Headline: A 29-year Senator and former Judiciary Committee Chairman from a battleground state leaves the Republicans.
Headline: With a national spotlight focused on an upstate New York special election and a Congressional district with 55% Republicans, a veteran New York Republican loses to a rookie Democrat.
Headline: A former Vice-Presidential candidate and big-tent Republican – the “Capitalist for the Common Man” dies at the age of 73.
In these times, it would be easy to walk away from the party I've supported since Bush/Quayle 1992, when I was 17. I am a lifelong Republican and six-year resident of New York City. I am a social moderate and an economic/fiscal conservative.
As a Republican, I'm beginning to feel a bit like a Whig in the 1850s as a small party called the Republicans began its rise. As a moderate and resident of the Northeast, I'm feeling out-of-touch with my fellow elephants... one of the last of the Woolly Mammoths. We are completely extinct in the Congress in the states of New Hampshire (one retiring), Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island. There are two remaining of our species pushed all the way to the Arctic state of Maine.
I see the past 105 days as an opportunity for young, educated Northeast Republicans to reconnect with the party. It is a time when we are an endangered species. It also, not so coincidentally corresponds with a time when the party may have finally hit rock bottom.
To mix two of my adopted city's great loves -- politics and investing -- it's time to buy low. As Warren Buffett has famously stated “you want to be buying when there's blood on the streets”. Well, fellow Republicans... the blood is flowing.
The question that the national media -- in the form of The New York Times -- asked after Senator Specter's defection blared for all to see this past Wednesday on the front page -- “G.O.P. Debate: A Broader Party or a Purer One?”
As Joe Scarborough said on Sunday's Meet the Press, “that is a false choice.” We can be both big tent and principled, we can be both conservative in our values and flexible to the regional differences between, say Mississippi and Maine. If forced to answer this question, I say both.
To dig deeper, we came to this place from a recent position of massive power in Washington. As recently as 2006, we controlled the House, the Senate and the White House. We inherited a surplus and we left a deficit after six years. We grew government. As I personally heard Senator McCain say at least 50 times during the course of my year of working on his campaign, “We were elected to Change Washington and Washington Changed Us.”
As we move forward, it is dark and there seems to be no hope. In fact, the seeds of rebirth have already been planted. In my neighboring state of Connecticut, the bluest of states, Chris Dodd is behind by 16% to a Republican, Rob Simmons. In my home state of New York, Democratic Governor David Patterson polls somewhere slightly higher than Bernie Madoff. In Virginia, a supposed “new blue” state with a popular Democratic governor, a conservative attorney general, Bob McDonnell is winning in the polls.
To once again cite Joe Scarborough from Sunday, the answer to the question of Republican renewal is not one of conservative or moderate policies, but conservative and responsible temperament. We have lost our credibility with non-partisan/independent voters. We must gain it back by our actions, and by our candidates.
Those candidates must, first, represent the median person in that congressional district or Senate candidate's state on many issues. They must come from varied backgrounds in government, the private sector, education, social organizations, churches and athletics. They must be diverse in background and experience. And again, they must be conservative and responsible in temperament. We must regain credibility by the example set by our candidates. This may be paired with an overarching theme of three core principles:
- responsible stewardship of the power of government;
- conservative use of the taxpayer's hard-earned money, and
- long-term solutions that do not burden the future of our country with massive debt.
It may build as a wave, like the 1994 resurgence, or it may take some time. Let's get started.
Finally, as a Woolly Mammoth, I am heartened by a story I saw in National Geographic this past month. In May of 2007, as the permafrost of Siberia melted, a group of reindeer herders discovered a fully intact baby mammoth. The 125 pound baby's skin, and internal organs were discovered completely intact. In fact, a bit of hair is still on the fossilized animal.
Scientists believe they may be able to map and engineer the Mammoth DNA from this discovery. If so, there is a distinct possibility the Mammoth may walk the earth again...
