A third way?

After the 2012 election in which President Obama triumphed, Republicans lost one opportunity after another in the Senate, and lost eight seats in the House, it would be easy to get despondent about the future of the GOP and the nation.  After all, conservative activists gave it all they had with Tea Party energy, verve and creativity at work.



And there have been two models at work in the GOP for decades that compete for the hearts and minds of GOP voters, the conservative coalition that brought Reagan to victory, and the moderate Rockefeller wing of the party.

But COAST posits that there may be a third way to build winning coalitions in this state and nation.  And, if so, there is still a chance to make this great experiment that is the USA work, politically, fiscally and economically.


It requires a new way of thinking than simply assembling the hardest-line of conservative groups into a coalition to checkmate the opposition.  But it also does not involve compromising core conservative principles.

Rather, COAST suggests that we reach out and form coalitions with disaffected portions of the democrat-union alliance that must know their very political and legislative "success" is strangling America, bankrupting our cities, and driving jobs overseas.

COAST would offer the suggestion that its unique and sustainable coalition with the NAACP, with the Baptist Ministers, and with others may offer a third way of approaching the seemingly unsolvable equation.

As with Nikki Haley's appointment of African American Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina in a state with significant African American population, we reached out in a real way to the African American community. The outreach can't be simply symbolic, but truly embracing, and allowing others to take the lead.

In addition to the African American community, COAST has partnered with groups of varying political  philosophies: including the Libertarian Party; Green Party; Progressive Party and many others.

There are huge immigrant populations in the U.S. that have a fundamental understanding of the promise that free enterprise offers -- and they offer the candidates and party leaders to take us into the next chapter of the great American experiment.

As in Florida (Marco Rubio) and Texas (Ted Cruz), conservative minority candidates can win in their own right in tough Republican primary elections, and thereafter be trusted to lead forcefully with a conservative voice.

It is important to understand that COAST has followed the lead of Christopher Smitherman and the NAACP as they have taken positions that will lead Cincinnati out of its fiscal morass.  (Those seeking to divide us characterize that relationship otherwise.)  For, we believe that the ideas are universal, and the messengers and legislators can be black, Asian, Hispanic, white, male or female. We would like to believe they could even be democrats, but that has proved to be a false hope.

Thus, we ask the state and national GOP to look to the WeDemandAVote.Com model (the creative coalitions built with COAST as a member) to consider rebuilding a tattered party, and look forward forcefully to the future.

COAST exists to support those advancing responsible fiscal positions. We are confident we will find those advocates in all corners of our society, and support them regardless of who they are. If you or your group would like to learn more about our coalition efforts and how to create effective coalitions, please email us at coastusa@gmail.com.