I found this little list in my room which I got a few years ago when it was distributed by the RNC. Let’s run down the list and see what remains true for the party and where the party has strayed from its conservative roots:

I AM A REPUBLICAN BECAUSE

I believe the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.

I believe in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.

I believe free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.

I believe government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.

I believe the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least.

I believe the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.

I believe Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideasto meet the challenges of changing times.

Finally, I believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.

Right off the bat, let’s all collectively laugh at the last statement. Yeah. Right. With a Republican Congress and White House federal spending has skyrocketed, entitlement programs are in serious fiscal trouble, we have seen the growth of Big Government via Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, etc. The Republican Party is probably the worst vehicle to translate these ideals at this time. At least the Democrats will be honest in their contempt for smaller government, lower taxes, and free trade.

1. This Party honors the individual? Then why does it consistently pass legislation making the government more and more involved in the individual’s life? Last time I checked the individual can decide for himself how to pay for medication and healthcare.
2. The White House has shown favor for affirmative action policies.
3. Free enterprise… that’s a joke. See the $500 million subsidy to Northrup Grumman attached to the emergency spending bill last week, see the many other earmarks to private companies, see some Republicans’ refusal to allow Social Security to be more free-market based. I can go on and on. Oh, don’t forget Arlen Specter’s windfall profits tax. Give me a break.
4. I’ll give the GOP credit for tax cuts, but that credit is torn to shreds by the uncontrolled spending binge this Congress has engaged in. Why won’t the RSC budget proposal get more attention? Why must we add billions of wasteful pork to an emergency spending bill? The GOP fails this one.
5. “The best government is that which governs least.” McCain-Feingold, 527 legislation, ridiculous tax code, refusal to allow oil companies do what they do best: drill for and refine oil.
6. Is this a joke? The President Pro Tempore, Ted Stevens (R-AK), the highest ranking Republican in the Senate, shows unending contempt for “the people” in his neverending quest to doll out our tax dollars to pet projects at home. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t forget immigration- because apparently the politicians know better than the majority of Americans who don’t agree with amnesty for illegal aliens. But I forgot, politicians feel that they are above the law so they don’t see the problem with other law-breakers.
7. Nuclear Power? Sorry, too “risky.” Offshore drilling? Sorry, too “environmentally damaging.” Build some more gosh-darn refineries which haven’t been built in 30 years? Nothing but silence from the DC crowd.
8. You have got to be kidding me.

So, can the GOP be saved? Sure does look bleak to me.

You got it, Arnold. The Federal government has sat back for decades when they knew all too well that we had hundreds of thousands of people invading our country from Mexico. It was only a matter of time before it would all come crashing down. The question is will our Republican government do the bidding of the citizens of America or the illegal invaders demanding they be given rights they are not entitled to?

“I think that all of this comes down to one thing: The federal government has failed the people of America in a terrible way, in a disastrous way, when it comes to this immigration situation.”

Schwarzenegger, who emigrated from Europe in 1968, called for better ways to police U.S. borders.

He chided federal policy-makers for letting the border problem “hang out there for 20 years and not do anything about it, when they knew this is a problem.”

The Senate ignored President Bush’s veto threat yesterday and easily passed a $109 billion emergency spending bill for war and hurricane recovery costs that also brimmed with favors for farmers, the fishing industry, and the states of Hawaii and Rhode Island.

The two-week debate that preceded yesterday’s 77 to 21 final vote was marked by an election-year surge in targeted spending on behalf of constituents and special interests, despite repeated warnings by fiscal conservatives about a swollen budget deficit.

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), in a statement, called on his colleagues to “restore fiscal discipline to the Congress.” He voted for the war spending bill and favors keeping about $4 billion in agricultural aid but wants cuts elsewhere.

The Senate added money to rebuild a highway in Hawaii; protect riverbanks in California; upgrade a hurricane barrier in Providence, R.I.; and compensate New England shell fishermen for their losses from a red tide outbreak. The Senate also took steps to make farming less risky by offering compensation for virtually any scourge, including drought, flood, wildfires and pestilence.

As usual the Senate proves itself to be a worthless body of greed and self interest. I didn’t realize that the Constitution gave them the provision to give money to compensate the seafood industry when they have a bad season. They apparently are also not that concerned about Bush’s threat to veto the bill, but then again, when I heard Bush threaten to veto I pretty much laughed it off myself. The guy has never vetoed anything in his life so why should the Senate take it seriously?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre.

Six months out, the intensity of opposition to Bush and Congress has risen sharply, along with the percentage of Americans who believe the nation is on the wrong track.

The AP-Ipsos poll also suggests that Democratic voters are far more motivated than Republicans. Elections in the middle of a president’s term traditionally favor the party whose core supporters are the most energized.

I don’t know why it took the media so long to figure this out. It’s as if this is a surprise to them. It was the conservative block of the GOP that went out and busted our butts to get Dubya reelected and he’s done little to return the favor. In fact, other than appointing two good judges to the Supreme Court, and even in that instance the second judge only came after conservatives took Bush to the woodshed over it, I can’t think of anything worthwhile he has done in his second term. He promised us private Social Security accounts and we got nothing. He promised to reform the tax code and we’ve gotten nothing. We’ve got 11 million illegal aliens invading our country and he wants to give them a path to citizenship.

When the Democrats pick up seats in November, and they will, it won’t be because they won. It will be because the Republicans lost.