VIGILANCE

Below is a link to an article by Kathryn Jean Lopez in the National Review.
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http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2008/6/28/73437/7269
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She talks about a new conservative revolution. About how conservative core ideas still resonate with the general public. Her article was about McClintock and California. Yesterday I posted the following about a new Gallop Poll, covering the whole country.
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New Gallop Pole. A shocker to me, at least in one aspect.
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http://www.gallup.com/poll/108445/Americans-Oppose-Income-Redistribution-Fix-Economy.aspx
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The aspect I was stunned by was the following I lifted directly from the above article.
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PRINCETON, NJ -- When given a choice about how government should address the numerous economic difficulties facing today's consumer, Americans overwhelmingly -- by 84% to 13% --prefer that the government focus on improving overall economic conditions and the jobs situation in the United States as opposed to taking steps to distribute wealth more evenly among Americans.
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From that quote I drew the obvious conclusion that 84% of Americans realize that redistributing wealth doesn’t fix the underlying problems with the economy and jobs. I further concluded that the public knows those liberal programs have not worked in the past. I agree that conservative ideas such as less government intrusion is still an issue that will garner votes.

I see in the Lopez article about McClintock and his run in the primary and subsequent nomination as a microcosm for the hope and a guide for a conservative rebirth. As she alludes to, this may not happen over night, but it will happen. I liked the article in that it showed the dilemma Republicans as a party find themselves in after breaking faith with the public and their own promises as conservatives. McClintock symbolizes a conservative making the same promises of the Reagan era and getting elected.

While I agree that Conservatives have to stick to the basics, because that is what the people believe. I go a step further and as you know if you’ve read my other posts, I continually push for concrete specific actions. Lead by example not only word. Don’t just back a good sounding conservative bill. Then sit back and say see I fought the good fight. Stay in there and fight tooth and nail. Don’t compromise on principle, get a part of the bill you like enacted. Show that the conservative message has teeth and can work if given a chance. Fight to show your ideas are workable. Earn that trust back.

I also make one other suggestion. Get the grass roots involved, we can rally around any big league leaders that happen along, but the real work needs to be done at the local level. We need to get people talking about conservative solutions to problems within our local schools, local governments. Back the local conservatives who seem true to the core conservative ideas. I’m not talking about ideologues spouting invective larceny about how terrible liberals are, you know those a mile away, everybody else shuns them. Maybe we should too. I’m talking about the ones that make a reasoned workable suggestion at a city or a county or a local school board meeting.

I’ll back the person who suggests that perhaps the private sector could do some things the government does only better and save us money. At the same time I want to see that person willing to fight to actually take that savings out of the income stream of government. Not let it be put back into it. I like the way David Cameron of the new Conservative Party in England talks of “no unfunded tax cuts” and "sharing the proceeds of growth between public services and lower taxes" As a conservative I’m backing saving money in government then actually taking that income stream (taxes in one form or other) out of play. Once we turn the service over, take the money we saved actually out of government. Without doing that the government only continues to grows. By doing that the government becomes smaller and less intrusive.

Hopefully Phil Gramm is pounding that basic conservative idea into John McCain’s brain and we can have some direction from above. Maybe, but I think this really has to come from the bottom up. Thomas Jefferson said back in the day: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”. I think Jefferson was thinking more of the individual citizen than the legislator in congress. We the Citizen are the ones who have to be vigilant. Vigilant enough so our legislators are wary.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative