The Republican party is licking its collective wounds after taking a whipping at the polls this last election. And even now as the take the time to assess all of the reasons for massive failure, GOP leadership still doesn’t get it.

I voted for George W Bush, and I’m ashamed to admit it because if we really want to understand the backlash against the Republican Party on election day, it all begins here. Let’s not simply point the finger at GW, he had plenty of accomplices along the way from BOTH parties, but the traditional conservative values of smaller government, fiscal conservatism, and anti-war were ignored to their detriment. What actions gained many of our outgoing Congressmen and members and staff of the Executive Branch the RINO (Republicans in name only) label:
• Pre-emptive, unjust, and costly (in terms of both life and tax dollars) wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight
• Rhetoric indicating similar plans of hostility in Iran
• Massive government growth, particularly through the consolidation of functions under the Homeland Security umbrella
• Engaging unapologetically in torture of illegal enemy combatants
• Impinging on the freedoms of American people through laws rammed through using fear tactics such as the Patriot Act (an ironic name to be sure), the Military Commisions Act, and the Homegrown Terrorist Act
• Spending like there was no tomorrow (which giving the course President Bush et al have set us on, could be the case) handing out billions to the war machine through military contracts to his buddies, and now the financial bailout to Wall Street and possibly the Auto industry (what part of free market do you RINOs not understand)

The Republican Party has lost its way and in an article by Jonathan Martin in Politico’s online rag, older party members blame John McCain’s lackluster campaign on their losses. The newer members of Congress however “get it.” They understand that core conservative values must win out in order for the party to survive. But longtime GOP leadership is not listening.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty opened up a luncheon speech to his fellow governors by noting that excuses could be made, citing the unpopularity of President Bush, the Iraq war and the poor state of the economy.

But, he continued, such a rationale was “not fair and it’s not complete.” The party’s problem, he said, is far more grave.

“We cannot be a majority governing party when we essentially cannot compete in the northeast; we are losing our ability to compete in the Great Lakes states, we cannot compete on the West Coast,” Pawlenty argued, also citing similar problems in the mid-Atlantic and the Mountain West. “Similarly, we cannot compete and prevail as a majority governing party when we have a significant deficit as we do with woman, where we have a large deficit with Hispanics, where we have a large deficit with African-American voters, where we have a large deficit with people of modest incomes.”

Later, talking to reporters, Pawlenty put it more plainly: “The Republican Party is going to need more than just a comb-over.”

He doesn’t advocate for a major ideological shift — few prominent voices in the party are — but rather for aggressively offering solutions on issues such as health care, energy and education that have been viewed as Democratic turf.

WHAT? Did these GOP leaders not just see what a butt whooping they just received by straying away from core conservative principles? And now they think the solution is more tax and spend?! Unbelievable! Even the frosh class of Democratic Congressman is more blue dog than usual. Which means that even when the electorate voted Democrat they were still voting for the candidate with the most conservative platform. It’s time to stand up, get involved and bring the Republican Party back into alignment with the principles that Americans believe in and vote for.

Some say to forget the Republican Party and let’s just start our own party. Confession time. Although I’ve been a registered Republican for most of my adult voting life, I am a true independent, voting for the candidate(s) with the most conservative record/message. I assure you that conservatives will have much greater success getting their desired candidates elected by uniting inside the Republican Party than they will in any third party or independent campaign.

I find it interesting that the Republican Party was unable to recognize their losses in 2006 and their current single digit congressional approval rating handed to them by the American people as a bellweather for this election. They had time to right the ship but they refused to acknowledge where the cancer was and cut it out to save the patient. Even now, within the party there is infighting over what direction we should be heading as we move forward. I can’t emphasize this enough—more involvement by more Americans equals successfully taking back the party and steering it towards the American values we all share and hold dear.