Creating a Powerful GOP

A group of well-known evangelical leaders is launching a new voter initiative to increase turnout among Christian voters in next year’s mid-term elections. The American Renewal Project, an arm of the conservative American Family Association, is creating “Pastors and Pews,” to offer policy briefings to church leaders and their congregations in the hope of encouraging Christians to become more politically active, following years of declining turnout among voters of faith. The group told the Christian Broadcasting Network that the first event will be in May in Des Moines, Iowa. As an indication of their serious intent, they've invited three possible Republican 2016 presidential contenders to address them : Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Alex Conant, a spokesman for Rubio confirmed that the Florida Senator received the invitation, but said he “will not be able to attend.” Spokesmen for Paul and Jindal have not commented. The new initiative hopes to unite pastors over crucial issues facing the church and society, according to a spokesman who said, “If the key to maintaining sustainable freedom is righteousness—the same virtue that produced freedom—what is the greatest threat to freedom? Unrighteousness....America has left God.” The group’s efforts come after former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed led an effort to increase voter turnout among faith voters during the 2012 election. His group, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said evangelical voters made up 27% of the voting electorate, much better than the 2008 election turnout, but still not enough to help Republican Mitt Romney win the White House. ~~~~~ Dear readers, this announcement us just the beginning of a larger relational confrontation between the Republican Party and voters of faith, as well as other groups, who tend to support the GOP. Religious groups ought to actively support their principles and candidates who agree with them, just as other groups of GOP voters should be active in their support of candidates who espouse their principles. But no group inside the GOP, or any other political party, should expect 100% adherence to all their principles from any candidate or party. If for example, this new group wants to play a part in the Republican Party, and agrees to support GOP political principles -- personal liberty, political and religious freedom, small government, free markets -- the group would be warmly received. But every voter group, whether based upon faith or upon other guiding principles, should understand that political parties are not monolithic structures, but rather coalitions of varied groups holding many different sets of principles. It is the duty and the goal of every successful political party to forge from these multiple principles an over-arching set of political principles that welcomes and upholds all the sub-sets. No group is the sole constitutuency in the GOP. This truth applies to every group that wants to be an active part of the Party. It is the duty of the Republican Party to have this discussion with all its constituent groups and then find ways to agree and assimilate as much of each group's principles as possible. It is the duty of each constituent group to engage in this discussion with the GOP and help forge the great coalition. Because when we consider the fundamental bases upon which the Republican Party was founded by Abraham Lincoln and his colleagues, we must come to the conclusion that no other party has ever so fully met the political, social and religious aspirations of the American people. The GOP represents the best, the only, chance to put these ideals and principles back into our nation's agenda. Individual liberty, political and religious freedom, small government and free markets are not dead and beyond reach, but their recovery will require the best of each of us - individually and as groups. It is these cherished political principles put into practice through GOP officeholders that will guarantee the continued existence of the highest human principles ever put into a political framework...America.