more lessons from "the oldest and wisest"

http://www.conservative.org/pressroom/reagan/reagan1975.asp

Wisdom has been defined as the understanding of what is true, right or lasting. There is no greater example of true wisdom in the modern political era than Ronald Wilson Reagan. The link found above will take you to a transcript of the speech Reagan made on March 1, 1975 to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The previous November had been just as disastrous to the Republicans as the 2006 election. The GOP lost 48 seats in the House and 4 seats in the Senate that year, due in large part to the Watergate scandal. Republicans were doing a lot of soul searching in the wake of the well-deserved whuppin' they received at the hands of the Democrats, and Reagan, as usual, saw very clearly what the solutions were. This speech should be required reading for all Republican politicians. I guarantee Mike Pence has read it. The modern GOP is about to endure a civil war, and the outcome of that war will determine who the winners of the 2008 election will be. If the more liberal Republicans win, the Republicans who believe in Bush's "compassionate conservative" drivel, then the Democrats will continue to win elections. If the Mike Pence/John Shadegg/Mitch McConnell conservative Republicans win the war, then this "new Democrat era" will be very short-lived indeed. This battle for the heart and soul of the GOP will be the most important battle we face over the next two years. If conservatives lose this battle, then we will have to resign ourselves to the fact that the GOP is a lost cause and third-party options will have to be explored. Truthfully, I don't think that will happen. Conservatism has truth on its side, and the truth always, eventually, wins.