The American Spectator

p> RIGHT AWAY br> Re: Quin Hillyer’s How to Get Politics Right Again : /p>

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.

p>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. br> — Jim Karr br> Blue Springs, Missouri /p>

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.