How the House and Senate Republicans can unite and SHOULD win voters’ minds and Public Opinion this week
The “war” between the Tea Party and the Establishment exists because of fear of losing voters to the Democrat publicist machine if the Government is shut down, or for anything else they can effectively blame on Conservatives. This fear is justified by past Democrat media success and recent election history and must be addressed.
One solution will work for all voter issues that the Established Republicans (like Senator McCain) and the Tea Party Republicans (like Senator Cruz) are both missing. It involves stressing positive results and exposing the negative rhetoric. It means passing new bills as the public has no idea what bills the House already passed that the Senate refused to take to their floor for a recorded voting record.
The pressing major issues are:
- Funding the Government with or without Obamacare,
- Raising the Debt Limit again soon,
- Real Immigration Reform (versus disguised Amnesty),
- Stopping the Executive Branch from ignoring whatever laws it chooses so it can do whatever it wants and ignore the people, Republican (House) opposition, and the Constitution, and
- How to educate voters on the truth versus whatever half-truths and distortions President Obama and other key Democrats or Rinos claim is true.
A little redirection of thought and comments to the public can quickly shed light on the truth and scatter the half-lies like cockroaches who felt safe in the dark.
The common solution is actually simple and aimed at the bigger objective of winning in 2014 and 2016. Publicly give the tax paying voters what they want, and make the Democrats have to explain why they are blocking it. Here is one way to do it.
Funding the Government with or without Obamacare
SOLUTION: Instead of politicking over accepting the Senate’s “clean” bill over the House bill, and who is shutting down the government, the Republicans should make it obvious to all that only the Democrats are threatening a shutdown unless they get their way without any changes or compromise. The best way to stop Obamacare is to enforce it so everyone feels the pain of what it really brings. Amend the Senate bill or send an amended House bill back to the Senate to fund the Government AND Obamacare on the condition that there are NO Obamacare EXEMPTIONS OR SPECIAL FAVORS TO ANYONE, including Congress, the President, unions, other special interests, etc. This includes they must pay out of their paychecks like regular Americans and not allowing some fund to pay for them. Include an amendment that any feature—that is delayed for any reason or for which an exemption is given to some but not all people—is automatically immediately defunded for two years before it can be revisited. Make Obama and Reid threaten to shut the Government down OR HAVE TO PUBLICALY AGREE with this new House bill/amendment. You can repeal / defund Obamacare in 2016 after the public is fed up with it. Odds are several features will be delayed and unfunded by this amended bill until then anyway.
REASON: The amendment offers agreement to fund Obamacare and removes any doubt that the Senate is refusing to compromise and shutting the government down if they don’t get 100% of their demands. The vast majority of Americans see exemptions for just some groups as unfair, purely political, and taking from the little guy to give to the rich guys. Most Obama supporters will continue to believe whatever Obama and Reid say until their own experience shows it is not true. Then they will attack that part of Obamacare for you. Most “uninsured” are healthy or getting medical treatment through emergency or state programs today. You will have stats on how many actually signed up and paid and all of the things that actually went wrong with Obama’s promises before the critical 2016 elections. Most Republican voters will see this amendment as supporting their request to effectively stop Obamacare while being politically savvy on how to expose the public to the truth.
Raise the Debt Limit.
SOLUTION: Agree to raise the debt limit for 3 months new funding if the Senate and President make a public promise to send a budget to the House within 3 months that stops all growth in government until our total deficit is being reduced monthly. In return, Conservatives publicly agree to accept a budget that reduces $1 in spending now for every $1 increase in spending for something else now. No more spend more now and bet on reducing spending later. No more Senate refusals to pass a budget so they can not be held accountable for meeting it. Then approve a second debt ceiling that matches the agreed budget–or refuse until the Senate starts obeying our budget laws and stops demanding even more money that we do not have.
REASON: Most Americans get that our government has to pay its bills just like they do, and most have had to cut back on things to get by. The least our government can do is to stop spending more until they are balancing their budget too. That means they have to have a budget and not just ignore our laws requiring one like the Senate has ignored the past 6 years. This also means Conservatives are not threatening to take anything existing away from anyone—just no more new stuff we can no longer afford. Let the Democrats suggest where to make any new budget cuts to fund any new spending they want.
Real Immigration Reform
SOLUTION: Pass a new bill that addresses nothing but closing the border like Democrats and Republicans passed just before elections in 2006—and then Democrats who controlled the House after elections unfunded. Allow no riders or amendments that address anything other than closing the border and verifying results. Require that after passage, all future illegal aliens and all felony criminals be processed out of the country according to existing immigration laws until they are changed. Conservatives should publicaly commit to addressing citizenship of pre-new bill illegal aliens as soon as the border closing is in effect, which should be within 6 months to 1 year (with troops if nothing else can be done sooner). Conservatives should publicly commit to not spending Congressional time on any related amnesty issues until after this bill is passed and securing our border is done.
REASON: Politicians must be made to keep their word this time, and not allowed to ignore the law like they have been doing. No more promises without real results first. No more 1,000+ page bills with amendments that effectively change the intent. No more just implementing parts of the bill that they like and stopping others. No more fights over a bunch of issues at the same time that cloud the main issue and turn off voters with the fights.
Stop the Executive Branch from ignoring existing laws before they are changed.
SOLUTION: Pass a new bill requiring all Executive Orders to comply with existing laws and our Constitution. Include that either the House or Senate alone can challenge any Executive Order by majority vote they view as violating this bill and stop it being implemented until the issue is resolved by modification or mutual agreement or Supreme Court ruling.
