Reagan was a Fluke of History. (retrenchment and outreach)
By kyle8 Posted in Archived — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Who are we? True Conservatives, Paleocons, Fiscal Cons, and (like me) Conservative Libertarians.
If you put us all together we might barely make a slight majority in the Republican Party. In the nation in general we are perhaps a little more than one fifth of the population.
We were fooled for nearly twenty five years into thinking we were important and that we had become a major force, and that the Republican politicians were beholden to us.
In fact, we have had nothing even remotely conservative in this nation since Reagan's first term. Think about it. Has any single useless or archaic federal program been eliminated or even reduced? Has the government's assault upon the power of states, communities, business, or individuals been abated one little bit? Has the cost of government been decreased or its efficiency been increased?
Are we safe today? The evil empire has fallen, but we face a demographic invasion of nation swallowing proportions, and the number of Islamic moles who might have come through our porous borders is hard to contemplate.
And now the Republican banner is being led by a man who has hated us (conservatives) with a white hot fiery hate for his entire life.
SO, what is to be done about it?
We will indeed need a leader to come forth like Reagan, but until he emerges; We need to do the hard work which we took for granted in the past. We need to do outreach, we need to do it on a personal level as well as in blogs, and other media.
We need to stop being angry that is counter productive!
We need to recruit new, younger people into the cause.
We need to explain, explain, explain.
Calmly, or passionately but with a sense of humour, and never in a angry, spiteful way we need to make our case.
1. Freedom is always better than government control
2. Low taxes are always better than high taxes
3. Decentralized government is always better except for a very few things like national security.
4. Free trade is always better than protectionism and all the baggage that comes with it.
5. Protection of the family, and of life is more than a slogan or a fetish of the religious right, it is essential for everyone's life, liberty, and human dignity.
We need to patiently hammer these things home.
OH YEAH! one more thing, we need to rebuild our party from the ground up, this time insisting on adherence to our values before you get our support. No more old school pork barrelers, over ambitious face timers, or values candidates with a wide stance.
We must go forward from here and not look backward except to learn from our mistakes. Let there be no doubt, McCain, even if he wins, will do nothing for us. We are not in control of the party, and are hated by much of the rest of the country,
This is the legacy of the two Bush's and the post Newt republicans.
Nothing left to do but hard work.
like I said, after his first term we have not really seen any sort of conservatism in Washington.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
1. Freedom is always better than government control:
Accept for gambling, the drug war, gay unions etc... In those instances the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT can or should regulate away. Freedom means the legal ability to make poor choices as long as they don't harm others. If us conservatives really want to expand our numbers we have to get the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT out regulating all these issues - not just the ones that appeal to small segments of the population. This is where the usually nuts Ron Paul is dead on correct.
2. Low taxes are always better than high taxes
This is true.
3. Decentralized government is always better except for a very few things like national security.
Not as much so in an integrated world as it was 100 years ago. For instance, regulation of food production is very important but lax under the present administration. I'm for smart regulation - not non-existant regulation.
4. Free trade is always better than protectionism and all the baggage that comes with it.
True.
5. Protection of the family, and of life is more than a slogan or a fetish of the religious right, it is essential for everyone's life, liberty, and human dignity.
True, but armour piercing bullets and automatic weapons don't fit that description in my book.
that I am interested in to explain my freedom. The Constitution of the United States is the document that I care about, and the Second Amendment in no way allows for the banning of full-autos.
Well, using strict construction, it is clear that an automatic weapon was not consiered an "arm" in the 18th century - so yeah, if we want to outlaw them its Constitutional.
I'm an originalist, not a strict constructionist. Secondly, the Second Amendment uses the term "arms". Are you going to tell me that full-autos are not "arms"? If you want to argue that arms can mean anything, are full-autos not even a individual weapon issued to every foot soldier? Under no circumstances can they be outlawed constitutionally.
"... keep and bear arms..." there aren't any adjectives or adverbs modifying the word arms, consequently if it is an "arm" a citizen has the right to keep and bear it.
There are ways to pierce such Constitutional guarantees, e.g., demonstration of a compelling state interest and a narrowly tailored remedy, but on the language alone, you are wrong.
In Vino Veritas
"... keep and bear arms..." there aren't any adjectives or adverbs modifying the word arms, consequently if it is an "arm" a citizen has the right to keep and bear it.
There are ways to pierce such Constitutional guarantees, e.g., demonstration of a compelling state interest and a narrowly tailored remedy, but on the language alone, you are wrong.
In Vino Veritas
I agree with you 100%. Nothing left to do but hard work. It won't happen over night, but if we make the commitment to do the hard work and influence those around us then we can once again achieve the dream of a brighter and more prosperous America.
Question: Did Reagan do any of the things you mentioned?
He tried to eliminate the Department of Education, but was unsuccessful.
Other then that?
"I ain't never votin' fo no Democrat so long as I draw breath! I'll vote for a dog first!" - Leola Thomas