Moving The Right Forward

My last few posts have dealt with some turmoil on the right. It might come as a shock to most, but the Republican Party is in a sort of soul searching mode. Their big question is how to move forward after the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush. This has led many to come up with new ideas, new ways to market their brand and even newer ways of trying to get the public not to mention President Bush while talking and thinking about who to vote for this year. It's in their best interest to make John McCain, and the GOP, appear as if it has nothing to do with the Bush legacy.

Last week I highlighted Victor Hanson and his list at what Republicans should do if they want to succeed in the future, essentially don't do what George Bush did. Today I found a new website about to be opened by some of the great young minds on the right. They're calling it The Next Right. It looks promising and I don't want to judge a book by its cover. I think it would be nice to have a right wing information place that doesn't consist of Rush Limbaugh, Drudge and Fox News. I hope Patrick Ruffini & Co. don't fall into the same trap that has succumbed so many right wing thinkers: right is right is always right.

Put simply, the party, and in many cases, the movement, has lost its moorings. Earmarks exploded ten-fold, and it wasn’t under a Democratic Congress. In this winter’s primary, we saw the once mighty fiscal-social-national conservative coalition turned in on itself, with economic conservatives pitted against social conservatives. And too many of the “experts” in the Presidential campaigns this cycle failed to modernize the way the party does business, clinging to the old top-down rostrums of direct mail and fundraising-by-cocktail-party in an increasingly networked and crowdsourced world.

I can only wish that Ruffini opens his site up to comments. It's so frustrating that many of the top right wing sites don't allow comments. If they are truly wanting to open the Party up to new ideas and new ways to progress move forward, taking a few comments from some outsiders is the best way to do it. Coming to terms with the 21st century and moving away from neoconservativism would be a huge plus too.