Taking Ownership

Conservatism did not lose this election. Conservatives did. Let me repeat. Conservatism did not lose this election. Conservatives did. The timeless principles of conservatism are right and remain right regardless of what the mainstream media, David Brooks or Peggy Noonan might tell you. This election was ten years in the making and it had nothing to do with Republicans being TOO conservative.

In 1998, Newt Gingrich and the Republicans in Washington forgot about advancing conservatism in order to engage in National Enquirer attacks on Bill Clinton. They had forced Clinton to the right after the 1994 election. They had achieved welfare reform and some fiscal responsibility. Even after the government shutdown of 1995, they still had the opportunity to set the agenda, and they chose Monica Lewinsky.

Don't get me wrong. Bill Clinton is a lecherous piece of garbage. Even his supporters know this. But he's a likable lecherous piece of garbage. After twenty years of practicing law, the one thing I've learned is that juries like people who are likable. Combine that with the fact that juries have an unsettling tendency to blame the victim in sex cases and the esteemed lawyers that made up a large part of the Republican majorities in the House and Senate back then should have known better than to risk everything on impeachment. They took the risk and, as a result, we lost Newt instead of getting rid of Bill.

In 2000, George W. Bush introduced us to "compassionate conservatism". I hated the phrase then and I hate it now. Basically, it was used to describe a belief that government could use conservative principles to solve life's problems for citizens. My friends (eww, I'm beginning to sound like McCain) that ain't conservatism. Ronald Reagan said many years ago and it is STILL true, "government is not the solution, it's the problem." The Republican party needs to require that NO ONE be given a qualifying petition to run for office as a Republican unless they swear an oath to that principle. One more time, "government is not the solution, it's the problem."

People criticize Karl Rove for implementing slash and burn politics. Those people are wrong. Slash and burn politics have been around ever since Andrew Jackson's wife Rachel was called a "whore", if not before. Karl Rove should be criticized for following the path of Dick Morris and the strategy of "triangulation". Triangulation works for Democrats. It doesn't make sense for Republicans, excuse me, conservatives.

Liberals cannot run and win as liberals except in San Francisco and Washington DC. Therefore, they have to pretend to be moderates. The American people believe in conservative principles. Don't doubt me on that. However, they LIKE Democrats and the vague concept of "centrism". Therefore, liberals have to triangulate.

Karl Rove and George W. Bush forgot that, "Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Yes, that's Ronald Reagan again. Folks, these are undeniable principles, not just campaign slogans. Ronald Reagan wanted to eliminate the Department of Education and RESTORE the power over education to localities. Accountability occurs when local citizens control what their children are taught and how they are taught, not with mandates from the Great White Father in Washington. Reagan would have been outraged at the idea of No Child Left Behind. Hello! No Child Left Behind expanded the power of the Federal government increased the education budget by over 50%. That AIN'T conservatism.

I won't bore you with a complete list of Republican backed idiocy over the past eight years that bore no resemblance to conservatism, but suffice it to say that McCain-Feingold, cap and trade, and the bailout are NOT conservatism. Let me make this clear, there is no such thing as conservative statism.

Try as he might, John McCain couldn't run as a conservative when he had spent the past eight years trampling on conservatism. Why should anyone trust the Republicans to govern as conservatives when they didn't? Something happens to people when they become entrenched in Washington DC and live among the denizens of the Beltway. Somehow they become brainwashed and begin believing that government has the answers and that people need government nannies. That AIN'T conservatism.

Peggy Noonan and David Brooks can tell us to forget Reagan and to believe that the world is now too complex for simple conservatism to work. That AIN'T conservatism.

Did you know that according to Rasmussen Reports and the Battleground/Tarrance Group polls, a majority of Americans still believe in conservative PRINCIPLES and the FACT that government is the problem not the solution? Did you know that the internals of the exit polls show that people believed that Barack Obama was the fiscal conservative in the race?

Some principles are true and timeless. "Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged." Once again, I'm quoting Ronald Reagan. Society has to recognize cohesive universal values of right and wrong. THEN freedom can expand. Conservatism recognizes that. We conservatives seem to have forgotten that. Supposed conservative media elites keep telling us to jettison the Religious Right. That AIN'T conservatism.

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." Ronald Wilson Reagan again. Free people don't need a nanny. Free people don't need government managing their retirement accounts or their insurance. Free people don't expect to be bailed out by Mama Washington when they screw up.

Allow me to quote Reagan one more time. "Man is not free unless government is limited." The Federal government has no Constitutional authority to tell you what kind of car you can drive. The Federal government has no Constitutional authority to tell you what kind of light bulbs you can use. The Federal government has no Constitutional authority to micromanage your healthcare decisions.

The American people still believe in morality. The American people still believe in limited government. The American people still believe in property rights. The American people still believe in low taxes. The American people still believe in strong national defense. The American people still believe in secure national borders. Regardless of what the mainstream media tells you and regardless of what so-called conservative intellectuals tell you, the American people still believe in conservatism.

Conservatism didn't lose this election. Conservatives lost this election by a decade long abandonment of conservatism. We have to recognize this, take ownership of this and do what is right. "There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right." Do I have to tell you who said that?