Posted on 01/26/2004 1:47:29 PM PST by Reagan Man
The 2004 campaign season is well at hand. Following the dramatic turn-around from earlier polling results, the strong showing by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and John Edwards (D-NC) has brought renewed focus by the media on the possibilities of President Bush not only facing formidable opposition, but also losing his bid for reelection. A newly released Newsweek poll shows Kerry defeating President Bush if the election were held today. Of course, the poll is meaningless in the sense that President Bush has not yet begun to campaign, but it does add fuel to the fire that 2004 could be as close as the historic elections of 2000. With that in mind, it's time for conservatives across the country to focus on the big picture and realize that a Bush loss is far worse than a Bush victory.
The Newsweek poll garnering so much media attention shows Sen. Kerry defeating President Bush by 49%-46%. The result is understandable considering the endless attacks on President Bush by the Democrats challenging him for the White House. These attacks, levied during debates, stump speeches, and television commercials have largely gone unanswered by the president or the Republican Party. If the public is only getting one side of the story, then there should be no surprise when the president's numbers head south. The true test of public opinion will come once President Bush begins his campaign and America hears both sides of the story. Of course, the ultimate public opinion poll will be the 2004 presidential election itself.
In addition to the hits being taken by the president from the Democrats, President Bush has also sustained damage from those on his side of the political aisle: Republicans and conservatives who vote Republican. The anger expressed by conservatives toward President Bush is primarily focused on two issues: border security/immigration and federal spending.
President Bush's recent announcement of a "temporary worker" program has drawn harsh criticism from conservatives across the country. The volume of feedback I have received on this issue has been almost unanimously one-sided and in opposition to the president's plan -- a plan which conservatives feel is synonymous with "amnesty" for illegal immigrants. Under the Bush plan, illegal immigrants could apply for a 3-year temporary worker designation which would grant them legal status to remain in the U.S. provided they have employment or have a job waiting for them. In addition to the illegal immigrant being allowed to gain the benefits of residency in America, the worker's family would also be allowed to join the worker inside the U.S.
The other "stick in the eye" for conservatives is the massive increases in federal spending which have occurred over the past three years. Increases in the rate of growth of non-defense, discretionary spending in the current Bush administration are double that of the Clinton administration. Republicans have gone on a spending spree, and there appears to be no end in sight. Despite the fact that smaller, limited government is one of the tenets of conservative, Republican philosophy, congressional Republicans have shown over the last several years that they can spend with the best of them. To President Bush's credit, the budgets presented to the Congress by the administration have included modest increases in non-defense, discretionary spending by most observations. However, the budgets returned to the president for final approval have shown no restraint and are loaded with excess pork.
As a conservative, I share the philosophical concerns of friends and colleagues. Following the events of September 11, 2001, border security should be of the utmost concern, and promoting programs that not only potentially weaken security but also reward illegal behavior is just plain wrong. In addition, one of my core beliefs in which I identify myself as a conservative and as a Republican is my belief in smaller, limited government. If one of our core values is no longer being observed by our elected officials, then feelings of anger and betrayal are understandable and justified.
The key question going into the 2004 presidential election is "What is a conservative to do?"
The answer to this question is simple: conservatives must wake up and smell the coffee. The best choice for conservatives; the best candidate to advance our agenda; and the best person in which to put our hope and faith is President George W. Bush.
On the two previously mentioned issues of immigration policy and federal spending, conservatives only need to look at the alternatives to see that President Bush is the right person for the job. Regarding immigration policy, if Sen. Kerry were to become America's next president, there would be no need to debate the merits of granting legal status to a portion of illegal immigrants, because wide spread amnesty would be the policy of choice. Both Kerry and Edwards favor amnesty for illegal immigrants and would open the flood gates on America's already porous borders. According to campaign information, both Kerry and Edwards favor legalizing the status of illegal immigrants who have worked in the U.S. for a certain period of time.
The best hope for the immigration issue and border security is for conservatives to work diligently for President Bush's reelection and to demand sensible immigration reform from members of Congress. The real work on immigration will be done in Congress. Conservatives must push for meaningful reform, while working to ensure that the candidate who most closely shares our views wins in November. That person is President George W. Bush.
In regards to federal spending, one can only imagine the budgets that would be submitted by Kerry, Edwards, or Dean. A score card of liberal votes in Congress maintained by Americans for Democratic Action shows that Sen. Kerry actually has a more liberal voting record (93%-88%) than his Massachusetts counterpart: Sen. Ted Kennedy. Thus, a Kerry presidency means spending restraint by the Executive Branch goes right out the window. Conservatives have a right to be angry over spending, but the way to fight for our cause is to demand that our Republican legislators trim the pork. It is also up to us to push for presidential leadership in this area. We should support President Bush in his call for fiscal responsibility. We should also call on the president to unleash his veto pen if fiscal responsibility is not what he gets.
