The Republican Party needs to just sit back and take a breath before they even consider preparing for the next two elections. If the Democrats, led by Barack Obama, go on a liberal shopping spree then the Republicans will have an easier time coming back in the next 4 years. The best thing Republicans can do the next 4 years is hold Obama and the Democrats accountable. Stand up and speak out when if they push the country hard to the left. Republicans should not be afraid to be outspoken and be the transparency the American people have the right to and deserve. Now, here are some thoughts, a prescription, for the ailing party. Republicans should go back to the basics. I am talking continue tax cuts and reduce spending, education, protecting Americans right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, the foundation of American principles, and adopt a platform that reminds America of what makes her great. For example, America thrives on competition, which is no secret. However, I believe that Obama and the Democrats through raising taxes on the ‘rich’ and the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ are seeking to destroy competition, the foundation to our Free Market Economy. Just look at the Fairness Doctrine, for example. Conservatives own the ratings on radio talk shows, that is no secret, and so it is the ambition of the Democrats to add liberals to those popular conservative shows in order to squash those ratings, and thus the effectiveness and strength of conservative talk radio. This is a clear violation of the First Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech. I understand they want both sides to an issue presented, and I believe that is a good idea, but only if that is what the conservative talk radio hosts choose to do. You cannot force them to change their programming. After all if people do not want to listen to Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh, then they have the power and the right to change the station. Can this apply to television as well, are Democrats going to force Keith Olbermann to share his hour with various conservative points of view? Here is a piece of advice to liberal Democrats, if your losing Radio Talk Show then that means the liberal voices on Radio are boring and stink, so go out and recruit new ones. If that does not work, then your message is out of touch with much of America or liberals just do not listen to talk radio. After all, does the football team that finishes dead last in the standings go to the team that won the Super Bowl and demand they give them their All Pro Wide Receiver and All Pro Middle Linebacker? No, they go out and find their own All Pro WR and MLB through Free Agency and the Draft. Then there is this idea of raising taxes on the rich. I do not believe in raised taxes on anyone, because as the Free Market Economy we are, the money is most efficient when it is in the hands of the people, not the government or big business. Is it not counter productive to raise taxes on businesses and then use that money for big government welfare programs?
The issue I believe Republicans need to take control of is Education. I believe the education system needs to be based on quality, not quantity. The education system of today is about how many years a teacher can stay in one place, how many students can get a specific score on a specific test to graduate so the school can get their x amount of dollars. This is not right, we should be focusing on the quality of each school’s leadership, the quality of the teacher, and the quality of the curriculum. Focusing on quality will bring teachers those years, schools their passing grades and graduation rates to get that money and the future of America would be better off for it. Education should be about choice, after all we are a nation that says a woman can choose whether or not the life inside her lives or dies, but cannot choose what they believe to be the best education for their children. I also believe in what I call Moral Education. This is a class taught every couple of years, maybe for only a few weeks teaching values and principles such as respect, self discipline, hard work, etc… Believe or not Obama was right one thing, we need to build the country from the bottom, but it applies to education. Republicans need to build a slam dunk education policy, implement it in states it controls and then use it to drive the campaigns in future elections. Here is a way for Republicans to win some of that youth vote in 4 years, start working on those 14-17 year olds now.
I believe the solution to the woes of the Republican Party is simple. Get back to the basics, not just conservative principles, but American ideals that this country was founded on and the values that have sustained us for over 200 years. Then Republicans need to let their voice be heard over the next 4 years. When Obama and the Democrats take the country to the left, let the country know about it and hold them accountable for their decisions. Republicans have been knocked down and now they need to get up off the mat and make sure President Obama and the Democratic Congress do what is best for the American people. The Republican Party needs to be, and I stress needs to be focused on doing what is moral, wise, and fair.

 All the time we talk about one political candidate or political party needing a game changing event, well right now we need to face the facts, America needs a game changer. I might just have an idea that could be, I emphasize could be, a game changer. Next Friday, September 26 Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain have a date. Instead of having the usual date that a Presidential debate encompasses, I believe they should do something different. Both Obama and McCain have campaigned on being bi-partisan and for the American people. Well right now the economic situation in this country calls for the American people to put ahead of personal political ambition as well as a bi-partisan solution. My suggestion, my challenge to Senator Obama and Senator McCain is to exhibit some of that bi-partisan leadership and instead of the usual Presidential debate, why not debate an Economic Package that will be introduced in Congress. Why not use that time to put together an Economic Package that focuses on creating jobs, strengthening confindence in the Markets, not raising taxes on anyone, and a true Energy policy that focuses on Energy independence. Both of these guys want to be the leader of this country, then they need to take the lead in a horrible Economic situation and quit their dumb bickering on who is to blame. Now is not the time to point fingers, now is the time focus on solving the problem. The quarterback of a football team does not stand on the sideline criticizing and blaming his defense for giving up a touchdown, he goes out onto the field and works as hard as he can to get a touchdown for his team. Barack Obama and John McCain need to quit criticizing each other and get out on that field and pick up their fellow Americans who made errors in judgement and work as hard as they can on scoring a touchdown. The start to this, I believe, is to use their date next Friday to debate and negotiate an Economic package that works for the American people and then turn around and tell every member of Congress that they are going to vote for it and yes tell the President he is going to sign it without objection. Its just a thought.

