Get With the Program!

Our friend and political guru Media Lizzy, along with progressive Maegan Carberry co-wrote a piece published on Huffington Post yesterday about the lack of online presence by the GOP this election cycle.

The following is my unabridged response, which for some strange reason HuffPo Comments rejected as being too long, lol!

While I don't disagree that Dems totally outperformed in the online arena this election, I do not believe that this is indicative of the death of the Republican party. Let's get some perspective here. There is always a learning curve, and the Reps are going to be playing catch-up until the next election for sure. Lizzy and Maegan are correct in their assessment of the need for greater online presence, but to call for the right wing to stop "jabbering on talk radio" is like insulting your grandma. It may be a little behind the times, but it is definitely not ready for the pine box. We need talk radio, we need the internet, hell, I'd settle for smoke signals to get the truth of the conservative message across, to be perfectly honest. And please don't lump an entertainer like Rush in with 'staffers and consultants'. Contrary to popular belief (even among the right!), he is not consulted on how to run elections, so we can't pin this loss on him. On the contrary, I wish we had listened to his ideas more. After all, it was his idea to keep Hillary in the race for as long as possible, if only as a spoiler. And I for one would certainly have rather run against her this past election cycle. We are to blame, those of us with a conservative voice, for not being active enough and thinking that having a Republican in the oval office was enough, that we had done our jobs. Our complacency, coupled with the unbelievable incompetency of the campaign management, was our downfall.

While I'm sure that some of your readers feel that completely wiping out the Republican party (and I am lumping all conservatives and right-leaning thinkers across the spectrum into this category, for that is how the Left views us, as lemmings) would be the best thing for the country, I think that the continued growth of communication modalities and a diverse availability of opinions is a vital part of what makes this country as great as it is. Note I said 'availability', as in its-there-if-you-want-to-take-advantage-of-it, not silence-any-and-and-all-dissent. This gloating desire to quash the ideas of others and replace it with one's own ideological foi-gras is as dangerous to the continued viability of our nation as any outside threat.

As far as the Republican party goes, Ellis did indeed nail it. It is no longer 'my' Republican party. I do not delude myself that there is any other viable game in town, just as I quickly got over my disdain for John McCain once he became the nominee. I learned the painful lesson of voting third party to 'punish' the incumbent back in 92. Voting is a job, one that must be approached with a bit of detachment. Sometimes it is a dirty job, but I won't lose any sleep by choosing between the 'lesser of two evils'. In the end, it is not about me, or what I 'feel', or voting my 'conscience'.

Thinking republicans (small 'r') need to reevaluate and clean house in the Grand Old Party, and turn that 'Old' into something new. And if it won't be done from the top down, then we must make it happen from the bottom up. We will make it happen.