MOVING FORWARD

Last night, I vented. Tonight, I offer a plan to move conservatism forward. I’ve been up and down the blogosphere today and I’ve seen alot of posts using the term first principles. That’s a good place to start but I’ll attempt to put some meat on that framework.

1. We can’t move forward until ‘We The Activists’ tell RINO’s that we’re fine with a big tentbut we won’t tolerate their compromising away the most important issues of the conservative movement, specifically judges, national security, taxes, fiscal sanity and reform.

When John McCain and John Warner ‘negotiated’ (gave away is more accurate) away the hammer of the Constitutional Option with Robert Byrd’s band of liberals, they essentially told those of us who’ve fought the good fight for originalist judges that we weren’t important. McCain’s main considerations were the media’s adoration. Of course, he officially said that senatorial comity was the reason. Instead of victory, McCain ‘delivered’ a single day’s positive press from the Fossilized Media. Big deal.

Unlike showboats like McCain and Graham, we don’t live for the media’s adoration. We’d rather do what’s right than compromise our core principles. By contrast, McCain and Graham treat true conservatism like it’s the plague. Certainly, they’re free to make that choice. That said, it’s our choice to end McCain’s and Graham’s careers before they ruin the GOP further. Their actions sent the message that they weren’t interested in a famous Reaganism, that “It’s amazing what can be accomplished if we don’t care who gets the credit.” These showboats’ actions said that it was every man for themselves.

McCain threw the Constitution under the proverbial bus when he pushed BCRA through. That’s unforgiveable and unpardonable by itself. It got worse when he put together the Gang of 14. Again, he said that the Constitution didn’t mean what it said. (Keep that in mind when McCain announces his presidential bid. Does anyone think that he’d nominate true conservatives like Alito and Roberts? Don’t bet on it.) Instead, McCain’s actions essentially said that the minority party had the right to do the unconstitutional.

Another RINO that needs to ‘get religion’ immediately is Chuck Hagel. He’s acted like the Democrats’ foreign policy pronouncements were words from God’s mouth. By voting with them on the Phase II Intelligence report’s headlines, he gave the Democrats all the ammo they needed in terms of political cover. The headlines, you’ll recall, said one thing; the key findings another thing entirely.

2. It’s vital that we regain a sense of teamwork based on a coherent, appealing vision of where America needs to go next. An important part of that means a House and Senate leadership team that are unabashed conservatives who will fight for the things that made our movement the dominant force in American politics. Another important part to the leadership puzzle must be installing people who can clearly communicate why we believe what we believe. It isn’t good enough to say “I’m for this” or “I’m against that.” If someone vying for a Senate or House leadership position can’t clearly answer the why questions that the media will throw at them, then they aren’t leadership material.

One person that I’d strongly recommend for a leadership position is Michele Bachmann. She’s a great communicator and she’s unapologetically conservative. She also has the rare gift of answering questions on point, not in some roundabout, evasive way. That’s why she’s got such a strong connection with voters.

3. We need to pick some fights on the most important issues of the day.

The first fight I’d pick is on national security. I’m hearing that the Democrats are thinking of ways of gutting the Patriot Act. It’s important that President Bush knows that ‘We the Activists’ will fight with him if the Pelosi puppets attempt to gut the Patriot Act. It’s important that conservatives everywhere bone up on who’s behind the gutting of this crucial anti-terrorism tool. It’s time that we exposed CAIR’s and like-minded terrorist-supporting groups’ agendas. Most conservatives know what CAIR and UFPJ, the Tides Center and other far left groups are about. When that debate starts, conservatives everywhere must get the facts out to everyone.

That means calling into radio talk shows. That means writing letters to the editor. That means telling friends and co-workers what CAIR and other subversive groups don’t want the public to know. That means using every means possible, not just the blogosphere, to get the information out.