What’s The Point Of Winning An Election If You Don’t Push Your Agenda?

I think Dick Morris is a brilliant political tactician, but the two of us obviously have very different ideas about WHY politicians should be running for office. I think you can get a pretty good idea of what Morris thinks by reading his latest column. Here are a few excerpts from the piece that should give you the gist of it…

“(T)he Republican Party has paid the price for its coalition with the advocates of bedroom regulation. The Christian right has so alienated women that it has opened up a gender gap that often swells to more than 20 points, crippling Republican candidates.

The upset victory of Arnold Schwarzenegger in California shows what the Republican Party could do if it broke with the pro-lifers and abandoned their intrusive efforts to regulate private behavior. Moving to the center on the social issues, demonstrating a libertarian commitment to privacy, the actor/governor held the gender gap to less than 10 points, winning 43 percent of the female vote. Schwarzenegger won the top job in the solid Democratic state of California by carrying the women’s vote, a feat that would have been impossible had he embraced the social agenda of his party.

…It is about time that the Republican Party realizes that the Christian right is doing to it exactly what the radical black Rainbow Coalition of Jesse Jackson did to the Democratic Party in the ’80s — making them unelectable. Their embrace is the kiss of death. It is not that the religious right is wrong. Right or wrong, it gets in the way of so much good that the Republican Party could achieve if it were not in the Christian right’s grasp.”

First off, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a candidate who won a recall election in a very liberal state as much as anything because a lot of people thought it would be really “cool” to have “the Terminator” as their governor. Schwarzenegger is a fluke, not a trend.

Furthermore, despite Morris’ complaints about the gender gap, the GOP currently controls the House, Senate, Presidency, Supreme Court, and a majority of state legislatures and governorships. So while what we’re doing right now certainly isn’t perfect, it’s nothing to sneeze at either.

But here’s the quote from Morris that I really wanted to talk about,

“It is not that the religious right is wrong. Right or wrong, it gets in the way of so much good that the Republican Party could achieve if it were not in the Christian right’s grasp.”

In a nutshell, that sort of thinking is the biggest problem with politics in America today. Sure, I’ll grant you that it’s much easier for a politician to get elected if he simply licks his finger — slurp — sticks it up in the air, and goes whichever way the wind seems to be blowing. But what’s the point of electing pols who don’t care about anything except getting elected again?

Politicians should want to go to Washington so they can implement an agenda that they believe is good for America. If a pol abandons the principles that their most ardent supporters hold dear just to make it a little easier to get reelected, then why shouldn’t voters be cynical and sick of politicians? How can you respect mediocrities who are more interested in gaining money, power, and glory for themselves instead of doing the right thing for our country?

Personally, I believe politicians who are willing to do the right thing even when it’s unpopular, like Reagan, Tom Delay, or Tom Tancredo are more valuable to the GOP and more importantly to our country than any 10 third rate RINOS like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Bloomberg, John McCain, Olympia Snowe, or Orrin Hatch. Americans who take righteous stands based on principles, not weak-kneed toad eaters who are willing to do anything to gain a point or two at the polls, are a big part of why America has been such a successful nation.

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