On the future of the GOP and Conservatism
I am pleased to see that my reposting of ”Who we are instead” generated two excellent, thought-provoking responses by Joel and Centinel. Needless to say, this is an important topic, and I am interested in hearing what others have to say about the future of conservatism in these United States.
So, in addition to any comments generated by the posts noted supra, I invite other bloggers/readers to submit their own posts on “The future of the GOP and Conservatism,” which I will link to or republish in this master post.
My hope is that these posts will spark discussion in the conservative blogosphere, and help us visualize where we need to go from here.
It’s about ideas and principles, folks. It always has been.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I’ll quote two principles I firmly believe: “Free markets equal free people” WSJ and “free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity.” Larry Kudlow.
I think if you get those two things, everything else will fall in line.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
My greatest concern is the evident willingness of so many who call themselves conservatives to throw the pro-life issues under the bus. I continue to believe that the huge support Giuliani received last year did tremendous damage to the pro-life cause, as I have documented on my blog as the “Giuliani Effect”.
This has served to weaken or entirely break the bonds between the GOP and many pro-lifers. It doesn’t go unnoticed that pro-choice Republican officeholders are welcomed in ways that would be unimaginable for GOP officeholders who openly advocated higher taxes, surrender in Iraq, or a weak foreign policy.
I’m for a strong foreign policy, secure borders, lower taxes, smaller government, victory in Iraq, integrity in government, and private ownership of guns. But first and foremost I am pro-life, and I fail to understand why so many self-identified conservatives would be so willing to sacrifice the life issues for others.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Totally and completely off topic.
I just found out you guys were publishing again via a link on The Corner.
I checked here for months in the hopes that something had changed only to find out I gave up too soon.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:42 am
Keep It Simple…pro life principals, economic freedom, low taxes, smaller and less intrusive government, strong defense, conservation vs. environmentalism, free market solutions, and federalist. Sometimes there will be conflicts between those goals, but these are simple principals that not only makes sense but also work to make life better.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 am
And in a side note–it appears operation chaos is working…if Maureen Dodd is writing nuggets like this in the NYTs:
Is he skittish around her because he knows that she detests him and he’s used to charming everyone? Or does he feel guilty that he cut in line ahead of her? As the husband of Michelle, does he know better than to defy the will of a strong woman? Or is he simply scared of Hillary because she’s scary?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23dowd.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Conservative principles have been articulated and will be articulated much better than I ever can. But, those are well understood.
If we want to make conservatism relevant in the Republican party -
First, lets stop conflating conservatism and “Republicanism”. Ignore Republican hacks who turn the elections into a game “us” and “them”. All they care about is winning and not what the Republican party does after winning.
As long as we keep voting for “lesser of two evils”, we will keep getting Democrat-lite Republicans who pay lip-service to conservative principles.
Finally, IMHO we need to have an honest conversation about what has gone over the last 7 years. Lets not deny or ignore the damage done to conservatism over the last 7 years. And hold all the “conservative pundits” who went along with it accountable.