Rebuilding the Republican party?
tanyaAMADOR-DAIGLE politics@floridaweekly.com

— Editor's note: Tanya Amador-Daigle has been reporting for Florida Weekly on the presidential election. She has a unique perspective on the primaries and the process for choosing a candidate, having traveled the country reporting on primaries and caucuses for the Purple States project. To learn more about Purple States go, to www. purplestates.tv.

Last week I received an e-mail from a project called Rebuild the Party. The site is aimed at how the GOP can regain the presidency in 2012. My interest was piqued, so I explored the site a bit. Apparently, the mission of this group is to get ideas from voters to form a new direction for the party, and to formulate a strategy to take back the government from the Democrats.

What struck me as interesting, and actually raised my blood pressure a bit, was this group's total disregard or acknowledgement for the entire reason the Republicans lost the presidency. Reading their "About Us" statement, one would have thought that the last eight years had never happened. It was as if they had one colossal brain fart, and forgot how massively they had screwed things up.

As a fiscal conservative, I am angry. Not because Sen. John McCain lost the election. In fact, Sen. McCain was a poor choice for a Libertarian such as myself. Like most of the country, I'm irate about the state of the economy, and as a limited-government person, I'm appalled that the party that once stood for small government and fiscal conservatism now resembles something like George Orwell's "1984." With unconstitutional acts likes the FISA Bill and the Patriot Act, the word "socialism," in my opinion, has not been an over-used term lately.

For those who favor a welfare state where the government will take care of everything for Americans from cradle to grave, congratulations. It now appears it will become more than a pipe dream. I hate to sound so jaded, but why should we trust government now? Perhaps because we have a new leader at the helm of a ship that is sailing erratically out of control? Hmmm, maybe President-Elect Obama WILL change things. After all, he wasn't been bought and paid for by people more powerful than himself, right? (insert sarcasm here).

But I digress.

Recently, Republican leaders got together for a little pow wow in Florida to strategize for 2012. From what I read, the only one with any sense was Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Gov. Jindal characterized it best when he said, "When the Republican Party is no longer the party of fiscal conservatism… then clearly I would argue we've lost our way. We have to match our action to our rhetoric."

With all the blah blah blah I've been hearing, I heard Gov. Jindal LOUD AND CLEAR. I mean, when voters trust Democrats to control spending and cut taxes more than Republicans, then something is wrong with the universe. Why else would lifelong conservatives vote for a Democrat, as so many of them did? I alone can name 10 people I know of who did, and I bet you can as well.

Every day I turn on the television and hear the pundits talking about the next GOP dream team. Back and forth, they debate who they will be. The media is telling us the party needs diversity; it needs to broaden its base. Is Sarah Palin the new face of the Republican Party? Will Bobby Jindal or Tim Pawlenty be on the ticket?

I have a novel idea. Stop spending our money. Fight for campaign finance reform, reduce spending, develop and implement an energy independence plan that works. Show us that you are fighting for those issues first and then, we can talk about whether or not you deserve to be back in the White House.

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