Today's GOP

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Collective solidarity does not necessarily mean a hive mind. People can agree on the purposes of a collective without surrendering their personality. That is rather unlike some political orgaqnizations.

Or places of employment.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by JJIII

Rob, from what I have read of your posts here, it seems to me that all through your life you have made decisions based on what you thought was best for you, tempered by how the decision would affect others. You chose how to educate yourself, you chose who you would work for, the assignments and tasks laid before you that you would accept, compromises you would have to make so you could continue to reach your goals. You have balanced the pros and cons of the situations as they arose and made your decisions. Things appear to have worked out very well for you. that is the kind of personal responsibility I was speaking of. You knew full well that if you lived and worked here in this country that you would have to go along with income taxes, FICA taxes, Medicare taxes, traffic laws,ad nauseam. You have made the best of an imperfect situation, not by wanting or asking for help from Big Brother, but by hitting the problems head on. Again, that is the personal responsibility I wish everyone would exercise.

John I accept that what you say is true except for one item, The good Lord gave me the brainpower and He gave me Florence. Other people in this world have not been so lucky. Being able to find work was certainly enabled when I was able to put on my CV that I was not degreed but was a full member of the IEEE, that tended to be an attention grabber.

At my retirement party a coworker handed me her gift, looked about the size of a pen and pencil set. On the outside it said "How to succeed in business" On the iside on a velvet covered board was the word "Everybody". Fastened above it was a 4" brass flat headed woodscrew.

People that I had encountered at the ITU and ISO helped me on more than one occasion. I guess all I am saying is that we are not alone and that too often the phrase 'self reliant' is used to deny that fact. Not by you as I am more than certain you have reached out a hand to others in their time of need.

[whell]

Nudging the thread back in the direction of the OP, here's an article in today's WSJ that I find quite interesting, and captures more of the sentiment of conservatives "outside the beltway." In fact, I suspect that there are far more conservatives per capita outside the beltway than inside.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...s_opinion_main

I think its fair to say that the shenanigans in Washington by the political class has worn pretty thin on supporters of both primary parties. Meanwhile, the shift to the right at the state and local level in a number of states has produced interesting results and interesting people to watch who may be on the rise in the GOP.

Obama and Romney may not represent the direction of their respective parties, particularly outside the Washington establishment. If so, 2012 and probably 2016 may be years of transition for the GOP as those newer to prominent elected positions in the party build their resumes.

If Obama is not successful in 2012, one might wonder if the same might happen to the Dems: a revamp and retrenchment with new faces with new resumes for 2016 and beyond?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

Nudging the thread back in the direction of the OP, here's an article in today's WSJ that I find quite interesting, and captures more of the sentiment of conservatives "outside the beltway." In fact, I suspect that there are far more conservatives per capita outside the beltway than inside.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...s_opinion_main

I think its fair to say that the shenanigans in Washington by the political class has worn pretty thin on supporters of both primary parties. Meanwhile, the shift to the right at the state and local level in a number of states has produced interesting results and interesting people to watch who may be on the rise in the GOP.

Obama and Romney may not represent the direction of their respective parties, particularly outside the Washington establishment. If so, 2012 and probably 2016 may be years of transition for the GOP as those newer to prominent elected positions in the party build their resumes.

If Obama is not successful in 2012, one might wonder if the same might happen to the Dems: a revamp and retrenchment with new faces with new resumes for 2016 and beyond?

One of the big differences between Governors and DC politicians is that Governors (of both parties) have to balance the budget and work within the political system to get things done (i.e., they're pragmatists and not ideologues, for the most part).

In DC, most of what politicians is symbolic and devoid of real substance (or even the intent to accomplish anything). They just want to milk the same issues, ad infinitum, to put themselves in a better position to get re-elected and stay on the gravy train.

I think the GOP realizes that virtually none of their "leaders" in DC have a shred of respect from the general public, so they have to let the Governors act as the face of their party if they want to make it look that they're capable of accomplishing anything. Unfortunately, once the Governors (of either party) take positions in Washington, they adapt quickly to its do-nothing, posturing ethic.

[merrylander]

If Christie and Walker are the "New face" of the Republican Party it really is in trouble.