Newt GingrichThe former Republican Speaker off the House, the first to hold the
office in over forty years, was by many metrics no boy scout. Extramarital
dalliances ruined his first two marriages. He failed to foster the necessary
strong consensus to maintain the House Republican majority after four years in
the Speakership. To this day, there are conservative activists and pundits who
have no respect for him, and view a self-affirming opportunist out to further
his ambitions, whether everyone else agrees or not.
Boy Scouts in Hong Kong, China (Yet on the issue of politics, Gingrich identified a key problem plaguing
conservatives and the Republican Party as a whole. He typified the new combative
approach needed to bring the federal government back under control, a method
needed now more than ever. The previous minority Republican leader in the House
of Representatives, Robert Michel of Illinois, embraced a nice-guy persona
which allowed him to pass bills. Gingrich was combative, and wanted Republicans
to take back the House and engineer real reforms. Gingrich attracted
conservatives throughout the caucus, and working with them and the American
People, they achieved a Republican Revolution in 1994, one which exploited
Democratic weakness, dysfunction, and corruption. If politicians want
to win, they have to win the majority. Michel was interested in passing laws, laws
unmoored from ideological purity or respect for the United States Constitution
create bloated government less security, more instability. Values require
vetting, and if one side wants to remove those values, the other side must be
prepared for fight for them. We don’t need Boy Scouts in politics right now. No offense to Robert
Michel, who indeed witnessed warfare in the army, but a clash of ideologies is
raging in Washington, and We the People need representatives willing to fight
and win for our side. No offense to Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker, himself an Eagle Scout and community leader of great
distinction, but at the national level, he was not making the grade. He refused
to cut his teeth and split some lips in the blood sport of national
Presidential primary process. Nice just does not get the job done. When Donald
Trump was picking fights with everyone, including his prospective Democratic
challengers, Walker was busy fighting with his prior views and establishing his
present platform. The fight and vigor
he showed as Governor – and continues to demonstrate — against the labor
unions in Wisconsin did not play out in the national field. It’s unfortunate
because that resolute leadership is exactly what this country needs right now,
and more than ever. We don’t need an
apprentice in the White House, Walker had chided Trump in the second GOP
debate. Walker was right. However, we don’t
need a boy scout either. We need mercenaries in Washington, soldiers for the
conservative cause of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, who will not
just give their time and resources for the mission, but ensure that the most
virulent opponents to these truths will lose their lives, too. Newt Gingrich (Gage Skidmore)Conservatives must accept this reality. The
American political process is an adjudication of power, in which one side wins,
and another loses. Politics is the only zero-sum game. There will be a loser at
the end of the contest. Yet unlike the UFC epic battle between Rhonda Rousey
and Holly Holm, the consequences of these losses will last for generations. In
liberal democracy, the loser can collect support, raise funds, and fight again.
However, even today the process for individual contest and promotion of ideas
faces unprecedented attacks and limitations. Reporters find the doors slammed
in their faces, or they get shown the door before they can report on anything.
City and county residents unhappy with their local leaders meet against
entrenched interests interested in frustrating the political process, raising
the costs and time constraints for those seeking to run for elected office. The progress of our nation should stand on easing the entrance of
new people promoting our foundational ideas, rather than permitting elite
elements to pick and choose who runs and stays in office. The fight for our country, for our values
is about so much more than just accomplishing the best with the people we are
working with. It’s about more than tolerating difficult co-workers or unwieldy
team mates to reach our goals. The fight for life, for liberty, for the American way, the prized
values of American culture rest on recognizing that these fights must be fought
and won, and the losing side must think twice before every challenging them
again. We need to combat fire with fire, not sing
around the campfires. We need to punch back twice as hard, and win, not
playfully box with the shadows while the darkness of oppression, ignorance, and
tyranny overtakes the land. No more Boy Scouts politics, conservatives. Let’s fight and win!
