Republican Friends,
The election is finally over and the results are beginning to sink in. What can I say other than that I am as disheartened as all of you surely are. America missed an opportunity to honor and elect a national hero, a patriot, who served our nation with great sacrifice, and reward his sacrifices by naming him Commander in Chief. In this our country failed.
What I ask you all to remember is that our battle is not over and never will be. Had John McCain been elected it would not have meant that we were free to curl up on the couch and zone out for four more years. Rather we would have continued to be subjected to the demonizing of our party and its principles. We would have watched John McCain’s reputation slandered and smashed by the national media. How quickly would they blame him for the latest earthquake or hurricane? How might they tie the death of every soldier around his neck like a political noose? What new fabrications (think “McCain lied, people died) would we hear each week? No, our battle with liberal elitism would not have been over and perhaps never will be. Once we resolve ourselves to that reality, our next task becomes clear.
While the Republican Party has fallen from power, I choose not to look at it as an end (or the end). Instead, I think we have a great opportunity for a new beginning. Our party was becoming stagnant, and our leaders had forgotten what being a Republican really meant. Too many of the party leaders put the party (and themselves) ahead of their principles. In 2006, and last night, our nation punished them for that. But while Republicanism was punished, conservatism was not. How else would one describe the success
of Proposition 8, here in a state that voted overwhelmingly for Obama? Or the defeat of Proposition 5? How else would one explain that Dan Logue (whose signs declared SECURE OUR BORDERS) would win so handily in counties where John McCain did poorly?
There are some (mostly the intellectual left) who are tying to convince us that McCain’s Achilles heal was Sarah Palin. This is nonsense. Sarah Palin brought new life into the McCain campaign and to the Republican Party. Had she been at the top of the ticket we might have seen a different result. No, the enemies of liberty want you to believe Sarah Palin was a disaster solely because they hate and fear her. Not only because she is a woman, but because she is a conservative woman. Conservatism is not dead, and a return to our conservative roots is the only way we will revive our party.
This is why I see our current situation as such an opportunity! Think of the impact we as Republicans can have in the recruiting and shaping of a new, more conservative party. We haven’t had this opportunity since Bill Clinton took the White House in 1992. It was only then that Newt Gingrich was able
to bring in the fabled “Contract with America” that brought about Republican landslides in 1994.
My friends we have a great opportunity now to take part in the rebirth of our party. We have dedicated, stalwart conservative leaders here locally who can lend us tremendous support in doing so. Leaders like Rick Keene, Dan Logue, and God willing, Tom McClintock. We have new faces on our city councils and new activists with the Chico State College Republicans. The opportunities exist for us to accomplish great things, but it can only happen if we pull together and make it happen.
Over the next couple of months I will be calling on all of you to join with me in the reorganizing of our party. It is important that we discuss what went wrong, and what worked for us locally, as we plan our actions for the next year. There is much to do and many battles left to be fought.
Until then, I want to thank all of you who gave up your personal time and helped out at our headquarters and in our precinct walks. Everything you did made a difference, and I have nothing but respect and gratitude in my heart for you. No matter the outcome of our struggle, I am honored to have stood by your sides.
Sincerely,
Steve Thompson, Chairman
Butte County Republican Party
