Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works Read Online Free PDF Page B

children from poor families). We have created tax policies to help create jobs in urban areas, lowered taxes, and put money back in the pockets of families. And, of course, we have always stood for marriage and responsible fatherhood. We rarely getcredit for that record, in part because we don’t bother to talk much about it.

    Like the Democrats, today’s Republican Party is a coalition of different interests, each with its own priorities. Those interests include Tea Party constitutionalists, small and medium-sized business owners, believers in the free market, those in favor of a strong defense and tough foreign policy, and social conservatives who put faith, family, and protecting the innocent and unborn first. We have our disagreements and vigorous debates, and we’ll have them again in 2016, but we’re all under the “big tent” of the GOP, and we respect and help each other.
    I believe that in recent years, the interests of the “talk only about deficits and growth” wing of the party have received too much emphasis, and it has come at the expense of working families. Our party’s “you built that” convention in 2012 didn’t have much to say about the struggles of our working families. We weren’t speaking to them. It hasn’t just been our rhetoric—we have lacked ideas and policies. People like the Harrisons can’t be blamed if they thought we Republicans “didn’t care,” and the media were happy to support this narrative.
    Broadening our party’s message will involve many political challenges, but everyone in our “big tent” wants a country where people have an opportunity to achieve the AmericanDream: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” We believe that now it’s time to say and do something about it.

CHAPTER FIVE
    RENEWING THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
    D uring the presidential campaign of 2012, Susan and James Harrison were inundated with phone calls, knocks on the door, and mailings. Living in Ohio and not clearly aligned with either party, they were targeted as swing voters in a battleground state. The Harrisons could not have avoided the candidates and the issues if they had wanted to.
    But after all of that, the Harrisons ended up sitting out the election. They simply saw no reason to vote. James put in a long day on the store floor because he needed the extra pay.Neither candidate offered them the hope of new opportunities.
    On the one side, they saw a president seeking reelection after four miserable years. The economy was still in the tank, but Barack Obama was always attacking businesses. Too many of the neighbors had been laid off, and the Harrisons kept hearing about despair across the country. They knew about Obama’s opposition to the Keystone pipeline, and they suspected he would fight the shale gas development that could help Ohio. They always attend church and believe in traditional marriage and in the sanctity of human life. Obama’s views on these issues seemed so extreme, and that troubled them.
    Governor Romney, on the other hand, never connected with them in a way that earned their confidence. When the Harrisons heard Romney’s comment about the “47 percent,” they took offense. The people he accused of “not contributing” sounded a lot like the people who lived on Social Security, military veterans, and other hardworking people who from time to time needed help. These people weren’t moochers. They just needed an opportunity, and they didn’t deserve the put-down.
    You shouldn’t think James and Susan are apathetic just because they didn’t vote in 2012. They have always taken an interest in politics and discussed issues and candidates with their neighbors—especially at a time when so many people they knew were victims of the lousy economy. They have alsobeen involved in civic affairs, their children’s schools, and community groups. They are engaged Americans—and they are willing to engage even more if it will help them, their kids, and