Compare Our Plan for the HCRP with Reagan’s Plan for a “New Republican Party”

As you can see on the revised menu on the right side of our home page, we now have posted excerpts from a speech Ronald Reagan gave in early 1977. The speech was one of a series of speeches he gave that year in which he outlined his vision for what he called the New Republican Party, in which social conservatives would join with economic conservatives and traditional Republicans to create a majority party. The plan focused on uniting and expanding the party into the middle class and minority communities based on shared principles, and envisioned a party of inclusion not exclusion.

Many people have asked me to explain the vision behind the plan we have proposed for the HCRP. It’s not new or revolutionary. Instead, it is grounded in this vision Ronald Reagan (along with Jack Kemp and others) first championed a generation ago.

Lots of people want to wear Reagan’s mantle, bask in the glow of his rhetoric, and claim to be Reaganesque in their approach to politics. Unfortunately, few people really remember all that he stood for, and all that he hoped to accomplish.

So, please take time to visit the posting of Reagan’s speech and read those excerpts. Once you do, I hope you will see the similarities between the times he faced and the plan he proposed, and the times we now face and the plan we now propose. In summary, what we want to accomplish is nothing short of finally implementing Reagan’s vision for a New Republican Party—and starting that process here in Harris County.