Conservatives Need to Get Real

While President Bush may not be a conservative’s perfect president, the alternative should shake any discontents to active support of the President.

As a conservative, I agree with most of the criticism that has been leveled at President Bush amongst Republicans and conservatives. While I support the President’s foreign and defense policies, I think that the Administration has tried to do the impossible—preempt the Left on their own issues. Republicans were not put on this earth to increase the size of government, create massive new programs like Medicare, spend billions of dollars on AIDS in Africa, fund the UN renovation, expand the Federal role in education or pursue a reckless policy of granting amnesty to illegal foreigners working in the US. None of these initiatives by the President will, in the end, take votes from the Democratic core base. Democrats are much better and far more willing to outspend any Republican program that expands the Welfare State. The strong suit of Republicans is limited government, lower taxes, individual responsibility and strong national defense. Karl Rove may be right that some of the President’s big government initiatives may neutralize some independents. In any case, conservatives could have hoped for much more in a Washington where Republicans control both the White House and Congress.

Having said all that, I intend to do whatever I can to reelect President Bush. The reason is simple. The alternative is unthinkable. A tax increase by rolling back the President’s much needed tax relief will not go to reduce the deficit but to fund massive new social programs, especially some form of universal national health care system. The stimulus of tax relief will be gone and the deadweight of new taxes and government program will lead to a much larger deficit. Moreover, the hue and cry over the deficit is only logical if the deficit grows as a percentage of GDP over a period of years. Economic recovery can shrink the deficit in a relatively short time -- provided there is no new spending. A Democrat will give us the worst of both worlds -- higher taxes and higher spending.

A Democratic economic policy is also lethal to the American middle class and small business. The repeal of most taxes to the “wealthy” proposed by the Democrats are really to two-income families that are just getting by and are clearly the backbone of the middle-class and small business owners who pay income tax; their business is not a corporation but a family business that is a sole proprietorship. An increase in dividend taxation or capital gains will put the financial markets in a tailspin and further retard the growth of new or expanded business activity.

Universal health care has an interesting twist that few seem to be discussing. If people are concerned about possible invasions of privacy because of the Patriot Act, imagine the access to private information available to Big Brother when he gets his hands on your medical records. Once the government is subsidizing our health, how long will it take before certain health lifestyles or diets become a matter of government concern over its citizens? Should we expect a universal health care system to deliver the same value as our compulsory educational system? In fact, the Democrats are likely to create an even greater rift between the Haves and Have-Nots in healthcare by allowing only the wealthiest Americans to pay for private services. Besides this, universal health will either bankrupt the economy since the demand for healthcare is virtually without limit or it will require the government to ration healthcare. Do we really want the delivery of healthcare to become a matter of political bargaining? Imagine the hypocrisy of those who are adamant that the relationship between a doctor and patient is sacrosanct when it comes to abortion, but would make almost all medical procedures a matter of public policy mandates in the future. Imagine your worst nightmare of an HMO and then increase that exponentially and you begin to get the real meaning of Universal Health Care. As for the eventual bill for this service, look to the past at all other federal entitlement programs. To make matters worse, no Democrat is going to support Medical Practice Tort Reform which is contributing to the skyrocketed growth of healthcare costs.

How will Democrats deal with other issues of free market choice for individuals? No Democrat supports any level of privatization of Social Security for retirement. There is no support for school vouchers or alternatives to the monopoly of the public school system. Finally there is no support for private Health Savings Accounts among the Democrats. While Republicans will at least look for market-based solutions to public policy issues, the unions and bureaucratic constituencies of the Democrats virtually insures no such innovation.

On the matter of illegal immigration, the Democrats are more likely to pass a liberal new amnesty program than any GOP administration. The reason is that the Hispanic community seems to be “in play” and this is one constituency the Democrats really need to lock up in order to strengthen their position on the West Coast and in the Southwest.

One can only imagine the kind of social activist judges and Supreme Court justices that would be appointed by the Democratic nominee. The Federal Judiciary will begin to resemble the lunacy of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Can any responsible citizen sit home and allow the judiciary to lunge to the Left? This alone should energize conservatives. The dismantling of all religious tradition or symbolism in public life is likely to continue with a Democratic President and a liberal judiciary.

The final issue is one of national security. Certainly no one can believe that a Democratic administration will strengthen our intelligence and defense capabilities. It was under Democratic administrations that the CIA and other intelligence agencies became decimated and hand-tied. The Democrats have almost unanimously voted against nearly all major new weapons systems. At a time when we are in fact living in a Third World War, we can not go from a Churchill to a Chamberlain. It is disingenuous for the Democrats to glob onto intelligence deficiencies when they are largely the culprit for lack of human intelligence or material resources in the important area of espionage. In fighting a terrorist enemy, preemption is the natural policy and that requires intelligence first and foremost.

