More Quo Vadis

In my blog entitled "Quo Vadis Conservatism" I gave my thoughts on the future of conservatism. I would like to follow up on this theme and some "what ifs" that at least would lift the spirit of us conservatives.

In my opinion there are three things that are critical to our party's survival. A side note here - I refer to the GOP not as a political party identity as much as the residing place since Ronald Reagan, of the conservative movement.

First, we have to maintain in the Senate a minority sufficient to filibuster. My first "what if". What if Sen Stevens from Alaska is not seated or could be pressured to resign and allow Sarah Palin's appointment to that seat. Talk about shaking up Washington's. If she would take the job and become the leader of a conservative coalition. There still are some conservative senators in the Republican party. John Cornyn and the two Oklahoma senators come to mind. There are several more who are conservative and those that would be with good leadership. They should have learned, and I think Senator McConnell had, the lessons taught by the Democrats over the last several years on how to raise hell as the minority. Look at what the Democrat's have done, for instance, in regard to judicial appointments while in the minority. They should pick their battles carefully and not waste their political capital on issues that will fall flat because of the opinions of a vast majority of the electorate. Stated areas of Democrats, such as Supreme Court appointments, attacks on the right to work, i.e. secret ballot in union elections, attacks on freedom of speech ( the fairness doctrine) and the second amendment right to bear arms are supported by the people. The ability to stop this type of legislation would allow a great opportunity to publicize not just issues but conservative philosophy.

Second, we have to cultivate young, attractive, articulate, conservative leadership. Those mentioned in my prior blog; Paul Ryan, Tim Paulenty, Jeb Hensarling, Jeff Flake, Bobby Jindal, and many others, seem to have those qualities. The Republican Study Committee in the House is an excellent place for them to hone a conservative manifesto that articulates those principals which made the Reagan revolution so effective. We didn't succeed just because of the "great communicator", but because of Reagan's ability to communicate in understandable terms, the conservative philosophy he possessed.

Third, we need to start now to recruit good people to run for congress in 2010 and 2012. We can't afford to wait and throw a ticket together at election time. We can't succumb to the seniority rationale that brought us Bob Dole and to some extent, John McCain. We also need to work on taking over or back over state houses and state legislatures. This, I believe will be the result of a more conservative and focused party apparatus. Last we need to get our message out. We have to protect talk radio and the Internet and print sites which will give the conservative view fairly. In this regard we must articulate the virtues of the free enterprise system. It is under attack by the left from the most advantageous position in decades - control of all three sectors of government.

All is not lost, but the task is large. The "true believers" must step forward. Many of those who have flocked to the conservative banner have been opportunists instead of converts. We must spread the message and believe and live by it.

Quo Vadis Conservatives?

Let's face it. The Republican party is a mess. We picked the runt of the litter (politically speaking) to be our candidate. He proceeded in running the worst campaign since Bob Dole in 1996. In spite of this he might have made it except the tidal wave of a crashing economy. Even with that it might have been salvaged with a quick reaction to show that the real blame for the housing crash was rooted in government pressure on financial institutions to make loans to people that sound lending practices would have refused, and that the housing crisis was the catalyst for the break. Also he faced an articulate, Harvard educated, black man who ran the best campaign since Reagan. I think this was appreciated by both sides. The bonus was a media that decided to hell with journalistic standards, they were going to make him the next president of the United States. An unpopular president caused congressmen running for re-election to run to distance themselves from the administration and support of the campaign.

As Glenn Beck pointed out, the fact that 54 million voters braved long lines to vote for McCain and that the margin of victory was little more than Bush over Kerry in ‘04, would indicate that this doesn't necessarily indicate a realignment politically of the country. An added beam of light was the number of conservative ballot initiatives that won - some in blue states like California with the gay marriage amendment.

The agenda of the far left will fail. The agenda of Obama and his liberal supporters is socialism. It may be socialism light - such as France - but it is the control of government over the economic welfare of the people. If Obama follows his campaign rhetoric there will be, as Phil Graham puts it, more people riding in the wagon than there are pulling it. There has to be enough power in the engine to pull the train. Socialism, historically has shown that the train slows down very rapidly.

What can be done to save the Republican party? First, the party has to be conservative to a greater or lesser degree to have a contrast with the Democratic party. For years the Republican party was the Democratic party lite. It would be their mantra that things would have been a lot worse if it hadn't been for them. People like Barry Goldwater, Bill Buckley and Ronald Reagan brought respectability and credibility to the party. Regardless of what the pundits say, this country is still center-right. The platform of growing the economy with lower taxes, less government spending and smaller government still resonate with the people. Second, we have to not live in the past, but face today's problems with solutions involving the free enterprise system. Social Security, health care and energy were problems six months ago and are problems now. Our job is to meet those challenges with the use of the private enterprise system as possible with government only providing viable parameters for this to be possible.

Fortunately, we have a cadre of intelligent, articulate young Republicans to lead us in this challenge. Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, Jeff Flake, Tim Paulenty and Jeb Hensarling are just a few. Oh yes, don't forget Sarah Palin. I hope the abuse of this race and the slander of the media only made her tougher and more determined. We've got to make the case that free enterprise is the best economic system to grow the pie for everyone. That to grow the pie people have to keep most of what they make. We have to reconstruct the idea that hard work and a little luck can reap rewards, and if you miss the ring you can pick yourself up and try again.