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| A New National Covenant of the McCain GOP |
| By Rob Graham |
Published
02/13/2008
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Top Stories , Publisher's Notes , Political , Financial , Community
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Unrated
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McCain Needs New National Covenant to Win Hearts of Americans
 | John McCain is headed for defeat in November. He has won over 40 percent of the Republican party, but will likely face a political rock star in Barack Obama who will not lose a single Democratic vote and might even get some Republican cross-overs. A McCain defeat will be devastating for the GOP and a last embarrassing blow to a once proud coalition of religious, financial and military conservatives.
To avert this loss, Senator McCain, with the help of prominent conservatives, needs to make a New National Covenant filled with new ideas and a definition of conservatism.
Despite trying to unify the party, sixty percent of the Republican base has in the past voted against John McCain. He is not the favorite candidate, he is only the last candidate standing. His weak position begs for something more than a good run at the White House (remember Bob Dole!)
Most political pundits have already stated the obvious. McCain must win over the conservatives and the religious right if he is to have any chance. To date, he has shown that he cannot achieve this monumental task.
In the best interest of the GOP, McCain must find an answer before it is too late.
What is the strategy that McCain has in mind? If there is a strategy, it seems more a strategy of the party and less a strategy of Sen. McCain. That significant sucking sound is the black hole being filled by GOP rubbish in space.
Looking at the void, perhaps it is time for the good senator to ignite a comit and fill the void in hopes of uniting the party with a guiding light instead of covering the GOP hopes under a cloud of dark matter.
The best solution is a written commitment from the Senator and his fellow conservatives who claim to support him. The dream team must consist of real conservatives who have real ideas and who are willing to ignore the past of John McCain's "reaching across the isle."
Let's look at a group of true believers who might be able to help the senator create new and different ideas for his New National Covenant.
I purposefully don't say contract, but instead return to the fundamentals of a GOP covenant. A promise that cannot be broken. Something that is even more solid and reliable than a Contract with America.
Of course, the first seat at the table must necessarily be given to Newt Gingrich. He is the author of the Contract with America. Now he needs to create a covenant that the GOP will make with the American people. Senator McCain cannot simply invite Mr. Gingrich. He needs to hang on every word of the professor.
The development of ideas must be so extraordinary that any competing idea in return would shrink in comparison. The GOP is the party of ideas and of the invisible hand.
In that regard, the next seat at the table needs to be filled with one of the few respected Bush associates remaining, to wit, Colin Powell. He is trust by America and he was a true conservative until the party abandoned him in the blaze of glory towards a costly war. General Powell, correctly, withdrew from public life at the right time, but now needs to be called back to pick up the pieces of a failed administration.
The only Bush that will be accepted at the table and justly deserves a seat is the former Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush. He should have been the President of the United States, but George W. edged him out as Governor of Texas. Now Florida is looking a lot more like the rest of America. His dealings with diversity and new political dynamics gives him insight into policies that can change America for the better.
Then there is the economics of Jack Kemp and the business knowledge of Mitt Romney. Perhaps now that Romney has made an endorsement and Mr. Huckleberry continues to run in a hopelessly lost race, the Senator will have more appreciation for the man who was the true party loyalist and not the political opportunist. There are no seats available at the table for Mr. Huckabee and few will notice if he isn't present.
Others who must sit at the table and create ideas for the Senator include Howard Baker, William Weld, John Bolton, Tom DeLay, Alan Keyes and Rudy Guiliani.
It is an all-star cast, but they all must come. Each and every person must sign on the covenant and then John McCain needs to sign on it in the middle.
It would outline the ideals of a new conservitism and make pledges that would be kept. It should have enough specifics to bind the Senator to a course of conduct and make the team of conservatives who support him accountable for the support they have shown.
The New National Covenant must not be too lengthy, but needs to address the priorities of conservatives going forward. Not necessarily on social values, which it can mention in passing, but rather on the matters impacting the United States today.
