidate because of his party affiliation. Supporting liberty and being Republican are not necessarily the same thing. The last several years have shown that.

Conservatives who continue to defend Republicans who behave like Democrats are like the "co-dependents" who always apologize for their drunk spouse and abusive friends. People who know such individuals (either the abuser or the abused) tend to lose sympathy and in our case, will only chase away potential supporters to our cause. If we want to grow our ranks, we need to stop defending Republicans for being Republicans in Name Only and hold them to the same high standards we have for Democrats. In fact, we should demand an even higher standard. That will disarm Democrats and independents who think our agenda is a Republican agenda and will make them feel comfortable to look more closely at our positions.

Republicans like to say that Democrats spend like drunken sailors. Unfortunately this transcends party lines. Someone needs to hold government accountable and party affiliation should not matter.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

Advice for Conservatives Trying to Grow Their Numbers

Ronald Reagan was noted for saying that "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me." That messaged resonated with millions of Americans and led to the rise of "Reagan Democrats." Many of them left that Democratic Party too and some (but certainly not all) of them, joined the GOP. This was part of the Reagan formula for success. It was about values, philosophy, and worldview. It had little to do with parties.

In 1980, I was a student at Abilene Christian University and was Chairman of that school's Young Conservatives of Texas chapter. I was also a regional coordinator of Students for Reagan. I was attracted to certain ideas and not partisanship. In my area, Grant Jones was a conservative state senator and also a Democrat. Back then, Charlie Stenholm was a conservative Democrat Congressman. I consistently voted for each of them back in those days because their Republican opponents ran to the left of them.

At this time, there was a Young Republicans chapter at my school and many of them use to say, after the Gipper, got the nomination, "Reagan in '80, Bush in '81." Reagan was the oldest man elected President and you see how these GOP activists thought about his future.

The Republican Party at that time was dominated by people that, today, we would call "Republicans in Name Only" (RINOs). The GOP had an Eastern Establishment bent that saw followers of Reagan as among the "unwashed masses" and a necessary evil to promote their cause. Thanks to Reagan, things changed some what. It became "cool" to be conservative.

Some where over the last two decades, things changed again. When the GOP did something well (fight the war on terrorism, cut taxes for job creation, increase economic growth, etc.), they were remarkably silent. Instead, they tried to get fame in a sick form of "me tooism." The left believes government needs to bailout financial institutions and the automobile industry. The GOP's response is "we do too." As a result, I hear conservatives defend Bush's bailout policies. This is a terrible mistake. We should only embrace a candidate's policies that reflect our values and not the candidate because of his party affiliation. Conservative and Republican are not necessarily the same thing. The last several years have shown that.

Conservatives who continue to defend Republicans who behave like Democrats are like the "co-dependents" who always apologize for their drunk spouse and abusive friends. People who know such individuals (either the abuser or the abused) tend to lose sympathy and in our case, will only chase away potential supporters to our cause. If we want to grow our ranks, we need to stop defending Republicans for being Republicans in Name Only and hold them to the same high standards we have for Democrats. That will disarm Democrats and independents who think our agenda is only agenda and will make them feel comfortable to look more closely at our positions.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on CNN 650 (M-F at 11 am). Eric Bolling of Fox News and Fox Business and says that Price’s Blog “is very influential and moves the blogosphere.” Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com.

RINOs Should Become an Endangered Species

The Republican Party is in need of cleaning house (or is that Houses). It is dominated with people who claim to be Republicans, but are so in name only (in other words, RINOs). These people have to go and they are becoming increasingly easy to identify.

For example, those "Republican" Senators who simply disregarded the interests of their constituents and the mandate to defend the Constitution can be found in the vote today for the $830 billion move towards socialism (also called a "recovery" or "bailout" package). This bill came 6 months after a similar measure, costing a similar amount, did absolutely nothing. In fact, it actually slowed down the recovery because companies that should have failed were not allowed to and the confusion in the Stock Market has been unprecedented as it has waited to capitulate.

Thirty six Senators voted against this disastrous bill that was geared towards creating pork rather than jobs and what I found interesting is that a fourth of them were actually Democrats. These Democrats may have showed more courage than three Republicans who sided with the President: Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania. Most Republicans who were foolish enough to vote for the bailout last September had enough sense to say "nay" this time. Not these three. They demonstrated their true colors and proved their credentials as being among those who are Republicans in name only. (This bill passed with only 61 votes, the one last Fall had 74 votes and several more of them were irresponsible Republicans).

