The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Tormented Souls

5.31.07 @ 12:01AM

RIGHT AWAY
Re: Quin Hillyer's How to Get Politics Right Again:

Mr. Hillyer, I believe is on the right track. The lack of leadership on the conservative side is blatantly obvious. The strongest voices we have in conservatism today are not in public office but on talk radio, and in the printed column. Republicans are quickly becoming moderate to the point of becoming liberal democrats. Witness names like Specter, Hagel, Snow, McCain, and Graham....some, if not all of these men have literally spat upon the conservatives who helped to elect them by their actions and words.

I am not sure if a bottom up and top down thrust of conservative education will solve the problem.. It would be nice to think so. I am afraid the answer does mean that we must find, not necessarily another Reagan, but another leader of the conservative movement who will command the attention of the American people. Sadly, I do not see that person on the horizon. I wish that I did.
-- Jim Karr
Blue Springs, Missouri

Mr. Hillyer is correct: the right can gain no traction on any issue. He is also correct about why: Republicans became Democrats. They grew arrogant; became scofflaws and demagogues; and abandoned principles.

Congress is about governing. The entire effort of those serving there should be to increase our opportunities to succeed; live with minimal interference from ideologues on either side of the aisle and surely, from government itself.

Instead, over the post war years the democrats turned Congress into a House of Lords. Rich pensions; diminished integrity and huge fortunes built upon the backs of Americans. Democrat Congressmen lived lives of enormous privilege, paid scant taxes; caroused and whored, all on the backs of taxpayers. Ethics? Non-existent. Accomplishment? Not necessary. Retire? Never -- just move into your government-paid-for office and become a lobbyist. Airports? Not a problem. Reserved parking and free first class. The only right democrats didn't expressly have was Droit de seigneur, and some behaved as though they did.

The massive corruption and the excesses of the Clinton-Gore administrations caused a Republican sweep. Then the vastness of the corruption institutionalized by democrats, corrupted republicans. Republicans became republicans. They cheated and stole; they forgot the need to govern and politics became all about enrichment and arrogance.

I suggest an examination of the Republican FDR, Ronald Reagan. He was a man of unwavering principle. He was unabashed in his love for America. He wished opportunities for all people -- even those chained by a welfare system designed to destroy families and sap initiative. His successful legislative programs passed a hostile, corrupt, democrat controlled Congress. How? They were afraid of him. The American people believed in Ronald Reagan. Democrat radicals are afraid to engage principled people, because they have no principles and that is evident immediately- they can only spew hatred, not reason. Mr. Reagan always treated his haters, those few, those proud, the ignorati of the left with humor, not calumny.

So Republicans, if you ever wish to be Republicans again heed Mr. Reagan's example. Be principled; love your country without reservation; increase opportunity for all; work not a single minute in any day for your own self aggrandizement; and end the privileges that set you apart from us. Put Congress into Social Security; stop pensions for convicted felons; and above all speak truth and use humor, not hate.
-- Jay Molyneaux
Denver, North Carolina

I applaud Quin Hillyer's recognition of many (but not all) of the current administration's failures. A recent political cartoon depicts an aide with President Bush. The caption reads, "Jimmy Carter says your administration is the worst in history...here's his thank you note." (Handelsman, Newsday) History will judge, but the cartoonist may not be far off the mark.
-- Mike Roush
North Carolina
P.S. While properly condemning the Representative who hid $90,000 of dirty money in his freezer, don't forget to call out the Republicans who rallied around him when the FBI was attempting to gather evidence related to the alleged malfeasance.

We shouldn't think in terms of rebuilding the Republican Party. We should think in terms of rebuilding the Conservative Movement. For those who think bipartisanship is going to get us there, don't hold your breath. Where has this Amnesty bill left us? What has "No Child Left Behind" and what has "The Great Prescription Drug Giveaway" given us? Can anyone say "big government"?

The country, as a whole, needs to get back to its libertarian leanings in both thought and practice. Our Founding Fathers, and yes, I will call them Founding Fathers rather than "Framers," built this country upon the Libertarian ideal. The ideal was a direct challenge to the "big" government practice under which our ancestors suffered across the pond.

America is an ongoing experiment. Through almost 231 years of experience, we already know what works and what doesn't work. It seems as though the majority of our duly elected officials want to go back to those practices that have already been thrown on the ash-heap of history in an earlier time. Those earlier practices also smacked of big government.

The small-government conservative voice has lost its vocal cords. The big-government liberal voice is in full thunder -- can your hear it? I can -- it's telling us it only takes a village.....
-- Owen H. Carneal, Jr.

Thought provoking article by Mr. Hillyer this morning. Along the same lines, I have a question for him. After forty years of Democrat rule in the House, and to some extent the Senate, why did the Republican/Conservatives crash and burn in only twelve? I realize that we lost our way, but what were the seeds of our destruction? The answer to this might also help us find our way back.
-- Judy Beumler
Louisville, Kentucky

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Education, Social Security, Law, Founding Fathers, Israel, Conservatism, Oil