Jul

27

The noise seems to be rising to a crescendo. Everywhere I go I am hearing the same cry from long time die-hard Republicans. I heard it from five different people in one week. Maybe you’ve been saying it, too. Here is what I heard from one particular friend: “I have resigned from the Republican Party. I have told them at the national level and at the state level that they can quit calling me for support. I am going independent. They don’t even act like Republicans anymore, so I don’t want anything to do with them.”

He was talking about the immigration bill, or lack thereof. He was also talking about the out of control spending that the Republicans seem to enjoy as much as the Democrats. And through it all, he was talking about the leaders who seem to have stopped listening to the rank and file of the party.

First Century boat reconstructionI shared a favorite piece of Scripture with him. Jesus and the disciples were traveling in a boat across the Sea of Galilee when they ran into a dangerous storm. Everyone was afraid of what was going to happen to them that day… everyone, that is, except Jesus, who was asleep in the back of the boat.

When the disciples woke Him, they asked Him why He wasn’t concerned about their plight. Jesus’ response was quite profound. He didn’t tell one single soul to get out of the boat. He told them that they had little faith, and then Jesus calmed the wind and waves and they went back to sailing the boat.

The Republican Party is the target of every pundit of doom and gloom, telling us that there can be no hope in 2008. Either Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama will be President and the Republicans can kiss their party goodbye as it dissolves into nothingness. They remind me of the disciples who were seeing only doom and gloom… until they calmed down, regained their faith, and pressed forward toward their destination.

At a dinner last week, someone was spouting this same complaint. The national party doesn’t care, is ruining everything that the Republicans are supposed to stand for, and the state party is no better. He, too, said he was ready to leave or at least stay home on election day.

My answer to this man is this: how do you fix the problem by getting out of the boat? How do you fix the problem by shooting holes in the other end of the boat? How do you fix the problem by running away from it? Yet, many in the boat are doing just these things. It’s time for a change!

If you dislike the national leadership, change it. If you dislike the state leadership, change it. If you dislike the local leadership, change it. Don’t get out of the boat, fix the boat!

Before you get too carried away about the lack of conservative leadership and the failures of the Republican Party, please visit www.gop.com and see what Mike Duncan, Republican National Chairman, has to say about the current state of affairs. Read “Republicans on the Rise.” It is well worth the read.

For those who think that leaving the party will help, please look at the magnificent solution we found by staying home in the 2006 election. We have Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running Congress and we can look forward to the crowning of this disaster if we walk away in 2008 and allow the Democrats to return to the White House.

Write to your Republican National Committee representatives. For Texans, they are Bill Crocker (crockerlaw@earthlink.net) and Denise McNamara (denisemcnamara@sbcglobal.net). Tell them what you think and that you demand accountability from our elected leaders. You put them into office and you can demand accountability.

Write to Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Tina Benkiser (info@texasgop.org).

Call your county chair. Make things flow from the bottom up. Ask your county chair to express the local discomfort with state and national leadership. Then follow it up with your own emails.

The Republican reunion can only happen if the conservative base of the Republican Party stands up and demands it. Abandoning a ship that merely needs repair assures that the ship will sink. Don’t get out of the boat, help fix it! Elect new leaders where they are needed and set this ship on a course that Ronald Reagan would be proud to travel.