South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint laid out a very practical look at building the Republican “Big Tent” in a WSJ Opinion piece yesterday. Key to such an effort is this:

To win back the trust of the American people, we must be a “big tent” party. But big tents need strong poles, and the strongest pole of our party — the organizing principle and the crucial alternative to the Democrats — must be freedom. The federal government is too big, takes too much of our money, and makes too many of our decisions. If Republicans can’t agree on that, elections are the least of our problems.

The Republican Party has spent a lot of time and effort trying to construct a big tent by stitching a bunch of little tents together. It has proven to be ineffective and, in some cases, impossible. We tend to overlook the fact that despite the myriad of fabrics we use to cover our tents the supports hold much in common.

The reality that, “The federal government is too big, takes too much of our money, and makes too many of our decisions” is the common theme that can provide the basis for all of our coalition building.

Freedom will mean different things to different Republicans, but it can tether a diverse coalition to inalienable principles. Republicans can welcome a vigorous debate about legalized abortion or same-sex marriage; but we should be able to agree that social policies should be set through a democratic process, not by unelected judges. Our party benefits from national-security debates; but Republicans can start from the premise that the U.S. is an exceptional nation and force for good in history. We can argue about how to rein in the federal Leviathan; but we should agree that centralized government infringes on individual liberty and that problems are best solved by the people or the government closest to them.

John Hawkins adds his thoughts:

Still, this ain’t football. It’s not all about cheering for “our team.” So, being a “Republican” has to mean something. So, what DeMint lays down are some very broad and inclusive — but also, conservative principles that EVERY Republican — moderate, conservative, libertarian leaning, neocon, paleocon, and social conservative should be able to agree on. If you can’t AT LEAST agree to the incredibly basic principles that DeMint is discussing here, then you’re probably in the wrong political party.

Ed Morrissey makes several good points:

Jim DeMint, who has campaigned for conservatives and conservative causes, advises his allies on the Right that the GOP needs to narrow its focus if it expects to win elections again. In fact, the more narrow the focus, the bigger the tent

One key problem plaguing Republicans has been trying to be all things to all people. This leads to attempts to provide government solutions, federal solutions, on what should be state, local, and individual issues.

Senator DeMint:

Moderate and liberal Republicans who think a South Carolina conservative like me has too much influence are right! I don’t want to make decisions for them. That’s why I’m working to reduce Washington’s grip on our lives and devolve power to the states, communities and individuals, so that Northeastern Republicans, Western Republicans, Southern Republicans, and Midwestern Republicans can define their own brands of Republicanism. It’s the Democrats who want to impose a rigid, uniform agenda on all Americans. Freedom Republicanism is about choice — in education, health care, energy and more. It’s OK if those choices look different in South Carolina, Maine and California.

The problem, especially in recent years, is that instead of offering candidates and policies that adhere to these basic principles Republicans have too often presented themselves as “Democrat-Lite”.

Captain Ed once again:

If the GOP presents voters with a choice between a fake Democrat and a real Democrat, voters will choose the authentic item every time. The Republican Party at some point began being afraid of its own core values of smaller government, greater personal freedom, and federalism.

DeMint makes it very clear why this is true.

If the American people want a European-style social democracy, the Democratic Party will give it to them. We can’t win a bidding war with Democrats.

We have been trying to win that bidding war on the cheap. Unsuccessfully. And wrongly. In the process the only thing we’ve managed to do has been to drive up the price. We can’t continue to do this and hope to be successful as a party and, I would argue, as a nation.

The 2pm public advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHERN GULF COAST
FROM CAMERON LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO THE ALABAMA-FLORIDA BORDER…
INCLUDING THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. A
HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED
WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO
PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

[...]

AT 100 PM CDT…1800Z…THE CENTER OF HURRICANE GUSTAV WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 25.9 NORTH…LONGITUDE 86.6 WEST OR ABOUT 270 MILES…
520 KM…SOUTHEAST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

GUSTAV IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 17 MPH…28 KM/HR. THIS
GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WITH A DECREASE IN FORWARD
SPEED DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. ON FORECAST TRACK…GUSTAV
SHOULD MAKE LANDFALL ON THE NORTHERN GULF COAST ON MONDAY.

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE TO DECREASED TO NEAR 115 MPH…185
KM/HR…WITH HIGHER GUSTS. GUSTAV IS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON
THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME RE-INTENSIFICATION IS FORECAST
DURING THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS…AND GUSTAV COULD REGAIN CATEGORY
FOUR STRENGTH LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT. FLUCTUATIONS IN STRENGTH ARE
LIKELY THEREAFTER…BUT GUSTAV IS FORECAST TO REMAIN A MAJOR
HURRICANE UNTIL LANDFALL.

GUSTAV IS A LARGE TROPICAL CYCLONE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND
OUTWARD UP TO 50 MILES…85 KM…FROM THE CENTER…AND TROPICAL
STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 200 MILES…325 KM. NOAA
BUOY 42003 RECENTLY REPORTED 8-MINUTE AVERAGE WINDS OF 60 MPH…
97 KM/HR…WITH A GUST TO 78 MPH…126 KM/HR.