The GOP nominee will not win the White House running on a social policy of overturning Roe v. Wade, or fighting for a Traditional Marriage Amendment. Those issues are losers going into the next election. If the GOP doesn't win the election, then those issues are likely lost anyway.
The issues are, in order of importance, the economy, energy costs, immigration control, the War in Iraq, National Security, the weak dollar and the deficit. It is a confusing soup of conflict, but strong new ideas need to be put into writing to put Congress and the nation back on the right track.
Barak Obama will say "We Need Change." In response, Senator McCain needs to say, "We Need a Covenant with America to Put Us Back on Track."
The first priority is the Economy and the National Deficit. It is an issue that is a sleeping giant and Americans trust Republicans to deal with the economy and to return to a balanced budget. That is the pledge. The details and supporting ideas need to be unique and inspiring.
Immigration can actually help with the Economy and the National Deficit. For too many years illegal immigrants have helped to break the welfare and healthcare system. We should take a problem and make it into an opportunity. Those wanting to work in the United States will receive guest worker cards. In exchange, they should pay higher taxes and not be able to accumulate social security benefits. Instead, those funds should help reduce the deficit and help make the social security system solvent. The workers would be able to apply for permanent citizenship after five years of working and having contributed $15,000 towards social security -- which is a non-refundable, non-benefit contribution. Only after five years would they be able to start earning towards retirement benefits.
Energy and Gas Costs. It is time we accept that the War in Iraq and our problems with National Security and continued middle east conflict is based upon our energy needs. Whether true or not, Americans don't believe the gas companies are being truthful about developing new sources of energy and they don't believe that the motives for entering the Iraq War are pure as the driven snow.
It is time we declare war on energy. With the money we have spent on the Iraq War, we could have set up a national system of alternative and renewable energy devices and more than half of the United States would now be enjoying free electricity. Instead we buy more bullets and push off making solar arrays.
We take the wind out of the sails of radical Islamists by reducing our footprints in the sand and our dependence on oil. If we don't use oil, they have no control over us and no complaint over our influence. Radicals then become lone voices in the wilderness and they have no one to fight against.
It is time we say goodbye to the oil companies and hello to renewable sources of energy. We have to start somewhere and using existing technology house by house, block by block, city by city, county by county and state by state, we can revitalize our industrial base and put a panic through the hearts of those in the middle east who take our American money to buy bullets to kill our American soldiers. Enough is enough.
Revolutionary ideas require a covenant in order to follow through with the ideas. Millions will be spent on defeating the initiatives, so without a covenant, nothing will happen and Americans will not trust that it will be done.
Make the old man, John McCain, the president who flipped the finger to the Saudis, Kuwaitis, and even President Chavez -- our sworn enemy. What does McCain care about a political future? With his age he could create an image of change that would thrust panic in the oil markets -- which on speculation alone would bring prices tumbling down and ultimately create greater cash flow for the American people. In turn, those dollars would not go towards buying oil, but rather would go towards reducing the deficit. In turn, the lower deficit would help the U.S. Dollar return to its spot as the top currency.
If we are going to spend in deficit for awhile, then let us spend to make places throughout America energy independent. We would start with the places where renewables are obvious such as Nevada and Arizona where the sun shines all the time and solar power could dominate. Geo-thermal areas should immediately convert over and windy fields should have wind turbines installed. A war on energy would mean putting our factories back online making the infrastructure necessary to create energy independence.
These concepts can be conservative ideals as long as they are interconnected to the larger economic and security picture. It would also steal some of the show from Democrats who have had a chance to save the world as the majority in Congress, but have done nothing on energy -- advantage McCain.
So Senator. It is time for us to address real conservative issues in an entirely different fashion. First the ideas, then the covenant, the win in November and then the implementation to put Republicans back on track for good.
Barak Obama will be short on ideas and experience. With a New National Covenant, we can overcome the American doubt over the GOP. It is this way -- or a really bad election day in November.
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