The Future of Republicans

For John, BLUF:  It is just Republicans.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Over at the Lowell Republican City Committee Blog, this blogger talks about the assert of Mr Brian Bond, of Dracut, on LTC's City Life Friday last, that Republicans need to become more moderate.

This contrasts with Producer John McDonough's view that the Republican part has ceased to exist in Massachusetts.  Mr McDonough may be correct, given that The [Lowell] Sun yesterday editorialized that the Republican Party should sit out the Special Election and try to recover for the General Election in 2014.

On the other hand, given that the Republican Party, notwithstanding the best efforts of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the coattails of President Obama, is still in control in the US House of Representatives, the Republican Party in the US is not going away before 2014.  If we in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts want to play, as we have in the past, we need to reorganize and move out smartly.  Following are some high level (big hand/small map) thoughts on the process.

The election process is a trinity of the voters, the candidates, and the party.

This can be seen as emotion, chance and reason.

• The Voters play the role of emotion and we see it time after time.
• The Candidates represent the play of chance and probability within which the creative spirit is free to roam.
• The Party is supposed to provide policy and reason.

That Scott Brown won meant that we had a Republican in the US Senate where we haven't before (right of Ted Kennedy). It also meant that Martha Coakley is not still our Senator. These are good things.
That Scott Brown lost means that Elizabeth Warren has become a dark horse for 2016. Just a fact of life.

The question is, what role is the State Party playing in all this.  What reason and policy are they bringing to the table, which the Voters will recognize and which will allow possible Candidates to see chance and probability on their side?  Look at the candidates who have stepped aside from running for John Kerry's vacant seat.  Chance and probability does not favor them.

So, back to the Party.  We must give Ms Hughes, our new MassGOP Chairwoman, a sporting chance, but we must also realize that we have to go from grass roots up.  That means the voters, the ones who bring emotion to the game.

And, the Party, to be a Party, has to stand for something besides elections and reelections.

Regards  —  Cliff