Thanks OS, still trying to keep myself electable!
notnowjohn reveals my concern, and the primary reason why I advocate a resurgence of conservative idealism over pragmatism. Lets be clear - I'm not talking about social agenda, moral majority, or a Christian theocracy. What I am talking about is a return to the notion of a Republic - the fundamental point of the Republican party, which has been lost in the sauce that notnowjohn indicates. We've made property rights our guiding principle. The fact is property rights are a derivative of what should be our guiding principle - liberty.
nnj's post shows us that there is a resurgence of Democratic idealism; the HC bill, education reform, gays in the military ... none of these are pragmatic. None of these are fiscal policy. All of these are derived from the basic Democratic ideal of equity, everyone has the right to the best of everything. So when the Democrats go after property to redistribute, we see it as a property rights issue. Gentlemen, in war that's called a reaction not a response, and no commander wants to be in the reactive mode. They move,we counter move; they control the board.
What we need to do is to counterattack the idealism. Are there people without HC, yes. Is education poor? yes. Is homosexuality a community issue? yes. If our answer is simply, don't take my property, then we are leaving the battlefield to the enemy. And hear me clear, the Democratic movement towards social democracy is a threat to the Constitution to my way of thinking. So we cannot opt out of the conversation, but we should not opt into being the tackling dummy on their ballfield. Instead we should be drawing the Democrats onto our playing field.
Because liberty is not at odds with social concern.
The democrats leverage the fear that if we give individuals liberty, and take social issues out of the hands of the government, those in need will suffer. Sadly, Republicans have not spoken to that fear, and in fact have done a lot to promote that fear. Its going to take a culture shift within the party, and a rebranding of message so that liberty is not viewed as the opposite of community. The message needs to be that we believe in the people of America so much that we want to leave in their hands the means to do what is right. We honor their liberties to work hard, make $, and take care of those in need if and as they see fit. We believe in religious liberty, which always results in strong communities, and meeting the needs of the underprivileged. We believe in educational liberty, because we believe parents are most qualified to care for their children, so rather than take away their parental rights we want to help the successfully ensure a bright future for their children. We believe those governments closest to the issue are the best equipped to lead the solutions, so we do not usurp the power of the states.
