Jeb Bush on "The Grand Solutions Party"

For the first time in many years, I did not file to run for Republican precinct delegate. The primary reason was that I see more local Republicans speaking and acting as if the GOP should follow a narrow political ideology without room for others who may not agree on every point of the National party's platform.

Hopefully, some of these Republicans will read and absorb the comments below from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush...

... we must not layer onto our fundamental beliefs thick black lines of ideology — black lines that we do not allow ourselves to cross. Those black lines can be comforting, I understand. They provide certainty and stability and ideological purity. But they also restrict the way we think about problems, and make more difficult the kind of reform-minded free thinking that has defined the conservative movement for the last 50 years. Thick black lines of ideology are good at keeping people in, but they are also good at keeping people out. And our party can’t win if we keep people out. Our goal is not to assemble a small army of purists. We need a nation of converts. We have seen the other way of governing. It has had its day. It has made its best case. It has failed. Let’s make our best case. And let’s not make the mistake of the other side by closing off debate and ending discussion and abiding the thick black lines of political ideology and special interests. All of our candidates — from Mitt Romney to candidates for city council — need to have the freedom to bring forward their ideas, regardless of their diversity, provided they are consistent with our core principles: faith in freedom, the primacy of the individual, and the need for restrained government. Let’s have a good, open debate about the way forward, the way upwards. The Republican party can afford to have these discussions. And I don’t think America can afford for us not to.

Read more of Jeb Bush's comments at http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/303541