The Moderate Republican: Cheney 1; Obama 0

What the Moderate Republican Stands For

Republicans came to power as the party of big ideas, and without returning to that model they could be looking at a long winter. Additionally, those big ideas need to focus on Middle America. Three issues that could work are conservation, reform and localism.

Conservation- a return to the Teddy Roosevelt model of conservation. One doesn’t necessarily have to buy into global warming to appreciate the need to protect the natural resources we have.

Reform- the federal government is bigger than ever, and won’t be getting any smaller over the next four years. Republicans need to fashion themselves as national reformers. Much of Middle America wants the government as safety net, but bloated bureaucracies breed corruption that needs to be dealt with.

Localism- this is the lynchpin that brings it all together. If we bought our food locally, shopped locally, governed locally, many of the issue we now have to deal with would go away, or at the least become manageable.

Below is a collection of writers who speak about the things that matter. Some are Right, some Left and some Center, but all intelligent and rational voices.

After a two week scuffle over the issue of the detainee prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, it seems Cheney's argument won. That is at least according to a poll released this morning by Gallup. The vast majority, 65%, say the US should not close down Gitmo. Tom Bevan at RCP agrees stating,

[T]he poll shows that Vice President Cheney clearly won the national security "showdown" on Guantanamo Bay with President Obama last month. Forty percent (40%) of those surveyed agreed with Cheney's belief that the prison at Guantanamo Bay had helped make America safer. Only 18% agreed with President Obama's assertion that the housing of detainees at Gitmo had made America less safe.

While many people seemed to have vehemently disliked former President Bush, one gets the feeling that when push comes to shove they did not really disagree with everything he did, especially in terms of the war on terror.

The Moderate Republican

What the Moderate Republican Stands For

The American Conservative » Rod Dreher

Via Meadia

Front Porch Republic

David Brooks

The Soap Box

Cheney 1; Obama 0

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