Coburn: We need to govern from conscience
by David Benzion · 11/08/2006 2:33 pmEarly, I mentioned Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn as a possible Senate leadership position in a revamped GOP.
Here’s part of a statement he released today:
“Some have said that Republicans and Democrats now need to govern from the middle. I disagree. We do not need to govern from the center as much as we need to govern from conscience. When politicians have the courage to argue their convictions and lose their political lives in an honest battle of ideas the best policies will prevail.
“The American people do want civility but they also want real debate. Civility does not mean an absence of conflict, but a return of honor and dignity in our politics. The great debates in American history like the Lincoln-Douglas debates or the debates about the Constitution were intensely confrontational, but no one feels soiled after reading them. That same quality of debate is possible today if politicians put their country first and party second. The problems facing our country are too great to not have these debates. Voters are bored and tired of partisan role playing in Washington. The answers to securing Iraq, winning the War on Terror, and preventing the impending bankruptcies of Medicare and Social Security will not be discovered by portraying the other party as the focus of evil and corruption. If we don’t debate these issues with honor and agree on solutions we will be the first generation of leaders that left the next generation worse off, and we will see our relative power in the world diminish.
“One of the great paradoxes in politics is that governing to maintain power is the surest way to lose it. Republicans have the ideas to solve our greatest challenges. If we focus on ideas, our majority status will take care of itself,” Dr. Coburn said.
[Hat-tip: Instapundit]
You can call Senator Coburn and encourage him to step forward to fight for a leadership position by calling his office directly at 202-224-5754.
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Sounds good to me going forward, but too little too late.
Simple
The Republicans haven’t been able to work with the Democrats because the Democrats don’t ever want to compromise. Anytime they don’t get their way, they go screaming to the liberal media, the Republicans aren’t bipartisan. I think a change in party names is necessary. It should be Liberals and Conservatives because those are the two philosophies in play.
2, Robert
Actually Robert the political spectrum is pretty continuous. I think of myself as a fiscal conservative and liberal on some social issues.
Keep up the vitriol and the Republican Party will be reduced to an asterisk. Neither the “Liberals” or “Conservatives” as you put it have a majority.
If you want to govern, then you have to appeal to a wider base. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton knew this and moved to the center when necessary. Most of the winning Democrats were actually centrists and not wide-eyed liberals. The Republicans got beat in part because the Democrats took a page from the Reagan playbook and used it.
In fairness, the Republican Congress of the last two years was every bit as arrogant and high-handed as ..well the pre-1994 Democratic Congress.
The American People got it right both times and threw the right people out of office.
We shall see if the Democrats will squander this victory, but as you know all fame is fleeting.
Simple
Know any Republicans that have practiced this type politicking over the past six years?
No kidding!
The only way to govern effectively is to include members of the party out of favor.
All smart candidates run from the center and mostly win their election.
Good politics is about give and take.
Conservatism is on it’s way out, it is as whacky as extreme lefitism, both have no place in our society. Luckily for us majority of the people are in the center.
# 02 ROBERT