Kowabunga

The Washington Times is running a piece on an Op-Ed that Rep. John Boehner wrote for Townhall.com this week. The thrust of both articles is how the GOP can regain the majority in Congress in 2008. I think Boehner hit it out of the park.

In his Op-Ed at Townhall.com, Boehner talks about what he has learned from constituents at local town hall meetings; what is important to Americans: border security, illegal aliens, the price of energy, health care, and more.

Mr. Boehner said Republicans can take back control of Congress next year with a focus on conservative principles, despite sluggish fundraising numbers and poll numbers that favor Democrats.

Yep, it can be done…the question is: will it be done?

House Republicans are hoping to build enthusiasm with their base by focusing on issues like immigration, the Democratic leadership and, to a lesser extent, the war in Iraq. They say this re-branding with the base, if successful, will pay off in increased financial contributions in time for next year's elections.

"You can always count on the Democrats to behave like Democrats," said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain. "While they continue to falter, we need to continue to provide a clear alternative."

It isn't so much a need to "re-brand" but to go back to the roots that has made Conservatism successful: limited government, lower taxes which stimulates economic growth, and enforcing our immigration laws, just to name a few of the issues.

Boehner raises good points in his piece, including:

America faces the problem of rising health care costs. Millions of Americans go without health care every year, and Democrats have refused to let small businesses offer high-quality coverage and prevented workers from taking their coverage from job to job. In Ohio, people were asking why Democrats cut free market Medicare Advantage programs to pay for health benefits for illegal immigrants. And they were concerned by Democrats' plan to expand government-run bureaucratic health care to families making up to $82,000 a year, cleverly billed as an extension of "children's health insurance." We need less government and more health care; Democrats just want more government.

There are a lot of people who rail about government being too involved in their lives, including the so-called "surveillance society" of easier eavesdropping on international phone calls involving known terrorists. Yet these same people want to entrust the government with managing their health care decisions. This makes no sense! But then Liberal/Progressives rarely do make any sense.

One of the biggest issues with health care, aside from escalating costs, is being able to transport your coverage when transitioning between jobs. There are stories around about how someone with a long-term health issue is unable to get continued coverage for it when changing jobs as the new insurer refuses to cover pre-existing conditions. Maybe they found a loop hole in the coverage when people are transitioning, maybe those people made a bad choice for interim coverage that caused the loss of their condition being covered. However, there needs to be a better way of handling it so someone doesn't get surprised by the loss of coverage on a long term/permanent illness (like diabetes).

As for government pushing its health care plan on me, no thanks. When they can't, or are unwilling, to enforce our laws, how can I trust them to manage my health care? And will it be as good as what I have now, or will it be reduced to Canada Care, where everyone waits in line?

Too many Republicans believe the way to win is to lean left in order to appear "moderate." This doesn't work as the people that such politicians are attempting to appeal to will never vote for a Republican. The "fiscal conservative, social liberal" Republicans end up alienating the Conservative base and still lose to the hard-core liberal-progressives.

The bottom line is that Boehner is right: The way to win in 2008 is to get back to our conservative roots and rediscover Reaganism (minus amnesty for illegals, Reagan's one great mistake). Cut the spending and the taxes, grow the economy, secure the border, enforce the laws and win the war.

We need to open up new sources of oil production, including drilling in ANWR and the outer continental shelf. We need to embrace nuclear energy rather than live in fear of it. And we need to let Americans do what they do best: innovate without the shackles of excessive taxation.

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Boehner Republicans GOP