The United States is at a fork in the road regarding which way
we will go as a people. The 2012 election could be the most
important in our lifetime, and conservative leaders have reached a
consensus on how to channel the energy and concerns of the American
people to realize historic change this year.
The status quo will not survive the year. Our debt and
spending have reached catastrophic proportions in the context of
global financial difficulties and political upheaval. Consequently,
by the end of 2012, America will either have taken a decisive step
toward socialistic collectivism in the name of “equality” and
“social justice,” where businesses and owners are punitively taxed
to “pay their fair share,” or America will take a major step in the
direction of returning to our Founders’ constitutional government,
restoring the rule of law, federalism, free enterprise, and
individual initiative and responsibility.
The American people will decide which path to take in the
2012 elections, not only in the general election on November 6 but
also in the nominating process in primaries over the next several
months for all major offices, including the presidency.
Conservatives must act in a concerted and informed fashion in all
of these contests to shape the public dialogue and thoroughly vet
the candidates.
To achieve these ends, top conservative leaders acting
under the umbrella of the Conservative Action Project have released
“A
Conservative Consensus for 2012” announcing agreement on
major policies. These issues span all three wings of the
conservative movement: economic, social, and national
security.
The Conservative Consensus speaks to economic issues of
fundamental tax reform, Obamacare, overhauling regulation, and
energy production. It tackles social issues of strengthening
families and advocating traditional values and religious liberty.
And it covers defense issues of protecting the homeland, military
superiority, and national sovereignty.
This document also advocates specific issues all
conservatives must regard as essential. America needs a strong
Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that caps
federal spending. Immediate and drastic cuts to the federal budget.
No corporate bailouts. The Second Amendment right to bear arms is a
fundamental right, as is voting, so the ballot box must be
protected from fraud and corruption. Because voting is also a
citizen’s duty, reasonable conditions must be enacted to safeguard
our democratic process. And none of these can succeed unless the
right people are appointed as judges to our federal
courts.
Achieving these goals is a tremendous challenge, and true
constitutional conservatives must relentlessly pursue building a
true coalition between the three wings of the conservative
movement.
This means that true conservatives must not allow anyone
to redefine conservatism as only about fiscal issues and the reach
of government. Constitutional conservatives understand that strong
families are the essential foundation for long-term economic
prosperity. The demographic reality is that declining birth rates
and rampant abortion creates a devastating loss of human capital
that cannot sustain our entitlement systems or economic growth, and
also result in millions of unfilled job positions that become a
magnet for illegal immigration.
Fortunately most conservatives understand that national
security is crucial to America’s success. But some wrongheaded
individuals seek to silence or marginalize social issues, oblivious
to the profound reality — proven throughout history — that where
families crumble there is an unstoppable public outcry for
government to fill the void with massive entitlements and programs.
Government always grows when families fail.
Some economic leaders with libertarian or liberal beliefs
fail to grasp this simple fact, and so pervert the concept of
freedom to mean that individuals are free to do whatever they like,
free of any concept of right-and-wrong or of personal
responsibility or self-control. They willfully ignore our Founding
Fathers, who believed that limited government only endures when
individuals govern themselves.
Some social conservative leaders are making the same
mistake. They were right to reject an unrealistic “truce” on social
issues. But some are essentially calling for a truce on economic
issues, supporting candidates who stand for traditional values but
are not reliably conservative on limiting the size, scope, and cost
of government.
While both social and economic issues are indispensable,
and both move votes, the reality is that fiscal issues are moving
more swing votes in this cycle than value issues. Social
conservatives will overreach if they force voters to choose between
the two by insisting on traditionalist candidates who are not also
warriors for free markets, federalism, fundamental entitlement
reform, and a strong Balanced Budget Amendment. Social
conservatives must demand equal standing, not superior
standing.
A perfect example where all three branches of conservatism
can join forces is our national debt. America is now $15 trillion
in debt, an unprecedented level exceeding 100% of our Gross
Domestic Product. The only time we even approached such a
proportion was the end of World War II, where we were in a global
war that threatened our very survival as a nation. Instead of a
temporary military emergency, our current debt is being fueled by
deficits of over $1 trillion every year Barack Obama has been
president.
In addition to an economic issue, this debt is a social
issue. Our profligate spending is intergenerational theft, saddling
each member of the next generation with over $120,000 in debt once
they become taxpayers. That’s a mortgage on a house, with no
house.
It is also a defense issue. The former chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff said our national debt is the single greatest
threat to national security. We are on track to be paying $600
billion per year just in interest on the national debt, more than
our entire military and security budget. This hamstrings our
ability to defend our nation today while developing weapons and
systems to protect us tomorrow.
Another reality is that constitutional conservatism cannot
become our national policy without all three branches of
government. If conservatives retake both houses of Congress it can
only block bad legislation. Without a two-thirds supermajority,
conservatives in Congress cannot override presidential vetoes of
good legislation or undo harmful administrative regulations through
the Congressional Review Act.
We need a constitutional conservative in the White House.
Not all Republicans are part of the solution, and some leading
Republicans are even part of the problem. America needs a president
who is reliable on fiscal issues, and social issues, and defense
issues. Two out of three is not enough. Ronald Reagan was all
three, and only a Republican solid on all three bases can pick up
President Reagan’s mantle to lead this country through the daunting
challenges we face.
In our system of government, none of this will succeed
without the right people serving in the federal judiciary. But
judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate,
so if the American people elect a constitutional conservative
president and a Senate willing to fight for judges, there are
scores of spectacular lawyers and scholars who are faithful to the
original meaning of the Constitution. If we elect the right people,
they can take care of the courts.
The courts are imperative for all branches of the
conservative movement. In addition to abortion, same-sex marriage
and religious liberty, the Supreme Court is deciding all-important
economic issues like Obamacare and national security issues like
Bill of Rights protections for terrorists captured by our military
on foreign battlefields. All conservatives must demand that only
principled originalists be nominated to the Supreme Court and lower
courts.
So America faces a historic choice. And conservatives face
a historic task, of making the case to the voters for how and why
constitutional conservatism is the way to return our nation to
strength and stability, and electing national leadership that will
honestly and definitively tackle these challenges for the sake of
our children and grandchildren.
Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski are the authors
of
Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save
America.
