Posted by
OakJoe on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 11:45:34 AM
Conservatism is alive and well. Contrary to popular belief it did not die and was replaced by ‘hope’ and ‘change’. They are noble platitudes, but are hollow and useless by themselves. They are vehicles to transport ideas and make dreams a reality. One may hope to become a millionaire by winning the lottery. To precipitate hope, one must first buy a lottery ticket. Hope only has a chance with a blueprint and a defined methodology of arriving. Conservative values are proven to work. We need to stick with what works. Conservative values are woven into the fabric of our country. To pull out any of the threads (values) will cause catastrophic disassembly. Now is the time for Conservatives to get back to the basics. The party most Conservatives identify with lost its way and it’s up to us to help it find its way again The Heritage Foundation presents Excellent core values that we as a country need to get back to:
Revive Love for America, Its Founding Principles, History and Language
We need to restore the understanding of the Constitution, restate the appropriate role of religion and moral values in our current civic life, and work to bring back limited government. We need to emphasize that we are one people and not a collection of competing groups. We need speak out about the meaning of our National Holidays and point out the historical achievements and principles of the United States that people have forgotten.
Win the War against Islamist Terrorism Abroad and at Home
Terrorist say there can be no compromise or dialogue with those who reject their extreme vision of the world. They must be unequivocally defeated.
Restore our Military Capability
It is essential to our freedom that we are capable of protecting ourselves and this can only be achieved by ensuring our military has the resources it needs to keep us safe. We must continue to develop emerging missile defense systems and continue to develop weapons to combat future threats
Protect our Sovereignty and Strengthen our Alliances
We need to re-think how we work with our allies and international organizations. In dealing with allies our main goal is to defend our security and liberty and to provide strong leadership on the world stage. In the past many countries have been able to create expensive social systems because we have been paying for their security and defense; we need to hold them more accountable for their own defense.
The United Nations has perverted the idea of democracy as we understand it. Rather than empowering people and protecting their rights, it has empowered and protected the most brutal and anti-democratic governments. What we need is an organization of free democracies. Our closest allies: Great Britain, Japan, Canada, and Australia would qualify. Other nations who are free, politically and economically, could participate within the organization but do not vote.
We cannot not bend to international pressure and become party to treaties that endanger our interests or violate our sovereignty. Whether we like it or not, we are the world’s leader and as the leader, we need to advocate to the world our values that have proven themselves – economic, religious, and political freedom. We need to stand strong and defend these values in the world.
Promote Family and Religion as Foundations of Freedom and Civil Society
Our government needs to refrain from imposing laws and regulations that weaken the family. Some examples are tax laws that penalize marriage, welfare programs that make it more profitable for mothers to remain single, laws permitting same-sex marriage or civil unions, laws and practices that weaken parental rights and laws that make adoptions subject to challenge.
The huge growth of government programs has weakened the family by taking over functions the family has traditionally performed. The acceptability of single parenthood has deprived countless children of intact families they need and deserve. While religion is a private function, the government and the culture need to give it a place in the public square and recognize its great benefits to society.
Essential to Individual Preservation and Future Posterity is our Renewal and Understanding of Economic Liberty and Entrepreneurship
We as a people increasingly look to government to take care of us beyond its Constitutional mandate. We need to–
- Re-explaination the virtues of entrepreneurship and free market principles from the 'kitchen table' point of view.
- To keep, reduce, and continue to insist on a low, flat, and simple federal tax system that taxes our income only once.
- Insist on a reduction in bureaucracy that discourages taking a chance.
- Secure an environment in which every person’s property is secure.
- Insist on policies, not regulation, that control inflation.
Reclaim Control of Our Borders and Reform our Immigration Policies
Every country has the right – and the duty – to decide who may enter its borders and who may become a citizen. We cannot tolerate continuing massive illegal immigration on the grounds of both national security and our integrity as a nation. The government should enforce the laws we already have pertaining to immigration and enact laws to discourage illegal immigration.
Develop a Rational Energy Policy to Strengthen our Security and to ease the Economic Burden on Americans
What is keeping us from using our own energy resources? Dreamed up scary scenarios of nuclear disasters, polluted lands, and water, and the destruction of wilderness areas are keeping us from using our natural resources. Technology has advanced and newer technologies are being developed that will exploit our vast natural resources, wind and solar included.
Return the Judiciary to its Constitutional Role
We must restore our courts to their Constitutional role which is to apply the law as written, to protect individual rights, and to enforce constitutional limits on government. Justice is blind for a reason and should be kept that way.
Face up to the Disaster of Government Spending
Government spending and commitments have reached catastrophic levels. Although we cannot dismantle entitlement programs, nor should we break the promises made that people grew to count on, we have to face the fact that we are bankrupting our children with programs that cannot be sustained in their present form. Government must stop bailing out those of us who took a risk and lost or need an organization to lobby for them.
For most of our history we took pride in our self-reliance. Most of us descend from ancestors who came here with little but the clothes on their backs. Some came in chains. In recent years government has become a nanny and ATM card of the people instead of the protector of our rights and land. We need to recover our self-reliance and our self-respect. We are the most charitable people in the world. We can help our fellowman far greater by use of private resources. Government programs waste huge amounts of money, invite corruption, and usually fail in meeting its benevolence goals.
Put Citizens, not Government, in Charge of Health Care
America's medical institutions are the envy of the world. Yet many Americans worry whether they will have access to medical care when they need it. The alternative to socialized medicine is to enact reforms in tax and insurance law that would transfer the control of health care dollars to individuals and families. These reforms would move bureaucracy-driven, heavily regulated third-party payment system to a patient-centered system of consumer choice and real free-market competition.
Let Parents Decide
Beginning with the Great Society, the federal government’s role in education has expanded. educational achievement has declined as parents and local officials have lost control over their schools. We need to restore federalism and citizen ownership of public education by moving educational control out of Washington and into the hands of state and local authorities who are responsive to parents and other taxpayers. And we need to support and encourage other education options, such as home schooling and private schools, so that freedom of choice becomes a reality for parents and children
Defend our Free Speech Rights
We need to oppose all attempts to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, or to control the content of political speech in any other way. The kind of debate our Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote the Constitution can't be hemmed in with demands that we include “the other side” every time we speak.