some people call Stalin the grave digger of communism. Meaning that he gave communism such a terrible repuatation that it has been discredited-seemingly discredited.
Is George W. Bush the grave digger of the Republican Party?
Bush utterly changed persceptions of the GOP. The way people think of and talk about the GOP today is totally different from the way they did before 2000. Basically you could say the GOP went from being smart and evil(or heartless) to dumb and evil in its advesarys eyes.
He destroyed that general Gingrich Era perseption of republicans being if not the hippiest party, being atleast responcible, good managers, non-grandiouse thinking. The GOP didn't have a hip image before W., but it wasn't completly social sucide to be a young republican then-the GOP was known for old white guys on the golf course (think Bush 41), after Bush 43, the GOP became sonoymous not only with old whiter golfers but NASCAR rednecks and TV evangelists.
Image wise it will take a generation probably to redeem the GOP in people eyes.
On the issues alone-though-BUsh was (how glad i am to say was rather than is) just as bad and damaging. He made the GOP's agenda basically a terrible minutae of evangelical lefty policys that could be fairly described as Democrat Lite (a brand that includes both Bush and Mccain). Why was Bush 43 leftwing? well no right winger, could have pushed affirmtive action for lending (the primary cause of the current econmic fiasco), amnesty, 2 wilsonian wars for democracy, reckless spending, a massive and the largest domestic spending since LBJ.
So besides the tax cut, you could sum up Bush's policys as a whole as "faith based" he ran things like alot of megachurch pastors might have (someone like Mike Gerson who spends time in African missionary churchs for fun). He was evangelical bleeding heart on abortion but also apparent in his irresponcibly huge aide pacckages to Africa, stupid huge funding of church programs, wilsonians endless wars, amnesty, etc.
Also this neocon nightmare that is tainting the GOP, is essentially his fault he put it in the GOP's hands and the GOP not wanting to admit what the grassroots of the right know aboubt the war on terror being a terrible joke, have made this endless war on terror part of the GOP agenda. The Crucifiction of Ron Paul via Giullani during one of those 08 debates shows that neocon foreign policy is going to be a basic requirment of nomination contenders in the GOP for the next couple of elections.
So he gave the GOP a christian image at a time when doing so hurts the GOP so much more than it at all helps it, and gave up most of the very appealling and timely conservtive policys to replace them with dumb policys that neither the left or right likes.
those timely and appealling (especially to younger people) policys, you ask?
-Opposing racial quotas, and the kind of diastrous and ridiclous affirmtive action as seen in the Ricci case, that is enforced not only in college admissions now but lending, testing for fire fighters and many other areas were affirmtive actions does not belong at all. (This is big among young americans.)
- School Choice. The argument for allowing parents to send their kids were they want is more appealing and strong than ever. Recent stats on how bad public schools are are paticularily outragous. We spend twice as much on public school than we did 40 years ago and results have gotten worse, we spend by far more on our public schools than any other nation on earth and we rank far back in most subjects among 1st world nations. You can also hold up as a killer demonstation, the success of swedens school choice policy and of american school choice programs in D.C. and elsewhere. Also very popular among left and right, very common sence.
-Stopping mass immgration. Republicans should contanstly be telling americans when they argue against amnesty that by 2050 america will have 150 million more people and by 2100 might likely have a billion people and how terrible that will be. make this argument on a enviormental basis, "do we really need more shopping malls and ugly subdivisions? do we want less wilderness and more cars and traffic?". Thats another argument that is popular to all americans. People don't like how aesthetics have gotten in american life, and it';s a very visceral dislike that is never talked about it also fuels the green movement. People misguidedly place there disatsfications with the growth and exspansion of ugly new archeture and the demolision of great old archeture in the GREEN movement not realizing that the source of what they don't like is mass immgration and open borders and amnesty and that they should be supporting not Global Warming gas taxes that will make them much poorer for no real reason, but the anti-Amnesty movement. again very popular across the spectrum.
-Roll back our massive cold war miltrary apprartus and spending. We don't need about a third of our army and air force basis. Jihadism is not a big threat to us. We won't stop it by waring in Iraq or Afganistan but by gaining control of our borders and immgration and being much more prudent in who we let in. 9/11 wouldn't have happened if not for our horrendous immgration failure.
-A new attitude on the enviorment. This means don't join the Global warming idiots, fight cap and trade, but adopt the goals of
1. becoming less oil dependent by building nuclear plants rather than unvialbly exspensive windmills and
2.conserving america's wilderness by stopping mass immgration and opposing amnesty.
the GOP should exsplain why 1. global warming is not a fact and why if it is that we don't know how bad it will be and we can't change it either way because whatever measures we take will be nullfied by china, india, brazil and the rest of the world.
So we rather than make america alot poorer and pretend were saving anything while we squander our own wilderness becoming a latino nation of a billion which the democrats want to do, the GOP should offer americans they laternative of saving our own enviorment, not unnescarily making the nation alot poorer for nothing, and not allowing america to become a latino nation of a billion people by opposing cap and trade and gas taxes and amnesty and building a fence and stopping mass immgration and finnally enforcing our immgration laws by ending the era of sanctuarys citys and rigoursly rounding up 12-20 million illegal immgrants in the US. very popular among americans.
-Getting rid of the religous rhetoric and image by:
1. Make opposition to Roe vs. wade and Gay marriage more of a states right thing than a christian thing.
2. rather than referncing jesus on social causes talk intelligently about how bad the absence of fathers is for children. Encourage stay at home moms and 2 parent familys in the tax code , etc.
- Present a real alterntive to americans to nationaliztion of health care. Give real examples of what health care is like in Candada and how much worse things will get in regard to rationing, wiating lists, malpractice, funding. Exsplain how we cant afford it at all. Put more money into public hospitals to lessen waits rather than get rid of compeietion in the area of health care. Attack democrats on their misuse of false data, like counting illegals as the nations uninsured while not mentioning that there are to blow up the figure, not mentioning that half the uninsured can afford health care. Exsplaing how few people don;t have helath care and how those who don't actually do health care.
-Make state's rights a new main tentant. Go after the supreme courts dicatorship.
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