The National Republican Trust PAC Director, Scott Wheeler, is placing people like Spector and company on notice: If they are going to vote like Democrats, expect a serious primary challenge. I completely agree. This Republican Party looks increasingly like the one that was on the scene back in the 1970s. This was back before the Republican Revolution led by Ronald Reagan (who had no problem acting like a Republican). Many of them served in Congress through the 1980s and foot soldiers of the Reagan Revolution (like myself, working for Senator Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire at the time) would call these "RINOs" members of the "get along gang." They were far more interested in congeniality than principles, which is why we struggled for decades for majority party status. If people have the choice between the "genuine article" (Democrats) and those who are a weak alternative (RINOs), they will always choose the former. Wheller and GOP PAC are right, RINOs are like a plague on the American political system. Either they need to go or the Republican Party will find itself as relevant as the Whigs were in the late 1850s. I encourage people to take the time to visit Wheeler's site and consider taking a stand for liberty and for the extinction of RINOs who are undermining that freedom.

Kevin Price is a syndicated columnist whose articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media. Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Conservatives Should Stop Defending Brats

I cannot stand it when I am in a store and there is a bratty kid pulling cans off the shelf while mom is chasing him. "I'm sorry, he is just a bright boy and so full of energy." The parent is actually so "full" of it. We roll our eyes and try to navigate around the mobile disaster area in tennis shoes. I want to get away from that aisle as quickly as possible.

I believe conservative media has suffered a terrible blow this past election cycle. It wasn't by the Democrats who simply articulated the same dangerous ideas that haven't worked nor were well received in the past. We expect Democrats to behave like Democrats. The problem was with Republicans who often tried to "out socialize" the Democrats and proved electorate cynicism about the GOP as the party of the rich as they voted for a bailout.

Many, if not most, elected Republicans have become Democrat copy cats and I am convinced that most Americans will simply vote for the real thing. Why vote for a Democrat impersonator when there is an actual Democrat available? These poorly behaving Republicans have talked about wealth redistribution (bailouts), have promoted the myth of Global Warming, and have disregarded the need of defending our borders. These are the same positions supported by the Democrats' Standard Bearers.

Smart conservatives in media have distanced themselves from such politicians. All four or five of them. The vast majority have joined the ranks of the mom in the store with the child out of control and the voters are distancing themselves from the brats and may soon do the same to their apologists.

As I have said, most conservative pundits are guilty. I sounded almost schizophrenic near the end of the campaign because I am disgusted by McCain's positions, but felt Obama was so much worse. Fear about the Fairness Doctrine (which should be called the Censure Doctrine), the extreme positions Obama took on the war and the economy, and the simple lack of choices made conservatives get in line behind the GOP. We have nothing to show for it and I am not convinced that we would have if McCain had won. Maybe the shock of Obama is what America and the Republican Party needs.

Conservative pundits need to hold candidates to task and stop being satisfied with the "lessor of two evils." If we held those who are dishonest about their philosophy to the same standards of admitted liberals, we would have a much more honest political process and would find conservative pundits held in higher regard, with greater credibility, and would force the Republican party to the roots that made it once so successful.

Kevin Price is a syndicated columnist whose articles frequently appear at ChicagoSunTimes.com, Reuters.com, USAToday.com, and other national media. Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at PriceofBusiness.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Who Should Conservatives Vote For?

There is a debate raging among Texas Republicans about whether they should vote in the Democratic Party in order to play a spoiler role. After all, the Democrats and independents did the same thing to Republicans in places like New Hampshire, which has led to us having a likely nominee like John McCain. The following are four options being weighed by Conservatives in Texas:

* Vote for John McCain in order to make him look like a stronger candidate as he goes into the general election. This seems to be the least attractive option among Conservative voters that I know.

* Vote for Barack Obama to protect voters from the Clinton machine. She is, without a doubt, the most polarizing candidate in the race for the presidency. Maybe the most divisive, ever. I believe that Obama is the biggest threat in November, however. He's articulate and has virtually no record to run from. Voting for Hillary was the conventional wisdom for some time. To me, it makes zero sense.

The two most logical options to this writer are:

* Voting for Hillary Clinton. I must admit, it is very strange to see that on my screen. However, a vote for Hillary will likely force Democrats to use the delegates voted for in Michigan and Florida in order to have a decisive victory. This means that Obama will be punished for obeying the rules and Hillary would likely come out the winner in a smoke filled room. It will be similar to George McGovern getting the nomination after a brokered convention in 1972 and his giving his acceptance speech at 3 AM. The nominee will limp along to November and Democratic voters will feel very disenfranchised.

* Voting for Mike Huckabee. A vote for Huckabee will remind McCain how hard he still needs to work to satisfy Conservative voters. It will make him weigh his choices for Vice President more seriously and take stronger positions on issues he has been soft on. Furthermore, there are many "RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only) running for office on Texas ballots. If one votes for a Democrat they will not be voicing their opinion on those other races, meaning that moderate Republicans (who would vote for McCain anyway) will determine Republican representation on those other offices. It is too important for RINOs to vote for Republicans.

It is that last argument that will likely have me cast a vote for Huckabee. It will be interesting to see what other Conservatives will be doing this Tuesday.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.