College Republicans will defend the great republic

By: T. Elliot Gaiser

Posted: 2/11/10

Feb. 6, the College Republicans held a convention to adopt amendments to the club's constitution and elect new officers. The amendments were adopted with a super-majority. All of our new officers were elected with solid majorities, and we're completely ready to start impacting contemporary politics.

Abe Lincoln, the GOP's first president, once said, "If we can first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we can then better judge what to do, and how to do it." After the broad defeat of Republicans in the 2008 elections, philosophical differences that had once only been cracks in the coalition built by Ronald Reagen rapidly grew to fissures. The cracks were evident in the 2008 primaries. Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and John McCain each represented a different wing of that coalition.

No one candidate represented all the elements of the coalition, and when McCain won, he failed to reunite the party. Because it presented no coherent ideal, the message of the campaign was roughly "we are experienced mavericks" and "we are against what they are for." Conservatives and independents deserted the GOP in droves.

The last time a party was so fractured, it ceased to be. The Whig party imploded, and with the aid of Hillsdale College professors, the Republican party rose to replace it. The new party rose on the reassertion of a forgotten philosophy: liberty and equality under law. It aimed these twin cannons at the spread of slavery. The party argued from the definition of mankind. And the party won.

It was a question of the definition of humanity. Once again, we are debating human nature. What can "change" our lives? What is it we "believe" in? What gives us "hope"?
One party claimed it had the answer: Barack Obama, and his change - "spreading the wealth" by nationalizing our banks, auto-industry, financial system and health care; increasing the budget by trillions as unemployment hovers near 10 percent. All this, to create a more compassionate, more scientific state. The nature of man, they claim, is best served by government that coddles every need. Man, guiding and guided by the supreme state, is to be trusted, loved, worshiped - because it is men who will give mankind faith, hope and public charity. Because the American people were never given a viable alternative to this message, our republic drifts further toward despotism.

But what can a club of students at a small liberal arts college do about this?
First, we can concentrate on rebuilding our club's active membership. We need a cohesive body that incorporates as many individual talents as possible to truly impact the world for our ideas. And we need to prove to our members that investing time in the College Republicans has a high return, real-world impact.

Second, we can dedicate our efforts to electing Republican candidates all across the country, but especially right here in Michigan in 2010. The congressional district that encompasses Hillsdale is currently held by vulnerable democrat Mark Schauer - a prime opportunity on the way to restoring GOP control of the House. The open race for the Michigan governorship is tilting toward a Republican victory, which could help ensure redistricting in 2011 doesn't gerrymander liberals into another decade of control. Never doubt that a dedicated effort by even a few student volunteers could help make the difference in these crucial elections.

Third, we can devote our actions to the broader context of leading our party, starting with this club, in reasserting the forgotten self-evident truth that man is first a created being, endowed with both reason and passion, and that our political laws ought to be based on the objective, enduring "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."

I know I will work so that starting on this campus, being a Republican actually means defending this great republic's ideals, upholding limited representative constitutionalism, and leading the charge for self-government under law. I hope you will join us in this effort.