Posted on 10/30/2006 11:03:52 AM PST by christophervan
Where’s Newt When You Need Him
Another interesting poll was released today and as expected is not getting much play in the mainstream media. According to a CNN poll released this weekend 54% of Americans believe that the government is doing too many things that should be left to individuals and private sector enterprises. This comes on the heels of another poll, also buried from the general public, that was indicative of the majority of Americans believing that if Democrats regain power they will raise our taxes.
This puts the Republican leadership in quite a quandary, for these two polls clearly indicate that most Americans back true conservative ideals of limited government, less regulation and a reduced tax burden. However, the Republicans may actually receive the brunt of the blame for going against their very own canons and growing government in order to gain votes, in much the same way that Democrats used their power in the 20th century to build a class of Entitlementalists.
Herein lies the problem for the average voter in America. When there are two parties focused on building bigger government, yet the majority of us believe in limited government and lower taxes, how do we cast a ballot? Certainly Libertarian is an option, but their platform, while right in many respects, is completely wrong on border security and foreign policy. Couple this with the fact that they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of really winning any meaningful races we come back to left vs. right, or more appropriately too far left vs. somewhat left.
We need more voices in Washington who will stand for what most Americans want, and it certainly is not radical liberalism along the lines of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy or Hillary Clinton. The very reason that Republicans were swept into power in 1994 was due to their true conservative message espoused by Newt Gingrich in the Contract with America. Ironically, the very reason they may be swept out of power was their caving into the media character assassination of Speaker Gingrich, moving to the left in an effort to play paddy cake with liberals and growing government in the same fashion that Americans have come to resent.
Certainly if my children misbehaved in such a way as the Republican Party has in the past few years they would be deserving of punishment. They would probably be sent to their room and given some extra chores so that they could make amends, but certainly their transgressions wouldn’t result in their being kicked out the house. Along the same lines, we do need to mete out some meaningful punishment to Republicans who haven’t acted like the conservatives we elected, but let’s permit them to make amends. Kicking them out of power is not the answer, especially when national security hangs in the balance and at least they have proven that they can handle that, albeit with too much government.
Before casting your ballots, remember those Democrats in line for highly critical intelligence and appropriations functions comprise a very dangerous cast of characters including Dennis Kucinich, Charlie Rangel, John Dingel, Barney Frank, John Murtha, Alcee Hastings and William Jefferson.
The power of the ballot is immense and the result of having this power will determine our future, that of conservatism or liberalism. Perhaps this is an election based upon the lesser of two evils, but at least one of those evils, while not doing everything right, has executed an effective War on Terror, protected our soil, lowered taxes and hit the nail on the head with judicial appointments. Perhaps with a little scare they’ll get the message and move to end the illegal immigrant invasion, make the tax cuts permanent, privatize social security and focus on ending the government monopoly on education. If they can effectively do that, then and only then, will they have made amends for their misdeeds of late.
Christopher Van
www.christophervan.com
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.