Much has been written in recent weeks in op-eds, letters to the editor, Internet discussion boards, and so on regarding conservative dissatisfaction with the current administration. The Bush administration should listen to their concerns, and the conservative community should work for positive solutions. Staying home on Election Day is not the answer. Voting for a third party candidate is not the answer. Writing in a protest vote is not the answer. Had just a small percentage of liberal voters stood with Al Gore in Florida rather than voting for Ralph Nader, the entire outcome of the 2000 presidential election could have been different. Conservatives cannot stay home in November. We must be on the ground working for President Bush and advancing our agenda in the process.
The conservative movement needs a voice, and it needs a leader. President Bush is that leader, and he has stood by conservatives on many of the issues we hold dear. The president is a stalwart on life issues and has been unwavering in his support of a ban on partial birth abortions. The president has been equally strong in putting forward judicial nominees who respect the Constitution and who will not legislate from the bench. The president is a leader in the war on terror, and I can think of no one better suited to occupy the oval office in this time of turmoil. The best way to fight for the conservative agenda is to fight for the reelection of President George W. Bush.
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Bobby Eberle is President and CEO of GOPUSA (www.GOPUSA.com), a news, information, and commentary company based in Houston, TX. He holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Rice University.
Do you have any corroborating information to back that up, or are you just lying again?
Are you going to answer my question, or continue to bob and weave???
Could you use bigger fonts? I didn't hear that one. Calm down little one you are getting over excited and dribbling on the floor.
Thanks, it's been fun. But it gets boring, constantly slapping you upside the head. So I'm done for tonight. BTW, I won't bother to look for any links refuting me... Because you are a liar- as we both know. ;^)
By no measure can I come to the conclusion that Bush is the same as Gore.
Really could you show me that exectutive order. You can't, oh wait a minute, you have it in your mind that you saw Bush signing that and going over Congress's head.
If Tomas saw it must be true, nevermind.
Anyone can put USMC in their screen name, but IMO, the military doesn't need people like you with your use of total emotion and no bearing of the facts.
Lol. I can hardly believe Bush talked about this during the State of the Union speech. This guy has his priorities all screwed up.
The Great Dane has spoken. So what qualifies you as such a military expert?
Lynne Cheney is doing her best to attack the problem, the rest of us need to work that arena hard too.
This past month, my kid has brought home more stuff than you can shake a stick at about Martin Luther King, learning songs, etc., etc.
That surely wasn't the case for George Washington, or anybody else during the now generic President's Day.
Our public schools are dysfunctional, that's where we are losing their hearts and minds.
Did you see that thread yesterday that Georgia's new history curriculum will NOT cover the constitution at all.
Do the anti-Bush people want to see Donald Rumsfeld replaced with someone like William Cohen? How about having another National Security advisor like Sandy Berger? Anyone want another Janet Reno as attorney general? And here's a thought...electing Clark or Dean could get us either Bill or Hillary as Secretary of State!
In addition, we would no doubt get the appointment of someone like Ruth Bader Ginsberg to the Supreme Court.
I cannot fathom letting a democrat be elected because they would again gut the military and screw up intelligence, and they would suck up to the UN and France, just to prove they were "better" than those evil Republicans.
It boggles my mind that anyone would consider allowing a democrat to be elected.
Is that the 1200th time you have stated that now. People know that you are tired of being on the plantation, yada, yada, yada, platitudes ad nauseum.
BTW, I guess you are all for another Ruth Bader Ginsberg or Stephen Breyer on SCOTUS, with your covert rah-rahing for the demos.
As conservatives (and Freepers), we are generally pleased the White House is not occupied currently by the likes of the Clintons, the Daschles, the Pelosis, or any of the other either morally corrupt or extreme liberals upon whom so much of the media chooses to focus its coverage.
Like putting a genie back in the bottle, we have boundless hope that our Federal Government will awaken miraculously and understand its limited role as mandated by our founding fathers and ratified by the States to create this great Republic. We believe, as one Supreme Court Justice stated, ‘the Constitution is not a living document, it is an enduring document.’
We also hope our various State governments understand their duties and responsibilities demand more than working to maximize their shares of public money while feeding at the trough of Federal pork.
And, we hope our local governments act with fiscal responsibility, as well as social and moral evenhandedness.
Unfortunately, as we have heard so often, ‘hope is not a method.’
How our adherence and allegiance to those principles expressed in our Declaration of Independence and in our U.S. Constitution have come to be characterized as reactionary and radical conservatism is a bizarre example of Orwellian doublespeak.
