Bacon's Rebellion and James Atticus Bowden

The new edition of Bacon's Rebellion e-zine is out under the management of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy with articles from Mike Thompson, Michele Sessions, John Palatiello, Michael Cecire, Patrick McSweeney, David Schnare, James Atticus Bowden, and Frank Kilgore.

Jim Bowden's contribution this month is Virginia Republicans' Challenge in 2009 as he ponders the past and future of the Republican Party:

If Virginia voted for a Democrat for President for the first time in 44 years, how can Virginia vote for a Republican for Governor for the first time in 12 years? Will the Democrats win the Virginia House like they did the Senate in ’07? What must Republican candidates do?

Run as conservatives. Repent for the past by running for an honest conservative future: spend less, tax less, fix transportation and let the market lead us to energy independence.

Good reading from Bacon's Rebellion.

Michael Reagan: "New Reagan Revolution ... bring conservatism back"

Michael Reagan is upset about last Tuesday's election results ... and he has plans to do something about it. This son of President Ronald Reagan has launched a new website dedicated to bringing the conservative movement back ... ReaganAction.com. In an email to supporters, he sent the following announcement.

The NEW Reagan Revolution ...
Bring Conservatism BACK!
From the Desk of Michael Reagan

Dear Conservative Friend,

It's official: America has its first truly Socialist president... and it's the Republican Party's fault.

No, scratch that -- it's the so-called "leaders" of the GOP who are at fault for this humiliating defeat -- and I say it's time to name names and make heads roll in our party. Because, my fellow conservatives, we have been BETRAYED by the very people who promised that, if we would just elect them, they would get into office and vote OUR conservative values.

THEY LIED... THE GOP DIED.

But we CAN resurrect it -- IF we start TODAY to take action, by both booting out our failed fake-conservative "leadership" AND vowing to FIGHT tooth and nail against the coming tidal wave of destructive, anti-American legislation that's now heading our way... thanks to Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

We CAN fight back -- Join me now in the NEW Reagan Revolution, to bring Conservatism BACK!
As I sit here looking at the election results -- maps, vote tallies, exit polls, state and national results, and much more -- I have to say that, like many of you, I'm in a state of shock.

Not because I'm surprised, mind you -- I warned you that this would happen if the Republican Party nominated John McCain for president.

Yes, I was right... but believe me, that doesn't make me happy. What it makes me... is angry.

Angry at the Democrats, of course. Once again, they ran a campaign full of lies and hate-filled attacks, from Obama's claims that he had "never heard" his racist pastor's anti-American rhetoric over a 20-year period of time, to his claims that his terrorist friend Bill Ayers was "just a guy in the neighborhood," to outright slanderous speech against Governor Sarah Palin... but hey, I expect the Democrats to act that way. It's their nature.

Angry at the "moderate" (meaning liberal) Rockefeller-wing of the Republican Party, who tried to kill the idea of grassroots involvement of hardworking, patriotic, conservative Americans in our party. There's NO grassroots activism when the Rockefeller wing's philosophy prevails; that wing of the party consists of "kingmakers" operating from behind the throne, while the Reagan wing of the party has always lived and thrived at the grassroots, where the real Americans live. When the Rockefeller-wing philosophy prevails, the GOP loses. When the Reagan wing is in control, we win.

Angry with President Bush because he was unwilling to stop Republican Congressional leaders from overspending and because his administration failed to lay the blame for the financial crisis at the feet of Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd that protected Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from reform.

Angry at the so-called "leaders" of our party, who promised us that if we'd just vote for who they put up for election, we'd finally get what we wanted: smaller government, lower taxes, dramatically lower spending, pro-life laws, pro-marriage constitutional amendments, pro-American economics... well, YOU AND I put them in power, and they gave us nothing but BIG GOVERNMENT, BIG DEFICITS, and LIBERAL COMPROMISES.

I say, NO MORE! Join me now in the NEW Reagan Revolution, to bring Conservatism BACK!

As bad as the election results were, I believe there IS "light at the end of the tunnel" -- I believe we now have the opportunity to finally turn out these fake "leaders" that have betrayed conservatism and given us Barack Obama. We have the opportunity to bring back the Reagan wing of the Republican Party, to slow down the socialist legislation from Pelosi and Reid, and to restore this great Republic to its original ideals of basic self-evident truths: our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This is our chance, friend. It may be our ONLY chance to save our Party -- and it may be our LAST chance to save our country.

