The Re- emergence Of Conservatism

I had originally intended to title this post, "The Rebirth Of Conservatism," but chose re-emergence instead because conservatism was never gone but only quiet as a political force in not only The United States but the world. After Ronald Reagan left office the moderate George H.W. Bush became President and conservatism in its true idealistic form left center stage.

There was a resurgence in 1994 when Newt Gingrich introduced the, "Contract With America," and the GOP took control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in forty years. But something happened which slowly eased conservatism off the political stage. During the years of the GOP majority those in Washington especially after Gingrich left office began drifting first to the center and then the center left as Republicans began acting more like Democrats and conservative values and ideas drifted away from Washington as a driving force in American politics.

George W. Bush was elected as a conservative President but he too proved to be much more moderate in his policies, not quite as much as his father but still moderate and in some cases almost liberal as evidenced by the massive prescription drug entitlement that he pushed through to the anger and disgust of true conservatives. But because he carried the conservative banner as he campaigned his brand of ,"conservative," politics labeled conservatism as only a form of moderate politics and as such many claimed conservatism either dead or outdated in American politics.

Then along came 2008 and John McCain became the GOP candidate for President, claiming to be a conservative when those of us who know better saw through the mask and understood that McCain while having some conservative ideas was far from BEING a conservative. He chose a true conservative as his running mate in Sarah Palin but by the time the November election came around the disgust with the betrayal of conservatives by the GOP and the lack of a true conservative platform by their candidate caused many to stay at home and watch from the side lines as liberalism in its most dangerous form took The White House and huge majorities in Congress.

A depressing day for conservatives. In fact the depression continued until after the Inauguration with most hoping that even after Obama took office the nightmare scenario that had been painted by the few conservative detractors of the new President would not happen. Then came the move to close Gitmo, the massive ,"stimulus," bill which conservatives knew was only a long awaited liberal wish list and would do nothing to help a damaged economy. Which has since proven to be fact.

As the true face of liberalism began to show it actual socialist face, long dormant conservatives began emerging as vocal opponents to public policy. And then an amazing thing happened, not only was conservatism emerging here at home but it began rising around the world as Obama joined with other governments to try and spend everyone out of the worldwide recession. We have seen a conservative government take charge in Germany for the first time since BEFORE WWII, and the liberal Gordon Brown is dangling at the end of his rope as the conservative party is expected to win control of the British Parliament in June of next year.

How then do we know that conservatism is re-emerging in The United States ? Let's look at some of the evidence. Sarah Palin, though vivified by the media and even many in the Republican party, has written a book which has broken every record for pre-sales that has ever existed and this even BEFORE the book went to print. Conservative authors have dominated the best seller lists as Glenn Beck has had three best sellers.

Mark Levin's book , " Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto," became a number one seller in April and remained so until just a few weeks ago. Bill O'Reilly, though not a staunch conservative but a center right conservative is not only on the best seller list but has the most dominate news show on television. In fact conservative news and commentary has become the dominant media force in radio and television in this country.

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have been a force in radio for years, but other conservatives like Laura Ingraham and Fred Thompson have risen in the audience ranks to become part of the conservative radio dominance. Fox News, though not a conservative news channel but the ONLY news source that is not liberal is dominating television. The balanced yet right leaning news source has blown away all other competition. In fact at any given hour of the day Fox has more viewers than CNN, Headline News and MSNBC combined. With the evening line up having a three and four to one dominance in viewership. A time when the conservative commentators are prominent on Fox.

Setting all of the media dominance of conservatism aside the proof of the true and real emergence of conservatism comes from the American people themselves. Americans who have NEVER participated in our political process, other than voting, are rising by the millions to make their voice heard in Washington. On September 12, the largest political protest in out Nations history descended on Washington and the participants were NOT sixties throw backs but conservatives who are taking a stand and saying no more to the dismantling of our Republic by liberal/socialist interests and politicians of BOTH party. These protesters were also the cleanest as DC workers did not have to pick up truck loads of trash unlike liberal gatherings in the Nations Capital.

The quiet majority of Americans are not longer silent and we are proving this by our protest and by our support of conservative media and the purchasing of conservative books. And our numbers are growing on a daily basis. I will admit that this re-emergence of conservatism must be given credit where credit is due. Barack Obama's arrogant drive to force socialism upon America brought conservatism back to the fore front in America. This conservative force has always been there under the radar but it took liberal/socialist arrogance to drive it to the surface as conservatism is standing against the drive by Obama and company to destroy our Republic and re-create it in their image of socialist slavery to government dependency and control.

