Is Conservatism Dead

Several recent articles have given an obituary for the conservative movement. The liberal left Congress, the nomination of a candidate whose record is straight done the line liberal and polls showing a desire for change by a significant majority, to one pundit indicates " a vast sea change in politics". The theme is that the days of Ronald Reagan are over. There may be some truth in this.

But if this is the immediate future, it is the result of the Republican party's abandonment of the conservative doctrine, not the conservative doctrine itself. A often misunderstood fact is that the Republican party and the conservative movement are synonymous. Conservative members of congress are representatives of states or districts where the conservative message resonated and this reflected the will of the people there. In fact we often fail to realize how many liberal's are in the party until certain ideological votes but them on display.

I'm a long time conservative. I grew up in the Democratic south. I really don't think I ever knew a Republican until I was in college. I have always had an interest in politics. At the age of seventeen I became interested in the presidential race and became fond of Robert Taft. One of my "lost treasures" was a large Taft button smuggled to me by some erstwhile attendee of the convention. Later I read a little Russell Kirk, was overwhelmed by the vocabulary of William Buckley and found a common belief with the politics beliefs of Barry Goldwater. At the time though, conservatism was just a voice in the wilderness. It took the communications skills and the down home logic of Ronald Reagan to gain the attention of the man in the street. And when results began to validate his actions and beliefs, the field became more fruitful for their incubation. The going was still tough as the Congress was still controlled by Democrats. However at the time there were enough members of congress such as Bill Bradley, Sam Nunn, etc who valued the good of the country above political power to assist in the passage of conservative legislation . Than in 1994 the "Contract With America" articulated not only conservative principles but the willingness of a group in congress to make it work, that the people responded by giving us a Republican House of Representatives for the first time in something like sixty years.

Things went well until the aura of Washington and the political temptation put before the party got the Republican party to governing like the Democratic party. Nothing can turn off people like a fake. When the Republican party abandoned conservatism the voters abandoned them. As in a marriage or any other committment, once trust is broken, it is hard to repair. So here we are.

I still believe that the American people will not only support the principles of lower taxes, a strong national defence, free trade, supreme court nominees who vow allegience to the Constitution, less government intervention in our daily lives and a free enterprise, capitalistic economic system, but will rally around it, warts and all, if they had not been betrayed. Like the old carnival shell game, they have been fooled once too often to fork over their dough or their allegience until we can again show fidelity to these principles which we claim to espouse. It will take more than an apology and rhetoric to accomplish this. Actions do speak louder than words.