Here's what I'm doing to help make that happen: Today, I'm officially launching a new website, ReaganAction.com. This is no wimpy little website with some news articles and a bunch of editorial writers griping about how bad things are. The time for "just talking" is OVER -- now is the time for ACTION!

Every day, we'll give the members of this site -- our own "Reagan Activists" -- the information they need in order to take real grassroots action to counter the greatest political threat we've ever faced within our own government. It won't take a lot of time -- usually only a few minutes a day -- but the political payout will be HUGE!

Here are some of the things that YOU AND I will be able to do at ReaganAction.com:

STOP LIBERAL BILLS -- We can expect an immediate onslaught of extreme liberal bills to be "fast-tracked" through Congress and signed by Obama. We will constantly be on the watch for these bills -- and every time they get introduced, we'll alert our Activists to literally FLOOD Capitol Hill with millions of phone calls, faxes, emails and even hand-delivered letters and petitions, DEMANDING that our elected legislators do what WE say, or else face our wrath at the next election!

FIGHT LIBERAL EXECUTIVE ORDERS -- You can be sure that President Obama (oh, how that phrase terrifies me!) will get right to work on Day One, issuing Executive Orders that will make your skin crawl: repealing pro-life presidential directives, ordering agencies to fund far-left groups like ACORN and the ACLU, signing over American sovereignty to the United Nations and the European Union... he's got a long list! But for every liberal (and usually unconstitutional) Executive Order that Barack Obama issues, we'll alert our Activists to BARRAGE the White House with even MORE phone calls, faxes, emails and even hand-delivered letters and petitions, DEMANDING that he "reverse course" on those Orders or face a Republican Congress in 2010!

EXPOSE LIBERAL CORRUPTION -- With the Democrats back in power in both Congress and the White House, you KNOW that they'll be falling right back into their habits of taking lobbyists' money under the table, trading votes for campaign contributions, spying on and sabotaging Republican legislative plans, covering up their leaders' sexual "flings," and spending taxpayer money on personal expenses like never before. But this time, YOU AND I will be there every step of the way, making sure that no stone is left unturned, every dark corner is filled with light, and every illegal act is paid for with censure, impeachment, recalls, investigations, and jail time for every criminal we expose in Washington, D.C.

COUNTER THE LIBERAL MEDIA -- Whenever any of these things take place, we'll be directing our "Reagan Activists" to constantly fill the news media with letters to the editor, guest editorials, and news articles detailing the socialistic and corrupt policies of the new liberal regime, and offering America a better way -- the way of freedom... the CONSERVATIVE way.

Together, we CAN save America from the new liberal regime! Join me now in the NEW Reagan Revolution, to bring Conservatism BACK!

And don't forget -- I'll also be spreading the word the same way I do already: by writing nationally-syndicated columns each week, and by speaking to over five million listeners each and every weekday on my nationwide radio show!

We MUST do this. Really -- what choice do we have, except to fight back and WIN? As my father, President Ronald Reagan, once said, "We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow."

My father wasn't afraid to call evil what it was -- and neither am I. He defeated the "Evil Empire" called the Soviet Union -- but now we face a new "Evil Empire." It's called Socialism, and it's taken over our once-free nation through the victories of Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

We do NOT have to give up. We do NOT have to slink into some dark corner and lick our wounds. This is OUR MOMENT TO SHINE -- and that's why I'm launching ReaganAction.com!

Like I said before, when the Reagan wing is in control, we win. We don't need kingmakers; we need workers, and until we get them we'll stay the minority party. We don't need to keep the toady liberals who call themselves the "leaders" of the Republican Party; we need conservatives to TAKE BACK the Republican Party, and GET RID OF those losers!

WILL YOU JOIN ME, and hundreds of thousands of your fellow conservative activists nationwide? Let's show these liberals what real REAGAN Republicans can do, when WE'RE in charge of the GOP!

Join me now in the NEW Reagan Revolution, to bring Conservatism BACK!

With Hope in the Future,

Michael Reagan
Chairman
ReaganAction.com

P.S. Already, the new radical regime in Washington, D.C. is planning their first legislative attacks on America:

- Huge increases in payroll and income taxes;
- Redistributionist "share the wealth" policies;
- Repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act;
- Forcing faith-based groups to hire gays;
- Repeal all state regulations on abortion through FOCA;
- Require taxpayer funding of abortion through Medicaid;
- Block all efforts to "Drill Here, Drill Now" in America;
- Impose universal health care through job-killing employer mandates;
- Appoint activists liberal Supreme Court judges;
- Kill conservative talk radio by re-instituting the "Fairness Doctrine";
- Require comprehensive sex education from the earliest grades in public schools;
- Enforce bilingual education in the public schools;
- Allow convicted felons to vote;
- Take secret ballot voting away from workers deciding on whether to unionize...
- The list goes on and on and on...