To us, obedience to the rule of law shouldn’t provide wide latitude for interpretation at all; much less complete reinvention based on whatever notion is politically correct from time-to-time. We understand who the “people” are, and we understand the meaning of “Congress shall make no law…”
To most of us, what is right and what is wrong are relatively easily differentiated. Coupled with our unalienable Constitutional freedoms, we believe free enterprise and capitalism in the hands of a dynamic and naturally industrious people have assured our success as a nation.
We believe in limited government. As Albert Einstein said, “Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.”
Yet, two-thirds of our population believe these ideals to be anachronistic, and those who believe in them are demonized by a growing majority who ask only 'what more can my government do for me?'.
Because we are diverse in our heritage and in our talents, working together in a representative democracy, we have created our own unique culture. But, to some, it seems patriotism is a dirty word and they are determined to destroy and deprive us of the legacy our forefathers bestowed upon us.
Alexis d’Tocqueville said, “Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
As conservatives, we are unabashedly idealistic about how government should work – we believe, during their tenures, regardless of administration or personal political persuasions, all politicians, judges and public bureaucrats should take seriously their oaths to support and defend the letter of the Constitution and to uphold the rule of law, because they are our servants, whether they like it or not.
What we see instead is legislation from the bench and quibbling, parsing, capricious, arbitrary, even whimsical decision-making by politicians and government officials.
For public officials, there is no concept of personal accountability for behavior contrary to the Constitution, or for unlawful acts, prevarication and misfeasance.
On the rare occasion a public official is found guilty by a court for an unlawful official act, the government pays fines or restitution from the public treasury to settle grievances.
That’s not justice, that’s a perverse irony. Instead of holding accountable the guilty individual, the government punishes the whole of the people, the taxpayers, by levying the public treasury, picking the pockets of citizens, for its own misdeeds, meanwhile often completely absolving and holding harmless themselves and their cronies.
The agrieved deserve compensation -- but, the guilty deserve justice.
Our governments at all levels have lost sight of the idea their role is as servants of the people, not our benefactors.
We have all heard that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of freedom,’ but I fear, like the great empires preceding us, many citizens have grown complacent and lazy.
With very few exceptions, our elected officials, our judges, our public officials no longer view their duty as service to the people. No longer is it a government, ‘of the people, by the people, for the people.’
Not until we accept and execute our own obligatory duties as responsible citizens, can we hold accountable those who we expect to represent us effectively in Washington, in our statehouses and in our local governments.
We must vote. We must study the issues; educate ourselves to understand all the nuances that may possibly affect us. We have to communicate our beliefs and our opinions frequently to our representatives. Then, we hold them accountable, first at the ballot box – and then in the courts if they continue to repudiate the wishes of their constituents.
Impeach them when they violate the law or forsake the public trust.
We cannot let our family duties and our livelihoods distract us from our duties as citizens. The ballot box is our most powerful tool.
The soapbox is another important tool. We must share with others our ideas, our hopes, and our expectations. We must tell the media we will neither succumb to nor tolerate their liberal agenda. Whatever it is they believe, it isn’t freedom and free enterprise. It appears they’ve been captured by an ideology in conflict with American democracy.
‘These are dangerous times.’
We have to take back our money, take back our schools, take back our government, take back our country, take back our ideals -- we must do these things to preserve the very essence of this nation, liberty and freedom.
It has taken us a hundred years traveling the wrong road to find ourselves where we are today. It is an evolutionary process, but it is time for the pendulum to swing -- it must swing today.
If we want a conservative government -- we first have to create an electorate, a citizenry, a people who understand their duties and obligations to society based on the principles articulated so clearly, so succintly in our guiding document: The United States Constitution.
It is not radical, reactionary, anachronistic or "conservative" to believe in the rule of law and in our Constitution.
And we can not let our adversaries characterize as hate-filled bigots. More than any other class of people, "conservatives" want all people to succeed. We want all people to contribute to society rather than to become beneficiaries, to fall prey to the benevolent servitude of an out of whack government machine.
It is time for truth to prevail.
While we work for the future, to me, our best hope for the present, and President, is George W. Bush.
God Bless America.
I've been advocating writing in Tancredo for some time now.
I won't stop at the Primary though. Bush should win my state handily, my vote in November will be worth more in registering my oppisition to selected Bush policies by writing in Tom or going Constitution Party or other 3rd party.
Giving Bush a healthy margin or even worse, a landslide victory, will only confirm to all politicians in both parties that we indeed are the sheeple, not a people to be wary of angering.
So I urge all to consider an alternative vote if your state, like mine [GA] is an easy Bush win.
***Reluctantly, an ex-Republican base voter***
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