Senator Vandeveer looks to the future as wide open for Republicans

Sen. Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest Lake, sees opportunity awaiting Republicans, despite recent setbacks, every time voters go to the polls.

“Looking at the (past) election, you have to wonder if it isn’t — the whole thing wasn’t about ‘What am I going to get that somebody else is going to pay for,’” Vandeveer recently opined.

If that’s true, doesn’t that leave Republicans in a lurch, a reporter asked.

“That would be,” said Vandeveer, laughing.

“But by and large I do think people respect adherence to principles — if they believe you’re genuine in what you’re offering, what you say you’re offering is what you offer — you do better than we did this election,” said Vandeveer, who expresses disgust over Republican spending in Washington.

“Whether we can become, or be a majority party in the country, is probably going to depend on two things: One, we find a way of presenting what we stand for in a way people can understand and that we believe is what we stand for,” he opined.

“And Number Two, reaching out to other groups that aren’t part of the party (that) should naturally feel part of the party philosophically,” said Vandeveer.

For instance, Hispanics, other groups.

“That’s who the party really represents,” he said of those with an entrepreneurial spirit.

“If a person wants perfect security, and believes the government is the source of that, that’s going to be a hard sell for Republicans,” said Vandeveer.

“But if somebody believes it’s more important to have personal freedom, economic freedom, and opportunity, then that’s our group,” he said.

“I will say a lot of Republicans do take the ‘No Tax’ (mantra) to extremes,” said Vandeveer.

A party has to have a positive message, he stressed.
Just how quickly can Republicans turn the political tables?

“I think next election we’ll see an improvement,” said Vandeveer.

“For whatever reasons we had a very unpopular, outgoing president, at least in Minnesota, and that will be gone,” he said.

“Every election is an opportunity,” stressed Vandeveer.

“Every single one. People are forgiving, and they forget,” he said.

“They move on. And we need to move on (as Republicans),” said Vandeveer.

Tags: Political Pulse