Jennifer Horn: Squishy Republicans are Almost as Bad as Democrats

In the special congressional election in New York's 23rd District, the liberal Republican dropped out last week, leaving the Democrat to face a Conservative Party challenger backed by Sarah Palin and other notable conservatives. It sends a powerful message: Those who believe that 2010 will be a typical mid-term election year in which the minority party sweeps to victory are sadly disconnected from the voters. Republicans are tired of having to plug their noses when they vote; independents are frustrated by a lack of real choice; and even many Democrats feel betrayed by a party that  is leading our country down a perilous path.
While the Democratic leadership in Congress is responsible for the debacle we face today, Republicans of past majorities must also take responsibility for the role they played in opening the door to a government that is too big, too intrusive and too expensive.
Somewhere along the way, we started thinking that the way to win elections in New England was to sound like a Democrat. We abandoned our principles and embraced big-government and big-spending policies. As a result, Republicans were fired in 2006.
And now Americans are paying the price. Socialized medicine, nationalized banks  and government-owned auto companies are not the America we grew up in, and it is not the America we want to pass down to our children.
The American birthright of unlimited opportunity will be destroyed by jobs-crushing policies such as cap-and-trade and by costly government expansion such as the health care reform bill. The further into our lives we allow government to creep, the more opportunity becomes limited and the more our freedom and individual liberties are diminished.
While concern for all of these issues is at an all-time high, above all of them  is an overriding frustration and anger directed at an arrogant, corrupt Congress that has blatantly put party and power above the people and the Constitution. This, more than anything else, is what has inspired the people of our country over the past several months to rise up in protest against what is supposed to be a representative government.
The people are making their voices heard, sending a resounding message that they will not tolerate self-serving, big-government, free-spending politicians, and  they will not waste any more votes on them. It is time to defend our rights as citizens of a free nation, time to rein in an out-of-control Congress and time to hold our elected representatives accountable for their destructive actions.
We have two paths before us. We can go back to nominating Republicans who sound  like Democrats and hope that by blurring the lines between the two parties, the  voters will choose us. Or, we can stand firmly for the principles that make our  nation strong and offer the voters a real choice.
We've tried the first way, and we saw our party lose election after election in  the Northeast, and the country suffer as a result. This summer, citizens tried the second way, and they started a revolution.
If the Republican Party is to be the voice of tomorrow, it must return to its roots.
The principles of personal freedom, unlimited opportunity and small, limited government are the path to a free and prosperous tomorrow.
We must stand together and be deafening in our message that we will not allow this Congress to continue its march toward an America that would make our Founding Fathers cry.
We live in a great nation. America is a nation of grand dreams, great efforts and extraordinary achievement. We require bold leaders who embrace the unlimited potential of our nation to grow in prosperity and accomplishment and remain forever a beacon of hope to freedom-seeking people everywhere.
Jennifer Horn, a former newspaper columnist and radio talk show host from Nashua, is running for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Hampshire's 2nd District.

A Blueprint for a Republican Resurgence

Guest Editorial 

By Sean Mahoney, Republican National Committeeman

What does it mean to be a Republican today?

When I came of age during the Ronald Reagan era, it meant you stood strong for lower taxes on working families, limited government, and more personal accountability.

Today, after nearly a decade of misguided leadership from Republicans in Washington, many Americans believe it means tax cuts for the rich, expanding government programs, ever-greater government spending and pointing the finger across the aisle. Our own party abandoned its mantle of fiscal responsibility.

We have gone from the smaller government, personal responsibility party of the Reagan Revolution to the arrogant, out-of-touch, free spending party of the past decade. 

Republicans in New Hampshire, actually most voters in New Hampshire, still cherish the values that brought me to the party. For too long Republican candidates have spent too much time worrying about what people in Washington think and not enough time listening to what the people of New Hampshire have to say.

If Republicans in New Hampshire are ever to reclaim majority status we need to stop playing the DC game and start recommitting ourselves to the people of New Hampshire. We need to stand firm against the “go along to get along” mentality of too many Washington Republicans.

As we move forward we have an opportunity to show voters what it means to be a Republican in the 21st Century.

I want to see us become the party of open government, innovative solutions and personal freedom.

First and foremost that starts with transparency. Candidates and office holders need to be open, honest and accountable. In order to stop the culture of corruption that has gripped Washington, DC as of late, we need to open campaigns up for the voters to see. Campaigns in New Hampshire need to focus on concerns of real voters along the banks of the Merrimack, not the power brokers along the Potomac.

The same is especially true for office holders. In Washington we need to end secret earmarks and reform the appropriations process to be more open and fair.  Government money should be spent based on merit and need, not on seniority and committee assignments.

In general the legislative process needs to be more open. It is never a good idea to push bills through without public hearing, but Members of Congress are now regularly voting on bills without having a solid understanding of what is in them. This can’t continue if we want to keep faith with the American people.

Second, we must stand up to the Democrat policy agenda with a policy agenda of our own. We can not continue to be labeled the “Party of No”. In the 1990’s it was Republican Governors who developed new policy ideas and drove the debate on things like welfare reform, Medicaid reform and tax policy.

Saying no to a government-run healthcare is the right thing to do, but at the same time we need to propose our own ideas on how to improve access to affordable health insurance.

The same is true on every issue. We all know that Cap and Trade is a bad policy that will cost the average family thousands of dollars, but we need to have our own plan to increase the use of alternative energy and reduce our dependence on oil.

Third, we need to reclaim the mantle of the “Party of Main Street”. Families across New Hampshire are still hurting from this recession. We all know that small businesses are the heart of the American economy. Two out of three net new jobs created each year are in small businesses. These businesses depend on fair tax policies and a predictable regulatory environment. These need to become the cornerstone of the Republican agenda: keeping taxes low and regulations within reason.

Fourth, we have to reestablish our fiscal responsibility credentials. It is easy for us to point to the record deficits of the Obama administration and claim that they are bankrupting our children, but Republicans spent freely under President Bush as well. No matter who has been responsible for the record spending of the last decade, it must stop.

Republicans must redouble their efforts to hold the line on spending.

Finally, we need to develop policies that advocate both personal responsibility and personal freedom. Whether it is reaffirming the Castle Doctrine, so that people have the freedom to protect themselves and their families, or maintaining the ability for people to make their own healthcare choices, Republicans need to put people before government.

It is time for Republicans to stop wringing their hands and start rebuilding our party. It is time to cast off the big government policies and strong arm perceptions of the Bush years and reaffirm our commitment to smaller government, local control, innovation and personal freedom.