Neither President Bush nor Vice President Cheney will attend the Republican Convention on Monday. Instead the president will be monitoring the Hurricane as it impacts the U.S. gulf coast.

The GOP is weighing changes to the length and tone of the convention in light of the approaching storm. Details have not been released.

I’ll be liveblogging tonight’s GOP Presidential Debate here and with the crew at Heading Right.

All the updates here will appear below. At Heading Right we use a conversational posting method.

The Debate airs on FOX at 9pm Eastern.

8:52 – Not only double liveblogging, but cooking a El Charrito Beef Enchilada dinner and getting three kids to Go.To.SLEEP.

STARTING: Durham New Hampshire, Brit Hume is the moderator

Let’s start by giving the 8 candidates a chance to take a poke at Fred Thompson.

Moving on to Immigration.
Rudy – Not a great answer.
McCain – He’s against amnesty? Who knew?
Huckabee – Ok, but calling supporters racists is not going to fly.
Tancredo – it’s his issue, but why so angry.
Hunter – good

At Heading Right, Ed Morrissey is filling up the cabinet with second tier candidates.

A break in the action so I can go grab my tv dinner.

Ron Paul is an idiot. Please get him off the stage.

I keep forgetting where I’ve posted last. Sorry.

Keep Gitmo open.

Good answer by Giuliani on the tax pledge.

One over riding thought is that this is the first debate (on either side) that has been a real debate.

Well, let’s have some coffee and then take a swim. ~ Johnny Weissmuller

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Big Government Republicans Are Part Of The Problem, Not The Solution — “The hot issues of the day? They come and go. But, getting control over spending is a conservative principle and eventually, if a Republican ignores that principle, there is going to be hell to pay — which is something that George Bush and the GOP in Washington are going to see later on this year. They’ve spent 6 years dancing with the devil on spending and in November, the check is coming due. All we can do at this point is hope that the tab isn’t so big that it costs them control of Congress.”

Blue Crab Boulevard Spending Spree — “The Washington Post has a report on what McCain-Feingold has brought about by limiting “soft money”. A virtual forest of 527 groups has sprung up all over the political landscape and is wreaking havoc with local races. Enormous amount of money are being pumped into local races at a record pace. Many of the groups doing this are quite shadowy on both sides of the political aisle.”

Blogs for Bush (Mark Noonan) Fatwa to Kill the Pope Issued — “There is a horrific monotony in this – our enemies are impervious to reason and so they must be killed or taken, but we’ve a divided country and a divided non-Moslem world. Too many people don’t seem to want to understand what is happening here and I hope that it doesn’t take the murder of the Pope or some equally horrific crime to wake people up to their peril.”

Happy 3rd Blogiversary and Congratulations to:

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Three Years Of CQ — “When I first started this blog, I expected it to serve two purposes: an archive of my thoughts and important stories on current events, and a way to hone my writing skills and discipline. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect the success I have experienced. In fact, had I known it would get anywhere near this kind of attention, I would have used a different nom de plume. “Captain Ed” was a nickname well known to my friends and family, who were the only people I thought would ever read this.” [Captain's Quarters was one of the first blogs that I read on a regular basis, and is still one I read every day. Congratulations Ed! - Jim]

Sister Toldjah Happy 3rd blogiversary to the ST blog — “I don’t get the hundreds of thousands of hits that Instapundit or Malkin get daily, but I’m happy with the traffic I get everyday, and hope it grows. But if it doesn’t, I’ll still be here regardless, blogging about what I’m passionate about. I love doing this, and can see myself doing this for a very long time to come. Maybe one day, I can do something like this from home full time, so I can make the blog even better.” [Another stop on my daily blog travels, and always worth the trip. - Jim]

Coffee is a beverage that puts one to sleep when not drank. — Alphonse Allais

Wizbang (Kim Priestep) Bush: Use Blogs to Spread the Truth About Iraq — “If the truth about the progress in Iraq isn’t getting onto the MSM, then it needs to be communicated throughout the blogosphere.”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) U.S. Officials Concerned Iran and Al Qaida are Cooperating — “The Los Angeles Times reports U.S. intelligence is trying to determine what relationship, if any, there is between the Iranian leadership and the known Al Qaida leaders that reside in the nation. Previous reports indicate there could be up to 25 high-ranking Al Qaida leaders inside Iran that are known to reside inside the nation by the Iranian government.”

TMH’s Bacon Bits (The MaryHunter) Away, GOP Gloom! Spring Is in the Air! — “C’mon Republicans and conservatives! Let’s win — not just for The Gipper, but for America.”

Danny Carlton — alias “Jack Lewis” (Danny Carlton) Adbul Rahman, accused Christian — “The latest news is that the Afghani government may be pretending that Rahman is mentally unfit to stand trial. It sounds, though, as if the entire reason to declare him so is that he adheres to his faith as a Christian.”

PoliPundit (Lorrie Byrd) Hillary’s Immigration Sermon — “Preach on Sister Hillary. Just keep on talking and supplying ammunition to Republicans.”