Republican Assemblies Fight for the Soul of the GOP

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Republican Assemblies Fight for the Soul of the GOP

By Dennis Durband, Editor
September 6, 2005

Richard Engle, president of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, said Sunday at the organization’s national convention that he has asked members of the Republican National Committee what percentage of them are conservative on social, fiscal and international issues. The range is from 15 percent to a third. Yet, polling repeatedly shows that more than 80 percent of Republicans are conservative.

“How is it that the committee is entirely out of sync with Republican voters?” Engle asks.

In his address to the NFRA convention, Nathan Tabor confirmed that the NFRA is a group comprised of “true conservatives and great patriots.” But he asks what good it is for Republicans to hold majorities if they are merely going to steer their figurative “ship” into the rocks?

“Conservatives need to identify the real enemy: the true enemy lies within the Republican Party itself,” Tabor said. “The moderates want to move us into a bland, mushy middle. The 10 Commandments are banned, marriage is not being protected, the border is under invasion, the economy is flushing down the toilet. Self-serving politicians are doing this to us – Republicans and Democrats.”

Former Congressman Bob Barr addressed the same concern at NFRA. In fact, he said of the convention theme – Turning up the Heat on the Left – that we’ve already been there and done that.

“What we need to do today is turn up the heat on the GOP,” Barr said.

Barr said he has listened to C-SPAN television coverage of Congress with his eyes closed and tried to guess the political affiliation of the speakers he hears. He could only guess correctly about half the time.

“We fought tooth and nail against ‘Hillary Care,’” Barr said. “One decade later, Republicans stood and cheered a debt-creating (health care) monster they can’t afford. The old boy network shook hands and moved forward ignoring public opinion.”

William Murray confirms, “There is a battle for the soul of this party. You are the heart of that. We face it every day. Most of the rank and file people in the party are social conservatives, the overwhelming majority are pro-life and want the 10 Commandments displayed and want prayer before the city council meetings.”

The United States doesn’t really have political parties, Murray alleges. “We have two giant coalitions, and within them they have political parties. This (NFRA) is considered a political party.”

There are economic conservatives and social conservatives, economic liberals and social liberals, Murray said.

“Those are the four groups we have in the United States,” Murray said. “In the Republican Party, we have four separate groups: economic and social conservatives, economic and social liberals, economic conservatives/social liberals, and economic liberals/social conservatives. There is a big difference in dealing with a congressman if he is a social or economic conservative first.”

Conservatives compete aggressively against moderate and liberal candidates and officials within the party and would prefer that the GOP reign in those members who defy the party’s conservative social platform. Murray says those people provide something we cannot.

“Economic conservatives furnish the cash and have a tremendous influence on the party,” Murray said. “It is the party of coalitions; it’s not a party. We can’t run the party without the economic conservatives’ cash. Our money comes in $20 at a time, and theirs comes in $100,000 at a time and buys the ads.”

Nevertheless, Engle raises the specter of fight or flight. He cited Southern Baptists who insisted that renegades within the denomination leave or be fired.

“What would happen,” Engle asked, “if we’re the group that said we’re not going to fall away because its leaders have? We are the majority of the party, and we need to say no and to re-take the party. There are those with one foot out the door and others who are going Libertarian or to the Constitution Party, and some of them are not coming back. We are not going to give up on the hordes, the millions who represent the overwhelming majority of the party. Don’t let them take our party away!”

Tabor suggests conservatives form a social PAC, like the Club for Growth, and tell liberal/moderate Republicans “if they don’t start voting right, we’ll vote against you. They don’t want you breathing down their back. We are absolutely not going to let the RINOs take over our party. We’re going to take our party back from moderates. It’s a battle we must win. Make sure we control the Republican Party.”

Barr urges conservative Republicans to stand up for principle at their local GOP meetings and to oppose the administration when it is wrong.

“When you vote for the most conservative candidate, you are voting for Ronald Reagan’s ideals,” Barr said. “Let the national party ignore us; our principles will be right and they will be wrong. We kept the faith and did not bow down to expediency. Expediency is for cowards.”

Another solution to the threat facing the Grand Old Party is the keep-on-keepin’-on approach. Conservative Republicans should continue to practice their devotion to the Constitution and the party platform. This has been the recipe for success over the years.

Congressman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) embodies that type of thinking. “I truly believe the Republican Assemblies are critical to the party,” Franks said. “The country has been better guided over the last 20 years because of what you believe in. People like you are more committed to principles.”

Russell Pearce, a state representative in Arizona, agrees with Franks: “It’s groups like this that are passionate about the Constitution and the principles of the Founding Fathers that make the difference.”

Others look to the Republican Assemblies as a guiding force for the Republican Party.

“Thank you for being the conscience and keeping the party on track,” former Congressman Matt Salmon, now the chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, told the convention. “The RA has been a force for good for a long, long time.”

Economist and radio talk show host Larry Bates concurred: “I thank God for an organization like this.”

The soul of the Republican Party. You can leave that to the Republican Assemblies.