REASON: American laws apply to all citizens and especially all elected officials who must swear to uphold them and the Constitution as part of being put in office. It was never meant for Executive Orders to replace passing bills in Congress. What is currently missing is a way to stop the damage of Executive Orders being implemented for years before they can be overturned by a new law or a new President. If the House or Senate unfairly blocks an Order, then public pressure will require compromise. Likewise, the public will support stopping Executive Orders that are primarily political and not in the best interests of the majority of Americans.
Educate voters on the truth and expose political half-truths and lies.
SOLUTION: Create a CONSERVATIVE BRAND of what you stand for that includes 10 key mainstream issues—and minimize the other half of your platform. Start emphasizing and advertising BRAND issues in all political campaigns instead of just “selling” your candidates. Be FOR things instead of AGAINST things. Start educating the voters on your Party’s and candidates’ positive benefits to the voters, instead of primarily trying to sell fear of who else might get elected. Openly laugh at being branded as the bad guy and at being called names, and point out your facts and how they must have nothing but worn-out labels and name calling to be avoiding addressing your facts. Take all lies head on immediately before they gain belief, and re-emphasize the positives of what you bring to the people instead of the fears your opponent is spreading. If you do this as part of every candidate’s election, you will impact the half truths of all of their opponents and their Party.
REASON: Proctor and Gamble and other long term successful companies spent decades and multi-millions establishing the quality and value of their products, and that they deliver whatever they promise to their buyers. Their “brand” is more their earned reputation than any one of their hundreds of products or features. Republicans do a better job of making their elected candidates follow the rules, and should make many of those rules their “brand” instead of worn out catch phrases. That way you can also expose your opposition for violating your brand and promises kept to your voters.
Having a successful brand requires you to promote things more people want and to stop pushing things they refuse to buy or that didn’t work for them. Just as many voters are tired of Democrats renamed Liberals renamed Progressives trying to repackage Communism-Socialism-Statist to take over their freedoms and being ruled by the Elite few—so are they tired of Republicans being deaf to the suffering of the Middle Class while the politicians vie for who gets to spend their taxes. Every time you allow our Constitution and laws to be ignored to suit the Democrat agendas, you lose more voters to their empty promises. Start standing for something other than the latest fads and polls and appeasements to special interest groups that do not represent the majority of voters or will of the people.
The United States was formed and our Constitution ratified only after our Founders added the first Ten Amendments so the states would ratify it and agree to join a union that did not give a central government too much control over their states and people. Every new generation has to be re-educated on American values and the dangers of failed Socialism that claimed to help the little man to gain power, or the opposition can destroy them. Politicians that the tax payers want to follow and vote for today protect our Constitution and therefore you should:
- Re-educate voters that our Founders had lived in serfdom under every type of non-free government and were committed to protecting their descendants from falling back under the rule of any band (or party) of self-appointed Elites again. This is why they put States’ rights first (you can move to another state that supports your beliefs, but the federal government cannot make any law that restricts the freedoms of everyone.), and otherwise restricted the power and jurisdiction of the central government in Amendment X.
- Like our Founders, stand up for freedom of religion and openly oppose all attempts to ban worship or prayer in any public place including schools, as long as no one is trying to establish only one religion as being acceptable. It is an attack on our country and its people to remove crosses, ban prayers and the Ten Commandments, and ban our military Chaplains from teaching Christianity to whoever chooses to attend their sermons (they are not mandatory)–as surely as 9-11 was an attack on our culture. This is the public religious issue—not all or nothing pro or anti-abortion. Openly support Amendment I freedom of religion and free speech before they become outlawed by political correctness and local or federal laws that violate our Constitution.
- Be for freedom to work rather than anti-union. Promote not having to pay someone dues for the right to have your job and not having your job endangered by secret ballots or card sign ups that remove your individual rights and give them to union leaders behind closed doors. Don’t appear to condemn unionism or the freedom to choose or not choose a union.
- Be public servants—not professional politicians making millions off of our taxes and special interest groups that get awarded contracts spending our taxes. Don’t be arrogant and suggest we are too dumb to know what is good for us because you are superior to us and know what is best for us. Stress you are listening to your voters and prove it like the Tea Party is trying to get known for doing! Make this mantra part of your BRAND identity that makes you different than Progressives—like McCain, Graham, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and Clinton.
Personally, I have been shocked by how many intelligent people I know who accept everything and anything President Obama or key Democrats say as gospel. I remain floored at their accepting the false premises that Obama has reduced the deficit, reduced spending, reduced taxes, but magically still needs an increase in the Debt Ceiling—and voted for Obama the second time too—and all of our mess is still Bush’s fault. Most have bought that a government shutdown will destroy their retirement accounts and be 100% the Republicans’ and crazy uncaring Tea Party radicals’ fault. This is solid proof that Democrats have a unified message sale regardless of whether or not it is true, while Republicans spend more time shouting at each other about which of them knows best—than re-educating the public on truths. This must change now. Please contact your Senators and Representative asking them to push this agenda NOW and in the future both within the Party and to the public and voters. Pull together to shine the light on the truth and expose the misdirection of professional politicians for personal gains and power at the expense of fooled voters. Prove and establish your brand as the Party who tells the truth and keeps its promises and helps kick out its own members in Primaries who violate this brand commitment.