

LETTER: GOP wastes chance for landslide vote

8:00 PM, Mar. 19, 2014  |  Comments
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1994 on a political level was an exciting time for me.

I was fed up with the Democratic Party because of their leftward tilt and corruption.

In my mind the time was long past due for a change.

The Democrats had for the most part controlled Congress since the 1950s.

Republicans Fred Thompson and Bill Frist were running for the Senate, and Steve Gill was running against incumbent Bart Gordon here in the 4th District of Tennessee.

For the first time in my life I actively supported political candidates for office, and I was guardedly calling myself a Republican.

I attended meetings, campaign rally\ies, placed yard signs, handed out bumper stickers and campaign buttons and spent many hours passing out campaign literature for all three Republican candidates, talking to strangers and shaking many hands.

Two out of three of my candidates won on election night.

Steve Gill came very close to winning, and I was very disappointed that he lost, but nationwide the Republicans won a landslide in both houses of historical proportions.

I was ecstatic, and for the first time I felt that I played a small but very important role in that victory.

I felt I was part of a larger grassroots effort.

There were similarities and differences between then and now.

The similarities are that the American people were angry over the leftward tilt of the Clinton administration. He had reneged on a middle class tax cut and people were angry over the attempt to pass Hillarycare, among other things, which would have been as much of a fiasco as Obamacare has been.

The difference is that unlike now the Republicans had some leadership and were united in purpose.

Newt Gingrich and others had presented the American voter with a clear choice called the "Contract With America."

It was a list of reforms which was focused on low taxes, spending cuts, term limits and a line-item veto just to name a few.

Today the Republicans have no leadership and are squandering a golden opportunity to win an even bigger landslide in 2014. I have absolutely no desire to be a part of a losing effort to support a party that has a long history of betrayal and cowardice.

According to polls I have seen, the Democrats are way behind in every area.

People are furious over Obamacare.

In 1994 the Republicans wisely united with the conservatives, especially the religious right. There was no tea party then. Today the establishment Republicans are, to their detriment, avoiding the tea party like the plague.

The Republicans won the Independent vote in the 2012 presidential race but lost their base. That is why Obama won a second term.

Conservatives like me are the base of the Republican Party. I am not a Republican, but I, like many other people, vote Republican only because our options are limited. I will stay home rather than vote again for a Democrat in sheep's clothing like Lamar Alexander.

Unless the establishment Republicans unite with their base, which is the tea party and religious right they will not have a dog's chance in hell of winning in 2014.

The Republican's need to learn a valuable lesson from the Democrats. Nobody is better than they are at getting their base out to vote on election day.

We have the advantage over them because there are more conservatives than liberals in this country.

It doesn't matter because they have leadership and we don't.

Quite frankly the Republicans have done nothing to earn my vote or that of the millions of us who are simply looking for strong leadership and courage.

Greg Segroves

Diane Street


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