A former presidential writer for George W. Bush and son of former
U.S. Congressman Jim Ryun, Ned Ryun is currently the head of American
Majority (www.americanmajority.org), a national organization committed to identifying and
training liberty‐minded leaders. Ned was the co‐founder and former director of the Generation Joshua
program. Ned earned degrees in English and History from the University of Kansas and has co‐authored
Heroes Among Us and The Courage to Run with his father and
his twin brother, Drew. Ned and his wife, Becca, reside in Northern
Virginia with their sons, Nathaniel and James. The views expressed on this blog are solely those held by Ned Ryun and do not necessarily represent the views of his current or previous employers.
Archive for April, 2009
04 30th, 2009
Arthur Brooks of AEI wrote a fantastic piece in the Wall Street Journal today discussing ethical populism. That’s the name for the messaging I was talking about a few days ago. Rasmussen Reports had a poll showing 70% of Americans believe big business and big government are working together against the interests of most Americans. I think conservative candidates next year should all run and message the idea of ethical populism.
04 30th, 2009
That headline is a little eerrie for me. The president of the United States announces a merger of what was formerly a private corporation. I keep on getting the feeling that Atlas Shrugged is being played out in real life.
I just wanted to take this moment, in the wake of Arlen Specter’s going home to his true party, to thank W., Karl, and Rick for bailing Arlen out in 2004 so that Arlen could continue to promote and advance true Republican, I mean Democrat, ideals. Well done. Glad you did it? Pat Toomey had Specter on the ropes in the 2004 primary. I was there the last 4-5 days helping out with GOTV. All the momentum was with Toomey. Then W. and Rick stepped in to persuade conservative voters that it was a mistake to vote for Toomey because he would lose in the general. So they helped peel off enough conservative voters from Toomey to get Specter across the line first, and it was tight. If it weren’t for W. and Rick bailing out Specter, Toomey would have won. When I heard the news yesterday, I couldn’t help but laugh. But what I found amusing was some of the hand-wringing by conservatives like Ramesh Ponnuru. My thoughts on reading that post were, Seriously, Ramesh, grow a pair. What do Republicans really lose by Specter bailing on them? At least there is no confusion as to where he really stands now. I do think this is going to be an interesting race next year. People are assuming that Specter will have a cake-walk in the Democrat primary. I think Jon Henke at The Next Right made a good point yesterday: the Democrat primary next year could be a battle between the progressive left and the Democrat establishment in PA. That would be fun to watch.
04 27th, 2009
I was somewhat amused by the poll put out today by Public Opinion Strategies that said the GOP message next year should be: Run to prevent Democrats from having unchecked power in Washington. For some reason that leaves me a bit empty. . . I’m thinking Rasmussen is on to something in regards to messaging. Maybe a conservative, free market populism, if that can actually be a term. Rasmussen’s recent poll showed that 70% of Americans “believe that big business and big government generally work together against the interests of investors and consumers.” I actually agree with that. I don’t think big business wants competititon. They want more regulation to supress smaller businesses from competing with them, and those tools for suppression are provided to them by big government. I’m for less government regulation, therefore less government, and the freeing up of the real engine of our economy: small business.
04 16th, 2009
I spoke at several tea parties yesterday. Pretty interesting. My challenge to the people was, This is nice. But what comes next? What are you going to do tomorrow? Next month? Next year? So I told them to check out www.aftertheteaparty.com. It was also interesting to witness these organic, total grassroots events. The left was trying to accuse the tea parties of being astro-turfed, meaning they weren’t real grassroots, but manipulated and funded in a concerted, organized fashion. The lefties should have come to witness the parties. These parties were about everyday, true grassroots people pulling together events, many for the first time, and pulling them off successfully.
04 7th, 2009
I’ve read Kathleen Parker’s articles before and thought she was wrong before and not quite getting it. Her recent article, Christians at the Gate, furthers my concerns about her take on things. But she does highlight what I think has been the problem with the so called “Christian Right” and the older generation of leaders: it’s not about lobbying or grassroots. It’s about a political machine outside the party structure, something that has real political teeth, about systematically finding candidates and running them for office at all levels. You can make the argument that the Moral Majority or the Christian Coalition were an attempt at that, but putting “Moral” or “Christian” in your name immediatly causes problems with public perception. And the evangelical community has to realize that politics is not the art of perfection; it’s the art of the possible. But I do laugh whenever you have the articles every now and then that ask the question, Should Christians be involved in politics? I’m always amused by the people that say they shouldn’t be, and who then scream bloody murder when legislation passes that they disagree with. It’s cause and effect: if you’re not engaged, you’ll get leadership you don’t like. Someone asked me, Well, Christians have been involved for so long, and nothing positive has really happened. I’ve seen polls that have shown that actually only 1 in 4 evangelicals of voting age is actually politically involved and voting. So they answer would be, Some Christians have been involved, but not that many. I think part of the real problem with engagement in the evangelical community is that many view politics as a necessary evil, whereas the left in American views politics as something of their religion; politics is the means by which the left will redeem man and fix all the world’s evils. More on all this later.
04 3rd, 2009
Coburn’s piece for yesterday’s Real Clear Politics was superb. I highlight this one section because I think it is the truth of the issue we face as a nation:
“I believe President Obama has proposed the most significant shift toward collectivism and away from capitalism in the history of our republic. I believe his budget aspires to not merely promote economic recovery but to lay the groundwork for sweeping expansions of government authority in areas like health care, energy and even daily commerce. If handled poorly, I’m concerned this budget could turn our government into the world’s largest health care provider, mortgage bank or car dealership, among other things.”
People ask me what kind of candidates or future candidates I look for at all levels of government. I tell them Tom Coburns. Our country needs more men and women in political leadership who put their country first, and their political careers second.
