The focus of the luncheon was multifaceted as local and state representatives came together to discuss what it would take for the party to reclaim the majority role in both Raleigh and Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep.Virginia Foxx, R-Banner Elk, provided the event’s opening remarks by explaining the major challenges she thinks North Carolina and the United States face during these uncertain times. At the top of Foxx’s list was the need to alleviate the pressure that national debt had placed upon the average American citizen. Foxx said that the current presidential administration is facing a national debt that is larger than the one the previous 43 administrations had accumulated combined.
North Carolina Republican National Committeewoman Dr. Ada Fisher took the podium next as she prepared to entertain audience members with anecdotes from her personal experiences while hammering on issues concerning the economy, the state of the Republican Party, the economic stimulus package and national security. According to Fisher, had an additional 4 million registered Republican voters visited the polling booth this past November, like they had in 2004, this year’s presidential election would have “turned out very differently.” She also stated that a considerable percentage of the party’s registered voters pulled the lever for Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
“We have to give people a reason to vote Republican,” Fisher said. “We have the right principles but we don’t do a good job of explaining those principles.”
The committeewoman said the Obama administration has created numerous errors in handling the national economy and stimulus package.
Fisher said that the Obama administration is taking the wrong course of action in taxing major corporations. According to Fisher, putting additional levies against industries would in turn provoke these companies to “outsource jobs” to the overseas market, further damaging the national economy. She went on to explain that President Obama has implemented socialist-like policies during the early days of his administration. By performing and assisting in the essential functions of private sector institutions such as banks and the automotive industry, the American people would eventually start to see their individual liberties recede and that “their individual actions would be dictated by the government,” Fisher said.
The national stimulus was also “shortsighted” in its planning and implementation, Fisher said. She explained that a significant portion of the stimulus funding should have gone toward the restructuring and maintenance of national bridges. By focusing on the country’s outdated bridge system, new construction projects would have generated additional employment opportunities for citizens while ensuring the safety of motorists who use the nation’s transportation system.
Fisher closed her floor time by emphasizing the vulnerability of the country’s national security by stating that another terrorist attack on homeland soil was “likely.” She said that Americans had become “lulled into a sense of complacency and have not maintained their system of high alertness.” One way to safeguard against a future terrorist attack, Fisher explained, is to spend part of the stimulus funding on the nation’s smallest armed forces branch: the Coast Guard. By adding 100,000 troops to the 40,000 force, Fisher stated that Coast Guard would be better equipped to patrol American coastlines.
Saturday’s luncheon closed with the introduction of candidates for the North Carolina GOP Chairman. Chad Adams, Tom Fetzer, Marcus Kindley, and Bill Randall are running for the position which will be voted on during the state convention June 12-14 at the Raleigh Convention Center.
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