I have been a Republican my entire life.

When I was a kid, I was Republican because Mommy and Daddy were. I didn’t know what the heck that meant, but my dad was the toughest dad anywhere and my mom was smarter than any other mom anywhere, so they couldn’t be wrong.

I’m still a Republican today – and steadfastly so – because I believe so strongly in the values of true conservatism. I proudly display my GOP elephant even on my AOL Instant Messenger IMs. I’ve got Republican t-shirts and even a trucker hat to wear it proud around election season. When I was in high school and through my first year of college, I was a little more moderate. But the older I get, the more staunchly conservative I become. Usually this happens when someone is forced to grow up and start taking responsibility for themselves rather than live off of someone – their parents, the government, etc.

But the Grand Old Party that I’ve believed so strongly in has disappeared. We suffered humiliating defeats last November. Many of our representatives in Congress have abandoned their conservative roots and started pandering to the extremist liberals that call themselves Democrats (the Democratic Party which gave us good men like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy no longer exists -- today’s Democratic Party is a whole other animal) who are sitting in the majority now. Most Republicans leaders have become soft on the issues and have seemingly abandoned what the party once stood for.

The presidential race looks dim because we have only one viable candidate who can pull us out of this mess that is our government (and that candidate is Duncan Hunter), yet he gets almost no credit in the media even though he’s been getting stronger and stronger in the polls. No, instead we’ve got RINOs (Republicans In Name Only)like John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. They get lauded in the media as “moderate” or as “mavericks”. They’re really just Democrats who want to call themselves Republicans. Both of them are anti-gun, pro-choice, soft on terrorism, pro-gay marriage… well, name something a conservative will stand for and they’ll be against it. McCain is also co-sponsor of this hideous McCain-Feingold Act which serves only to cut back our civil liberties. They pander to liberals rather than standing with their base.

I can’t help but keep thinking that it’s sad when I can only think of one real Reagan Republican in the GOP today – and that, again, is Duncan Hunter.

That’s one thing liberals have all over us: they usually don’t disrespect their base (unless, of course, its election season and they are in middle America, in which case they’ll claim to be Christians who like guns, voted for the war, and invented the internet). They lie, lie, lie during election season – almost all the Democrats who were voted in last November had adopted “moderate”, more conservative positions – and now that they are in office, they quickly shed that moderate image and get down to business.

Republicans in office, on the other hand, are practically grabbing their ankles. I had hoped that the GOP would understand that they were voted out of office in November for that very reason. The Democrats were not being voted in; the Republicans were being voted out. We are not being well represented, so they were voted out. This was a message to our party.

I don’t think they got the message.

I keep wishing we could have Reagan here right now. We – the GOP and this country – need him now.

John Hawkins of RightWingNews published a story yesterday concerning Reagan’s 1975 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after the GOP’s humiliating losses in 1974. As John said, “Back then, like today, Republicans were struggling to decide which way to go. Well, Ronald Reagan answered that question at CPAC with a speech that's every bit as relevant today as it was back then. If you want to know what the GOP should be doing today, look at these timeless excerpts from Reagan's speech and you'll know exactly what the Party should be doing.”

He couldn’t be more correct. I recommend you visit RightWingNews to read the larger excerpt, but here is my favorite passage from a speech from one of the greatest Americans in history during a time when the GOP was struggling:

Now, it is possible we have been persuasive to a greater degree than we had ever realized. Few, if any, Democratic party candidates in the last election ran as liberals. Listening to them I had the eerie feeling we were hearing reruns of Goldwater speeches. I even thought I heard a few of my own.

Bureaucracy was assailed and fiscal responsibility hailed. Even George McGovern donned sackcloth and ashes and did penance for the good people of South Dakota.

But let’s not be so naive as to think we are witnessing a mass conversion to the principles of conservatism. Once sworn into office, the victors reverted to type. In their view, apparently, the ends justified the means.

...Can we live with ourselves if we, as a nation, betray our friends and ignore our pledged word? And, if we do, who would ever trust us again? To consider committing such an act so contrary to our deepest ideals is symptomatic of the erosion of standards and values. And this adds to our discontent.

We did not seek world leadership; it was thrust upon us. It has been our destiny almost from the first moment this land was settled. If we fail to keep our rendezvous with destiny or, as John Winthrop said in 1630, “Deal falsely with our God,” we shall be made “a story and byword throughout the world.”

Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness.

In this speech, Reagan spoke of sticking to our true values and not being afraid to show our bold colors (instead of what he called “pastels”). It’s time for Republicans in office to stop being ambivalent on the issues and stop pandering to liberals. Reagan also noted that a political party cannot be all things to all people, and maybe that’s our biggest problem right now. We also must stop taking the incessant attacks from the left and start fighting back. We must stand up and reclaim the Grand Old Party and everything she stands for. There is no reason not to be proud in our beliefs, values, and morals. After all, after the 2004 presidential election, polls showed that values and morals were of highest importance to Americans when it came to choosing who their next President would be. They [Republicans in office] must stop running from who we are as Republicans, as conservatives.

If our Republican politicians don’t start to stand up for what we believe in, the results could be disastrous.

As always, I welcome your thoughts.