The Republican National Committee recently ran a contest asking people to submit their videos answering the question, "Why am I a Republican in 2008". The top five videos were to air at the National Convention. I thought they'd be great inspiration for this web site and so I sought them out.

It may or may not surprise you that these top five videos were not to be found.  Instead I ran across only nine total submissions, not that there aren't more, but they're certainly not easy to find.  Of the nine, nothing really stood out, but at least the spirit was there and that's what we all must bring to the upcoming election.

The question, "Why am I a Republican in 2008", shouldn't have had a date qualifier.  We can't date timeless ideals like liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That second part comes from a government that is not about insatiable intervention in private affairs.   Republicans don't hate government.  We just don't see more government as the answer. (Remember "The Great Society"?) And how will we compete in the global economy with government as a more assertive and costly partner?

Democrats love policies and programs and given the chance, they'll grow them.  By contrast, Republicans favor free enterprise and personal initiative, that uniquely American system that has no equal in all the world. We must hold to our ideals, notwithstanding that our team hasn't delivered.  We can't allow the Democrats to gain control of the Senate and drag us back to the failed policies of the 1970s.

It's up to Republican Moderates to lift the GOP banner and reaffirm the political ideals of Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Moderates are pragmatic and business-like.  We reject the politics that intrude on personal and faith beliefs, that divide neighbors and make it impossible to govern ourselves.  We're about results and so we aim for consensus and the old art of politics - compromise. We do not believe that this is capitulation nor do we believe that it's treason to cross the aisle, such as when we defied social conservatives on stem cell research.

Moderates have been referred to in the media as "centrists", "progressives" and "Rockefeller Republicans".  Learn about us, then join our cause because we're not giving up on the GOP. As a Bostonian, I think about the Red Sox.  They broke our hearts for decades, yet we never abandoned them, never gave up - and always believed, because we like what they represent. And look at us now!

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