The prescription for healing

Democrats widened their majority in Congress, and Sen. Barack Obama was elected president last week, leading many conservatives to speculate how Republicans can get back on track. Considering that Sen. John McCain won Orange County by only a few percentage points and that Obama won Costa Mesa, what’s your prescription for what ails Republicans nationally and locally?

Just four years ago, Democrats in Washington found themselves “in the wilderness,” with Republicans in firm control of Congress and the White House. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. In democracies, the people change their leadership from time to time. It is good that they do so.

So what do Republicans do to turn the tide back the other way? It is instructive to look at what propelled the Democrats to their newfound majorities. I would argue that these include the perilous economic conditions, an unpopular and long war, Republican profligacy in spending, and the number of corruption charges and convictions among members of Congress. It is doubtful that Democratic leaders plotted any of this four years ago. They simply took advantage of the majority party’s mistakes and presented plausible alternatives.

I’m not sure that Republicans need to “reinvent” anything. But we do need to actually stand for what we say we stand for. We need to confess the sins of our past and reform them as well. And we need to show new leadership that is articulate, energetic and reasoned.

Democrats have not had this much power since 1994. There is a lot of pent-up demand in their more liberal circle and among their primary constituencies (unions, trial lawyers, etc.) . Some things they will probably handle well. But they will overreach on others, and they will bicker among themselves as all majorities do. When that happens, Republicans must be ready with creative alternatives that are solution-driven rather than ideological.

And then we must actually mean what we say and do what we say.

Rep. John Campbell

The Republican Party is worn out and adrift because we became detached from our foundational principles and because we confused loyalty with competence.

On July 4 232 years ago, America’s founding representatives declared as a self-evident truth that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Republican Party was forged by people who knew that America was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. This is the exceptional premise of America: that our natural rights are inherent to our humanity, not a grant from government.

The elemental role of government, then, is limited to securing our rights from external danger and internal lawlessness. The Republican Party has strayed far from this premise.

When government exceeds this mandate, when government steps out of bounds, led in that direction by well-meaning people for reasons either urgent or expedient, then our liberty is at risk. As George Washington said, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

For too long now, our elected representatives have softly encouraged us to give up our independence to government. And for too long, Republicans have either acquiesced in this or, worse yet, encouraged this loss of independence.

And what have we purchased for our diminished independence? A federal government owing $86 trillion for Social Security and Medicare that it cannot, on its present course, pay? Hundreds of billions of dollars in federal bailouts of Wall Street that let those who deepened our present economic difficulties off the hook? An increasing myriad of laws and regulations that proscribe for us in increasing detail what we may and may not do?

I am optimistic that America’s experiment in self-governance won’t perish — unless it be by our own hand. But we cannot continue long down our present path. We cannot continue to bind tomorrow’s generations to obligations that they cannot possibly afford to keep. Stacking up $86 trillion in debt equaling some $280,000 for every American amounts to a cruel lie that will sink this nation in an unpayable mountain of debt.

If we are to make good on our $86 trillion in promises, we can no longer be satisfied with the modest rates of economic growth we have experienced over the past 20 years. We need to cut tax rates, not increase them, as Democrats advocate. We need to attract investment. Investment creates jobs and jobs — free market jobs — create wealth and more taxes. America needs fresh capital to rebuild its manufacturing base with automation. America needs reliable, affordable and clean sources of energy, including modern nuclear energy, to lead the world in innovation and wealth creation.

Republicans must take our message of opportunity and liberty to every corner of California to restore our liberties and get California working again.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore

70th District

Because many Washington Republicans did not demand accountability and results while in the majority, the American people have given the other side of the aisle an opportunity to lead, but thus far it is only that — an opportunity. Also, the Republican Party has at times strayed from its principles and history of defending freedom. The failure to capture Osama bin Laden and the failed mortgage bailout are unfortunate examples. Republicans must return to our principles of political and economic freedom for all and remind Americans why the Republican struggle for freedom is essential to American prosperity.

How many people know the complete story of the Republican Party? Not many. How many know that the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act were reforms that our Republican Party struggled for in vain during the Reconstruction era 100 years earlier? Fewer still. The 13th Amendment banning slavery, the 14th Amendment extending the Bill of Rights to the states, and the 15th Amendment granting voting rights to African Americans — all three were a direct result of Republican efforts.

On the state and local levels, Republicans need to continue to work to solve our ongoing budget challenges by keeping taxes low, rooting out waste, eliminating fraud, re-prioritizing spending to fund real priorities like freeway construction and public safety and ending the problem of illegal immigration. Only by returning to our core values will we get the results from government that we deserve.

Assemblyman Van Tran

68th District

In this presidential race and for the past eight years, “Republican Leadership” was our own worst enemy. President Bush expanded government beyond even what President Clinton did and has been borrowing billions to pay for it, not to mention the war. Strong national defense, yes, empire building, no. He also was weak on illegal immigration. Democrats pushed for lower loan standards backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Republicans went along with it. So instead of being the safeguard of limited government, states’ rights, secure borders and sensible lending policies, they enabled and approved this mess and even supported the federal bailout fiasco. It was like a bad TV ad: “I’m the Republican Party, and I approved this MESSage.” This is exactly the reason why so many left the party to become Decline to State, Independents and Libertarians. So not only have liberals moved farther left but “Republican Leaders” have as well. And the “Taxinator” in Sacramento is not helping things either. When he first ran, many Republicans were enthusiastic about him “blowing up the boxes.” Now his new tax proposals threaten instead to blow up our economy even more.

This election, Americans were clearly hungry for change, but McCain did not offer that, and many Republicans stayed home. Obama offered change, but we still don’t know exactly what kind. For the most part, the change of limited government was not offered to Americans by anyone except Ron Paul in the primaries. In Costa Mesa, Republicans supported upholding our immigration laws and improving our streets and infrastructure and blocked new taxes pushed forward by Democrats. The result was that we gained one conservative seat on the council.

Nationally, Republicans need to do the same by focusing on the basics and allowing the states to take care of the rest. Republicans need to reach across the aisle to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the American people. If Republicans would have offered that type of change, Americans would have supported it, and the rest of the world would have more respect for us and want the same for themselves instead of us forcing it upon them through global intervention.

Allan Mansoor

Costa Mesa City Councilman

When the Republican Party supported smaller government, less spending and lower taxes under President Reagan, it won elections. When it supports “bridges to nowhere,” free prescription drugs and corporate bailouts under George W. Bush — it loses elections. It is not a good sign when a Republican president takes seven years in office to veto his first pork-stuffed spending bill. California’s Republican governor overspends more than the Democrat he replaced in a recall. He is now looking to pay for that overspending by raising sales taxes to the highest level in the country; 10.25% in Los Angeles County, 9.25% in Orange County. Republican leadership in Washington has come to expect the social conservative wing of the party to bail it out when fiscal conservatives have no reason to come out to vote. Message to those leaders: Most social conservatives are also fiscal conservatives. Republicans are already doing what it will take to fix the party. They are letting Republicans lose at the ballot box to Democrats if those Republicans do not act like real Republicans. We would rather not have a Republican in office that we have to make excuses for; it gets old.

Jim Righeimer

Planning commissioner, Republican activist