Conservatism Can Work

Since 2006, it’s been almost a curse to be called a conservative. The President is a “conservative,” and the country has quickly turned their back to him. The Grand Old Party is at its lowest “party affiliation” ranking in polls since the time of Watergate. The title conservative has become synonymous with Bush and the GOP in the US and those aren't necessarily something that you want to be associated with. Their "brand" is toxic. But, conservatism, no matter the "brand," can always win if it’s advertised correctly and shown in a way that makes sense to the everyman. This is how a platform can be rebuilt and save the conservative movement.

Taxes and spending have always been winning conservative issues, recent polling has shown that Americans think tax hikes hurt the economy and would rather have less offered by the government coupled with lower taxes. Candidates should provide detailed roadmaps to cutting earmarks, perhaps a permanent moratorium on them. Candidates should discuss details of wasteful spending – bring up waste in detail, such as the Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere. Bring up details on pork, Club for Growth style. Don’t bring up tax cuts unless you bring up the following items first  – cutting wasteful spending, lowering the deficit, balancing the budget, and opposing unnecessary tax hikes. Those four points are worth discussing at length. Americans are, on average, fiscal conservatives and hate to see waste.

Term limits. Why did Republicans in Congress give this up after the Contract for America? Because after a goodly number of them went to Washington, they got greedy. They loved their fat paychecks and began to stuff their constituencies with pork in order to keep getting reelected. If we propose term limits in Congress– it might work out that we cut back on the number of career politicians. Five terms for the House, two terms for the Senate, 2 Terms for Governor. Seems pretty straightforward. If the GOP were to champion this issue...again, it would easily be a winning issue. Couple it with pay cuts for politicians instead of pay raises, and I think the American public would thank you for it. Yes…I’m suggesting that our politicians take voluntary pay cuts in order to help lessen the national debt.

Crime is a winning issue. I don’t mean being criminals; that means you Larry Craig and Joe Bruno…I mean crime related legislation. Stiffening prison sentences, making it more difficult for violent offenders to get bail, even support of the death penalty can be a winning issue. See George Pataki in New York in 1994. Reinstating the death penalty was a major plank for him…and he beat the three term incumbent as a no-name one-term State Senator from downstate whose claim to fame before that was being Mayor and an Assemblyman for less time total than the incumbent was in office. In Statewide, City-wide, and even national elections – being the tough on crime candidate can be a major boon. Not caring about party lines when enforcing the law is a BIG boost. Republicans could learn a thing or two about that.

Social issues are rarely winning issues and not worth discussing in most parts of the country. So, what can be while still being socially on the right? The Courts. Don’t point to specific forms of legislation, just point out the fact that you want to see judges at all levels of governance to strictly adhere to our Constitution. That’s enough to make the most militant of conservatives drool…I know I do when I hear Fred Thompson spout on about federalism and strict constructionist interpretations of the Constitution. What does this do? It makes Roe v. Wade into an issue, indirectly. You’re saying you wouldn’t mind Roe overturned, without actually saying so. How come? From the strictest constructionist perspective, Roe was poorly decided. Just because you think a law is bad, doesn’t make it unconstitutional. Conservatives sticking to a viewpoint of strict construction of our Constitution is a brilliant way to win back supporters.

The final thing to do is weed out all those from within the party that conflict with these viewpoints. Get rid of those connected to President Bush in a public sense, ex. Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Condi Rice, etc. Get rid of those who are clearly corrupt and continue to make the GOP look bad, ex. Joe Bruno, David Vitter, Larry Craig, John Sweeney, etc. Next – we need younger candidates. We don’t need to force them to run for President, (i.e. Obama), but we need to have new fresh faces becoming the face of the GOP. Michael Steele should be the next chairman of the GOP. We need Republicans like Bobby Jindal, Randy Daniels, Josh Romney, Mark Harris, and Sarah Palin who have bipartisan appeal, who understand some of the things I’m bringing up. We need them as the faces of our party, not the face we have today.

We need a new Republican Party that is transformed into a reformist, tax cutting, pork busting, crime fighting, strict constructionist party that brings a new spin on conservatism. A new direction, this direction, is a winning direction for conservatives. A new Contract with America needs to be built on a foundation of the most logical and powerful of conservative points that can readily be championed by the entire Republican Party. I feel these are those issues.

-The Conservative Engineer