What Does The GOP Want? Control Or Leadership?

People of faith and conservatives are starting to recover from substantial losses in this past election.

We experienced the second loss in a row nationally and worse in Washington State, with a loss by nearly every Republican running for statewide office, several districts losing races they should not have lost had they gotten proper support, marriage redefined and pot legalized.

However, the sun will come out tomorrow.

Indications of that are found in some of the discussions that are beginning---candid, transparent discussions.

One such discussion took place last week in the form of a speech Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, gave to the National Republican Committee.

There are two very different views trying to lead what has been the party where most conservatives and people of faith most closely identified.

One view was reflected by the campaign manager of Rob McKenna's failed attempt to become governor. Following their loss, he assured people who were asking what went wrong, that they should just stay the course, continue as we are and everything will be just fine.

Translated: Continue to pretend to be a secular progressive, but call yourself a "moderate," deny the very "divisive" social values your Party claims to represent, pretend to be a part of the faith community to get their vote and maybe you can beat the real secular progressives in an election.

The king has no clothes.

And Christians are smarter than some politicians think.

Jindal began his speech with, "You may not agree with me...and I may challenge many of your assumptions..."

While I do not agree with everything he said, this is certainly a move in the right direction. I thought you may want to be aware of the speech and the direction he and others are beginning to move nationally.

I see nothing similar to this in Washington State.....yet.

The following is an overview of his speech.


And this is a link to the text of his entire speech.

1 . America is not the federal government.

At present we have one party that wants to be in charge of the federal government so they can expand it, and one party who wants to be in charge so they can control it.

Wrong debate.

In addition to Washington DC, in the politician's mind, there are a bunch of outlying areas called states. They are mostly adjuncts to the federal government.

Wrong thinking.

Today's debate is wrapped up in the mess of solving burgeoning deficits, the mammoth federal debt, the shortfall in entitlement programs...even as we continue to create more entitlement programs.

The consensus is that if we can just come together and unite behind a proposal to cut the deficit and debt, put together a spreadsheet and PowerPoint, and put it in a TV ad...all will be well.

Let's put all our eggs in one basket.

Let's address how we can lead America to a place where she can be restored.

2. How we can win the argument.

• We must believe in creating substance, not redistributing scarcity.
• Rethink every social program in DC.
• Replace most DC bureaucracies with several good web sites.
• What we are doing now is a failure.
• Get this straight. Washington has spent a generation trying to bribe our citizens and extort our states.
• It's time to quit arguing around the edges of that corrupt system.

3. How to win an election.

• Do not moderate, equivocate or abandon our principles. Including social values.
• Stop looking backward.
• Reject identity politics.
• Stop being the stupid party.
• Focus on the real people outside DC.

4. Conclusion.

• We can either go down the government path or the American path.
• We must not only promote American exceptionalism, but also define it.
• Turn our attention away from managing government and toward the mission of growth and prosperity.

Jindal's final word: "Thank you, and may God richly bless you."

Indeed.

Be Encouraged. Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.