The Conservative's Dilemma: What About the GOP?

During the years leading up to the election of President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and throughout his 2 terms of office, I had been a card-carrying member of the Republican Party.

As one of the original foot-soldiers in the Reagan Revolution, I had worked within William F. Buckley Jr.'s Young Americans for Freedom, which advocated for a fair hearing for conservative principles on college campuses, during almost the entirety of the 1970s.

One of the goals of that organization at that time was the election of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency.

Thus, I was proud to be a Republican and a very conservative one at that. I was even prouder when I watched Reagan take his first oath of office in 1981.

The GOP during those years was constrained by the sheer force of Reagan's personality to turn decidedly more conservative, although the liberal eastern establishment Republicans, such as those of the Rockefeller mindset, grumbled underneath their breaths.

Reagan's resounding success at home and abroad came with its downside. There is an aspect of winning that leads to a certain complacency...and a tendency to forget the core principles that led to the fight to win in the first place.

Unfortunately, the GOP exhibited (and still does) that complacency and that amnesia concerning the principles that made the Party so successful under Reagan.

Since the late 1990s I have not considered myself a Republican. I have rather enjoyed the freedom that goes with being Independent. But there is still a big part of me that longs for the GOP to recapture some of the greatness it achieved under Reagan.

It was the Party of distinct conservative values and ideas. Sometimes these ideas were entirely innovative and creative. But they were based upon sound OLD ideology born of the vision of the Founding Fathers--limited government, individual initiative and responsibility, individual liberty that is unfettered by oppressive government regulation, and free enterprise.

And this brings us to the present dilemma. The GOP seems to have forsaken its core values. Sure, the voices for liberty are still there, but right now they are in the minority, and they are being muzzled to a degree.

The answer for me is certainly not Democrats. And no, it is not the Libertarian Party, either.

There is a certain deep resistance yet toward abandoning the GOP altogether. And this goes much deeper than simply a nostalgic wish for the good old days. There is a very practical reason. To totally abandon the Republican Party at this point is to weaken the conservative voice and play directly into the hands of Democrats who WILL use it to their advantage.

Simply look at what happened in 2006 and 2008.

But one thing is for sure. Conservative patience with the GOP is not an endless virtue. Sooner or later, unless the GOP leadership gets the message, we will totally abandon the Party in order to forge a new venture somewhere else that values the conservative point of view.

For an even deeper look at this fascinating subject, read Larrey Anderson's excellent essay at American Thinker.

A Call to Action

As to wishing the new President well (a sentiment invariably followed with the inane shibboleth “after all, we all want our country to succeed”), personally, I don’t wish the new President well in the slightest. And, no -- just like tens of millions of other true-blue conservatives -- I don’t want our country to succeed in the direction in which he has made it abundantly clear he wants to take us.

You see, I think Barack Obama is a socialist. I think that his much-ballyhooed plans to hire 600,000 new bureaucrats (for such vital endeavors as changing light bulbs in government buildings) is absurd. Particularly when it’s coupled with his announcement that the federal government already plans to run up trillion-dollar deficits from here to eternity.

And I think his maniacal obsession with redistributing the wealth by raising taxes on the rich (who, by his increasingly erratic definition includes anyone who works hard and brings home a paycheck) in order to reward society’s dregs and drones is insulting, insane, and in his case particularly puerile.

This entire riveting piece is available at Americans for Limited Government.

It is time for conservatives to tell the truth, to fight back, to hit hard, and to let the American people know we will not back down from our principles.

The Republican leadership has failed to do this. Some of us out here are willing to step up to the plate and do what the GOP failed to do.

It is time our voices were heard. We may have to keep screaming until they are.

Why Palin Is An Excellent Choice for McCain

John McCain demonstrated one of the reasons he is the best candidate among those running for President in Campaign '08--his decision-making skills are excellent.

No greater example of the wisdom of his decision-making exists than his choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate.

Palin would make a great Vice-President and an excellent President in the event that McCain should be unable to complete his terms of office.

Contrary to the suggestion of the Obama campaign that Palin is too young and inexperienced to 'one heartbeat away from the Presidency,' Palin is infinitely more qualified for the nation's highest office than the man who will BE President if elected (Obama), in spite of the fact that he has NO foreign policy experience.

But wait. That's exactly what the Obama campaign said about Palin. But she will only be Vice-President. Obama, with dangerously little knowledge of foreign affairs, would be President.

Obama's attack dogs aside, let's jump right into enumerating the reasons Palin is such an excellent choice.

1. Gun rights activists will love her. She is pro-gun and pro-Second Amendment.

2. Evangelical Christians will love her. She is a Christian who is pro-life.

3. Reagan conservatives will love her. She stands for small government, low taxes, individual responsibility, and a strong national defense. Her record as Governor of Alaska speaks for itself on these hallmark conservative-libertarian issues.

4. Government reformers will love her. She took on the corruption in the Alaskan state government and cleaned up its act. She is not afraid to go after Republicans as well as Democrats who betray the public trust.

5. Her leadership skills are above reproach, and she has a reputation in Alaska of being a highly intelligent quick-study.

6. Palin knows how to speak well on her feet, without the teleprompter, and will be an energetic, charismatic counter-balance to McCain's more low-keyed style.

7. An excellent candidate is not always measured by years of experience. Joe Biden, for example, has 36 years in the Senate but would be a trainwreck for the country because of his leftist extremist ideology. Palin was a city council member, a Mayor, and a first-term Governor, but her views on the issues are precisely what the country needs.

8. Palin appeals to women who were snubbed by the Democrats as the Party decided to disallow Hillary Clinton's candidacy. True, pro-abortion numbskulls won't like her. But there were many Hillary supporters who were pro-life who nonetheless liked the idea of a female President.

9. Palin is a Governor and not a Senator. The country doesn't need 4 Senators running for the 2 top offices in the land. Frankly, Governors make the best Presidents. Senators rarely do. And
by the way, Palin has an 80% approval rating from the citizens of Alaska.

10. Palin is THE one, true Washington outsider. None of the others--not McCain, not Biden, and not even Obama--can claim that mantel. If Palin could take on the governmental establishment in Alaska and turn it around, making it smaller, more efficient, and less expensive, then perhaps she can make some inroads in Washington, which needs to go on an extreme reduction diet.

In short, I am sold on the woman, folks. McCain's choice is the best news we could have gotten out of this campaign.