RIPON FORUM Looks at the Mid-Terms with profile of SC Rep.-elect Tim Scott, & Dick Lugar, J.C. Watts and the Tea Party’s Amy Kremer answering the question many in the GOP are asking: “What do we do now?”
Latest edition also features Susan Collins discussing the issues that unite Republicans, Christine Todd Whitman explaining why both parties need to work together in a partisan world, and Jay Hein touting the record of job creation in the Hoosier State
WASHINGTON, DC – After beginning the year with an edition that looked at “The New Horizon” facing the Republican Party, THE RIPON FORUM ends the year with an edition that looks at the mid-term elections and the fact that the GOP – in the wake of their overwhelmingly victory on November 2nd – is now facing “A New Day.”
Leading the coverage is a profile of Representative-elect Tim Scott of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, who, among other things, discusses the reasons he ran for Congress, his legislative priorities once he takes office, and what he plans to do if and when he ever gets a day off. (hint: it involves getting some exercise and taking his mother to dinner.)
The Post-election Edition of the FORUM also attempts to answer a question that many Republicans are asking in the wake of the party regaining control of the House — “What do we do now?” To help answer this question, the centrist Republican journal has tapped a diverse roster of political leaders and grassroots activists to write essays sharing their views on the next step for the GOP and what the Republican agenda should be in 2011.
Those authoring essays include Indiana Senator Dick Lugar, who writes that Republicans would be “mistaken” to take a position of “simple, unadorned opposition” in the coming legislative year. Instead, Lugar argues, “Objective number one must be to build public optimism that our economy is going to grow much stronger, and that this growth will bring about more confidence to invest in new products and services that will create more jobs, and enhance our country’s ability to compete with economies of other countries around the globe.”
Also writing an essay is Amy Kremer, the Chairman of the Tea Party Express, who declares in her piece that: “We the People are tired of party politics and are focused on the issues.” She also has warning for the GOP: “We expect the Republicans to be focused on the People’s agenda, not the party’s agenda. If the Republicans on Capitol Hill actually listen to the People and focus on the issues, we can have a productive working relationship over the next year. If, instead, the Republicans continue to play party politics and focus on self-serving interests, they will be the first targets for the Tea Party movement in 2012.”
In addition to Lugar and Kremer, other authors answering the question of “What do we do now” include: Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts, and Christine Matthews, a Republican pollster whose clients include Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
The Post-election Edition of the FORUM also examines the issues that unite the Republican Party with Maine Senator Susan Collins, and features an op-ed by former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman that looks at the rise of extremism in Washington, the growth of centrism across the country, and the importance of “Working Together in a Partisan World.”
To the extent that Republicans will need ideas as it attempts to hold and expand its new majority, the FORUM also offers a number of them in its latest edition as well, including: the Urban Institute’s Gene Steuerle’s prescription for budgetary reform; the Sagamore Institute’s Jay Hein’s explanation of why Indiana leads the Nation in job growth; and former SBA head Sandy Baruah discussing his new job as CEO of the Detroit Chamber of Commerce and why the Motor City — and the State of Michigan — are critical to our Nation’s economic future.
With the 2010 election behind us, the FORUM also examines the election of 2012 with author and Villanova political science professor Lara Brown, who looks at — and handicaps — the prospective candidates for President on the Republican side. And, as the President’s debt commission prepares to issue its report, former Hank Paulson speechwriter Stacy Carlson discusses what the commission might recommend and how the group’s recommendations could impact the legislative agenda on Capitol Hill next year.
Finally, in its News & Events section, the FORUM includes coverage of a briefing The Ripon Society held two days after the election that looked at the results of the mid-terms and featured some of the leading political minds in the GOP.
THE RIPON FORUM is published by The Ripon Society in Washington, DC. Founded in 1962, The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 — Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s past success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.