The American Spectator

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(Page 3 of 10)

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.

p>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..... br> -- Owen H. Carneal, Jr. /p> p> 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. br> -- Judy Beumler br> Louisville, Kentucky /p> p> Quin Hillyer replies: br> Judith Beumler asks, quite reasonably, how we went off course. The short answer is that we became more interested in holding power than in promoting our principles -- and in the process, we (quite predictably) lost both. The fall from grace began in earnest in the autumn of 1998, with the combination of bloodlust against Clinton with a major increase in spending. The spending orgy was the first of eight years of the same. For a longer and more eloquent explanation, I commend to her the letter from Jay Molyneaux. For the solution, meanwhile, I commend the first two sentences of Mr. Carneal's letter. And to Mr. Karr, whose letter is also much appreciated, I urge him not to give up hope. Sometimes leaders creep up on us. Our job is to do the work to prepare the way and make the political soil more fertile for him (or her).

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