And it's up to YOU AND I to stop them! Don't let the door slam shut on this opportunity to make a difference...

Join me now in the NEW Reagan Revolution, to bring Conservatism BACK!

Thank you.

Reagan's Republicanism

"You can't be for big government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy."

-- President Ronald Reagan

I'm a Ronald Reagan conservative Republican

"A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough." -- Ronald Reagan, Dec. 5, 1990

Ronald Reagan's encouraging words ... be a proud conservative

"So it was our Republican party that gave me a political home. When I signed up for duty, I didn't have to check my principles at the door. And I soon found out that the desire for victory did not overcome our devotion to ideals."

-- Ronald Reagan, Republican National Convention in New Orleans, August 15, 1988

GOP conservatives want a place at the leadership table

Insightful post today from Norman Leahy concerning moderates vs conservatives within the Republican Party.

He points to the Manassas Journal-Messenger piece by Zachary Moore who is an aide to recently-defeated Sen. Brandon Bell of Roanoke. In the article Moore blames party infighting as the reason for our recent losses.

An explanation of that "infighting" is needed.

Those GOP losses can be directed to the very senators, including Sen. Bell, who ignored their base and voted with two Democrat governors to raise taxes even as the voters were asking them to cut spending.

The roots of the recent losses, in my opinion, took hold in 2004 when Republican senators led by Chichester and Potts battled with conservative Republicans and the House, and sided with Democrats to produce a win on taxes for then-Governor Mark Warner.

It was the beginning of Mark-Warner-the-Rock-Star in politics. Mark Warner was held up by his party nationwide as a shining example of reaching across the aisle and working with Republicans because they backed his largest-ever tax increase in Virginia history. He was able to convince the Virginia General Assembly, which was controlled by the GOP, to side with him. A star was born....

At that time I spoke with my senator who was leaning toward backing the tax increase and asked him not to vote for it, pointing out that, if successful, the democrats could use a win to their advantage in future elections. He voted for the tax increase.

Today we are facing Mark Warner as a senatorial candidate and many are saying he is unbeatable. He is, they point out, the Rock Star of the Democrat Party, Independents, and even some Republicans. We all know who helped make him that rock star.

Norm goes on to say:

... what Moore's piece does not address are the reasons why incumbents were challeneged in the first place. The specifics vary from contest to contest, but in general, all the challenges reflected dissastisfaction within the GOP base. Conservatives were upset. And they took it out on incumbents using a process that is both perfectly legitimate and tragically under-used.

I do not look upon primaries as a bad thing. They are usually highly partisan affairs, but they also tend to be clarifying. And clarity is good, it is useful, and, yes, it can also have painful consequences.

Will conservatives shy away from primaries knowing that their challenges could cost the party a seat in the general election? I suspect not, in part because they consider themselves conservatives first, and Republicans second.

And from that perspective, no amount of "moderate" clucking will prevent them from waging additional contests in the future.

In the 24th Senatorial District where Emmett Hanger was challenged by Scott Sayre (who was endorsed by almost the entire grassroots leadership of the 24th), the bickering is on-going from Hanger supporters who continue to chastise Sayre backers even thought the Sayre supporters publicly endorsed Hanger for the general election which resulted in his winning by 60-some percent. Even as dems and the Libertarian candidate tried to drive a wedge and ciphon off Republican votes, grassroots leaders held firm in uniting the Party.

A particularly contested point involves the Hanger supporters who feel chairmen must remain neutral in Primary battles. However, even the State Party Plan, while stating that Units themselves should not endorse one Republican candidate over another in a primary, allows -- in fact, encourages -- individuals to actively work for the candidate of their choice.

The wife of a former Staunton GOP chairman -- one of the Hanger supporters -- has been especially harsh and critical about the grassroots backing Sayre during the primary. When told of the Party Plan, she stated that leaders should not be able to use their titles in endorsing candidates.

O-kay. So candidates would end up with a list of names only which is practically useless in statewide elections. It is ridiculous to think candidates would ask for leadership support and then not use their titles.

What the Republican Party is going through is a "correction" ... growing pains ... we have had them before and will have them again ...

... and what conservatives are looking for is a place at the leadership table.