I remember the day as if it just happened today. I was a Senior in high school and as I was walking from a secondary building to the main building for my next class where there was a buzz about something that had happened in New York. As I walked into English class a fellow classmate told me that a bomb exploded at the World Trade Center. Naturally we all became curious as to what was happening. However, my English teacher struggled to find a website or clear television channel to try and see if we could understand what was unfolding in New York City. My fellow classmates and I sat through a 50 minute class without any knowledge of what was happening. Then, in what was my fourth class of the day, the Assistant Principal walked into my class and told us that the World Trade Center towers stood no more, that a plane had struck the Pentagon, and there was rumor of a fourth plane crashing in Western Pennsylvania. Now there came the questions. What was happening? How could this have happened? Who is responsible for this? All the wondering, the questioning, and the confusion that took place that day. But then a new day September 12, 2001 dawned. Consequently there was no longer the question what was happening, but what could I do to help? No longer was there how could this have happened, but how could I be of assistance? No longer was there who is responsible,but who is it that needs comforting? On September 12, 2001 we were no longer British or French. We were no longer black or white. We were no longer upper class, middle class, or lower class. We were no longer Democrat, Republican, or Independent. We were no longer male or female. On the day after, we all stood up as one, as one family, as one force. September 12, 2001 we all stood up as the United States of America. However, seven years later, I fear that we have forgotten both those days. The fact is we are a team, a team that when we work together can achieve anything. A team that when we work selflessly, not for our own gain, can solve every challenge facing us this day. View America as a puzzle. A puzzle is made of pieces shaped and designed differently so when put together they form a clear, undeniable picture. Each and every American is shaped and designed differently, so when we come together a clear, undeniable picture of strength, character, perserverance, and democracy forms; a picture of the red, white, and blue is seen; a picture of the stars and stripes is presented, The United States of America becomes that shining City on a hill.

The main talking point, a weak one in my opinion, for Obama and the Democrats is that John McCain represents a third Bush term. First of all, John McCain is John McCain and George Bush is George Bush. Answer me this are Democrats are hiding some scientific discovery somewhere proving that two different men born from two different parents and grew up in two different backgrounds are going to make the same exact decisions on the same exact issues under the same exact circumstances? Are the Democrats able to look into the future and see what a John McCain Presidency is going to look like? During the first six years of his Presidency George Bush allowed his party to spend and spend while John McCain railed against it then and is railing against it now, vowing to not let out of control spending from either party. Just from the simple fact John McCain has experience in the Armed Forces gives better credibility and judgement in military situations than President Bush and the good example of this is McCain's push for the surge in Iraq to fix Bush's failed military policy in Iraq in the beginning. John McCain will push for more Accountability and Transperancy than what President Bush has imposed, in addition McCain looks to be more open to other points of view and not stick with the decision he initially wants i.e. his VP selection of Sarah Palin over Joe Lieberman. Then there are the people that John McCain is going to surround himself with. There is going to be Mark Salter, not Karl Rove. There is going to be Sarah Palin, not Dick Cheney. Say what you will about being similar on policy; the fact is with a different decision making process, different people advising him, different circumstances, and a different view of the country and the world, John McCain as President will be very different than George Bush. After all, if John McCain representing a third Bush term is such the horrible, crippling thing the Obama and the Democrats are making it out to be, then why is John McCain averaging around 47% in the polls and George Bush is around 32% job approval? Would not conventional wisdom suggest that McCain be getting the same amount of support as George Bush's job approval rating if he truly did represent a Bush third term?

   I find it amazing that a nationally respected (perhaps used to be respected) newspaper like the NY Times prints the story accusing John McCain of an affair with a lobbyist, but yet it was not proven true. Democrats and the mainstream media seized on the story even though there was no concrete evidence. Then there is the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer that has been working the John Edwards affair for months now, yet nobody picked it up, and now Edwards has admitted the affair. Who would have thought we would see the day when the National Enquirer scores a point against The NY Times (unless I missed a day when that already happened).