So now that conservatism has re-emerged as a driving force and the silent majority is no longer silent where and how do we make our voice and ideals heard so that they can once again become the driving force in Washington where policy is made and decisions that affect the country are handled on a daily basis. We keep pointing to the 2010 election while taking this stand against socialism and keeping our current useless Representatives feet to the fire buy our protest and anger. But what avenue do we truly have to make sure that this now activist conservatism becomes a true political force in Washington ?

The 2010 election becomes our key but we do not truly have a vibrant political platform in which to bring our activist conservatism to force through elections. The Republican Party, the avenue of conservatism for Reagan and Gingrich, has reverted back to the country club moderates that kept the GOP in the back ground during the sixties and early seventies. The current Chairman, Michael Steele is attempting to move the GOP to conservatism but his problem is that we STILL have a lack of real conservative candidates to take the GOP away from the country club and bring it back to the conservatives who were the driving force during the Reagan and Gingrich Revolutions.

Many have suggested that the answer is a third party. But while a tempting idea to create a ,"Conservative," party the reality is that historically third parties have been a disaster for the party in which the third party derived from and the result was that the opposition benefited from it. The prime example of this happened in the 1912 election when the former President Teddy Roosevelt returned from a years hunting expedition in Africa to find his successor William Taft had fallen away from Roosevelt's platform. This angered TR and he create the Bull Moose party.

TR's popularity was still a prominent force in American politics and the Bull Moose Party actually placed second in the 1912 election but in doing so it splintered the Republican Party whose nominee was President Taft who placed third. Woodrow Wilson a very progressive/socialist Democrat easily won the election, an election which began the socialist slide of our Republic that Obama is now trying to drive home for liberal progressives. Frankly if the popular Teddy Roosevelt could not pull off a third party run then who do we have today who can ?

So the answer cannot be a third party because it will only weaken the GOP that much more and drive a possibly stronger majority for Democrats and insure the re-election of Barack Obama. Remember 1992 and Ross Perot whose 18% came mostly from disgruntled Republicans and gave us Bill Clinton. So again a third party is NOT the answer.

How then do we get the country club out of control of the GOP. It all starts at the bottom. We must move in our precincts and counties which will trickle up the line. Bringing back conservative values and ideals to the party that Ronald Reagan believed in and used as his avenue to promote and claim conservatism throughout the world. We must stop looking for another Reagan, because there will NEVER be another, and follow what he taught us that conservatism is found within us and through that voice it can spread as a force in the GOP and the Nation all the way to Washington.

There are many good conservative candidates who are rising in the GOP and if we expect to take the party back from the country club then it is the conservative candidates who we must back, even if it means throwing out a Congressman or Senator we have elected for years. If that Representative is not a true conservative then we DO NOT NEED THEM to stay in Washington. Right now the only thing the GOP has going for it is that they are not Democrats and that alone could win in 2010 but in 2012 it will back fire once again during a Presidential year and Obama will remain in The White House and Democrats will re-take the majority.

Additionally when we elect conservative candidates we must not sit back with the complacency of the past and allow Republicans we elected to fall to DC corruption and begin acting like Democrats at the GOP has done in the past. The conservative activism cannot waver nor return to the shadows if we expect our country to return to Constitutional principles and the ideals which made us the beacon of hope for all the world and a true bastion of freedom.

We must daily hold those we elect in 2010 and beyond to the fire if we expect conservatism, which represents the majority of Americans, to remain a force and keep out Nation a free Republic of limited government and the ability for Americans to prosper and achieve of their own accord without government intervention. If we expect our Nation to remain the worlds lone superpower and safe from our enemies then it is conservative ideals and principles which follow true Constitutional principles that will keep us strong and safe and by holding Washington to the fire of conservative activism we can accomplish this necessity to restoring our Nation.

We must now move as a force. We must now back strong candidates and take the GOP away from the country club. We must continue to actively hold the corrupt minions in DC accountable as we have over the past few months and then through our collective voices make them listen as we have already done. We must set our sites for a conservative return of Congress in 2010 and then The White House in 2012. It can be done, it MUST be done and together we can save our Republic and stop this unconstitutional slide to socialism. But we must ACT NOW!!!

Ken Taylor