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.

The Blame Game

Before I begin I need to make something clear. I have the highest regard for my two senators and my representative to Congress. I have, not because they " bring home the bacon", but because they represent my views and the views of a preponderance of my fellow Texans. This said I move on to Congress.

The liberal Democrats have controlled Congress for a year and a half. What legislation has been passed or proposed. They have paid off their constituent special interests. To labor, an increase in the minimum wage, war against free trade and proposing a bill to eliminate the secret ballot in union elections. For their tort bar friends, delay on the foreign wire tapping bill in order to offer the telecommunications companies as fodder for the trial lawyers. So given their payoff to the ones " who brung them", how have they tackled the major problems at hand?

What else! As a good liberal you attack problems by blaming someone else. Bush, of course is their main and easy target. What ever the problem is Bush caused it. How ridiculous. The Constitution gave Congress the "big stick". They appropriate the money. They confirm major appointments, they declare war, or as in our current situation, authorize the use of force. But everything that goes wrong is Bush fault.

How do they approach problem solving? What else, have an investigation. Get the TV cameras rolling , roll out your most vindictive and vilifying remarks and blame somebody - anybody - for what is wrong. The oil crisis? Blame the oil companies. Of course they only average about 8% profit - less than half most sectors of the economy - but any gains they have is because of supply and demand. If it was not for Bill Clinton's veto we would have oil flowing from the ANWAR today.

Their investigative specialty is to try and eliminate their enemies. All over Carl Rove - for what?
Resurrect the "Freedom of Information" act to silence talk radio. Try and drag the CEO's of big oil before the rolling TV cameras and vilify them.

I guess if you can't engage in civil debate and make your case, and you crave power, you have to do something. It's kind of like an alley fight - anything to win.

Term limits and a return of the Senate being elected by state legislatures? Never happen but maybe not such a bad idea.

Quo Vadis Conservatives?

I've been a conservative since as a teenager I supported Robert Taft for the Republican nomination for President. I have not flagged or failed in my loyalty. I am a Republican because for most of my adult life they have more closely embodied the conservative principles in which I believe. Unfortunately in more presidential elections than I would like, I've had to vote against someone and not for them - the lessor of two evils. I find myself in that position again this year. John McCain I feel, is a man of principle. I will vote for him because I have confidence he will try to do a few things I think are essential. I think he will fight and win the war against terror and not leave our troops hanging out to dry. He will, as he promised, nominate men who are strict constructionists to the Supreme Court, third he will fight for fiscal integrity in government spending, fourth he will continue the policy of free trade, and last but not least, he will use the "veto pen" to stop radical legislation coming out of the current congress.

In the past the Presidency, though not irrelevant, had some constraint in the Congress. With the Pelosi - Reed congress and the possible expansion of Democratic control ( as the the Republicans hide and cringe under their seats), the power of the President, if liberal, is exponentially expanded.

As Dick Morris recently expressed it "McCain is sleep walking through the campaign." In my opinion, he is the worse campaigner since Bob Dole and that is saying a lot. He has missed opportunity after opportunity to bring Obama to a discussion of the issues, and he has gone off on a tangent to alienate his conservative base. If he is thinking he can gain the White House with dissident Democrats, independent and "moderate" - whatever that means - Republicans, then he is in outer space.

So what do conservatives do? First we have no choice but to vote for McCain, hoping that he is a one term President and that he picks a VP who is conservative and who can be our hope in the 2012 election. But we probably won't ring door bells, drive voters to the polls, and drop money in the mail every time a McCain solicitation comes.

It appears to me that we must, to save what we have built through Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich ( whether you like it or not the Contract With America was great and gave us 12 years of governance until we blew it}, decide on a course of action. One would be to vote McCain but focus our energy on recruiting and electing conservative congressmen - both to the Senate and House, both in this election cycle and in 2010. This could be easier than you would think. The people of this country were inspired and believed in what we said in the Contract With America. They backed this up with their vote. We won the Congress and then over time, we let the folks down by succumbing to governing like the Democrats we replaced. As the "founding fathers" intended the Congress is the real stabilizer for the country and the real seat of power in government.

Second, we must use our means of talk radio - which with Democratic control we'll have to fight to keep- and any other means at our disposal, to overcome the main stream media and their attempt to bias the information of the public to the liberal view.

Mainly, the conservative movement must reaffirm the principles of Reagan and the Contract of America. We must not only embrace them but we must let it be known that if in power, we will do our utmost to follow them. We must believe in our principles and in their meaning. The Democratic path leads to economic disaster, loss of individual freedom, and to a greater or lessor degree, governmental tyranny.

We are at a cross roads. We must seek Divine guidance, believe in our principles and work like hell.