While President Bush may not be a conservative’s perfect president, the alternative should shake any discontents to active support of the President. Moreover, in the area of determining the security threat to the West and taking action, the President may go down as one of our greatest leaders. For the sake of the hope of more prudent domestic policy, judicial restraint and national security, there is really no choice. As for much of the domestic agenda, can we afford to sacrifice the good for the perfect?

Scott Shore is a political commentator and management consultant in Providence, Rhode Island.

Well, lot’s of stuff here. Not surprisingly, this seems to have fractured into two general camps. That is, those who will vote for GWB and those who won’t. Sure, there are shades of these positions, but this is generally so.

Because people have a desire to argue over who is the real conservative, or who has so-called principles, or who won’t accept others “telling them how to think”, or who first insulted who, I will attempt to refrain from all of that (I hope). I will earnestly try to state what I believe to be true, what my core principles are, and why I will vote for GWB in November. Those who disagree with me can tell me why if they so choose and it is certainly everyone’s right to vote however they wish as Americans.

Those who think I am being “highbrow” or egotistical because of my preamble, I say tough. I have tired of the discourse here and will move on.

I believe that we live in the most perilous times ever. More so than the cold war and more so than the 30’s and 40’s. The reason I believe that is because our nation’s avowed enemies are more unknown, more insidious and more evil than anything we have ever confronted.

More unknown because at least half of our population aren’t even engaged enough to acknowledge that the War on Terror is still real. At best, 9/11 is a distant memory and they now worry about Ben and JLo. Some who are engaged are in denial because of what the left says, of how Kerry and Dean are stumping and because of what our traditional allies are doing to undermine the US on the world stage.

Our enemies are more insidious because, in the finite context, we largely don’t know who they are, where they are, what their next move is or will be, where their next move will happen or what their chosen weapons will be. One individual can kill many – instantly or over time depending upon the chosen weapon. And, to them it does not matter if they are killing babies or even some of their own. The people who are willing to do this are in the shadows – always.

I believe the enemy is more evil than anything we have faced because they want nothing less than our apocalyptic destruction. To them, this is the most holy, most sacred thing they can accomplish. Our, I’ll say it again, apocalyptic destruction is ordained by their god. As long as any of them breathe, their sole purpose is to take the oxygen from our lungs – every last one of us. I believe and instinctively know this. So, my most compelling, overreaching principle is I want a leader at the helm who also knows this. For me, George W. Bush has been unwavering in his commitment on the WOT – immigration proposals or government spending notwithstanding. If you think that makes me a shill for GWB so be it. But let’s remember this, for his presidency to survive, for the republican party to survive, he must make inroads into the traditional groups that vote overwhelmingly democratic. If this presidency doesn’t survive the available alternatives send a chill up my spine.

GWB has taken political risk that only a precious few presidents have ever contemplated. He has done so to confront the evil I referenced earlier. Does anyone think that a Kerry, or a Dean, or a Hillary would do so? Hell, Kerry wants to cede control of our military to the UN! GWB thumbed Uncle Sam’s nose at the UN and made it better in doing so. Our military actions, along with the coalition we put in place startled the UN beyond words. Almost like Libya, Iran, North Korea and others. Democracy WILL spring up in Iraq – at the epicenter of the Middle East cesspool. Why? Because of GWB and his willingness to confront evil (and let’s not forget Tony Blair! – God Save the Queen!).

There are other compelling reasons why I will vote for GWB. I have not forgotten the Clinton administration with its lies and deceit – it’s sell out to China, its focus groups to establish policy, its pandering and fear mongering, its sleaziness. The cultural war is real and poses a huge threat – also very insidiously. Think about your civics lessons and the balance of power in our government (ok, I know they don’t do that anymore). But do we want an expansion of activist judges on the Supreme Court or other federal benches? It will happen if GWB loses this election.

Now, let me risk it all and get corny for a second. I saw the movie Secondhand Lions recently with my family. Great family flick. Anyway, at a certain point, Uncle Tug played by Robert Duvall gives Walter a lecture on what it means to be a man. Uncle Tug said every good man has four qualities. Honor. Courage. Virtue. And the ability to love. Corny, "touchy-feely"? Absolutely. And, this has been far too long already. But I ask you to honestly assess those qualities to Clinton, Kerry, Gore, Dean, Clark or even Edwards. For me, it is no contest.

I will vote for GWB. I owe it to me and my family.

I’ve spent more time writing this than I can afford. To those who say, “what a preachy bastard”, I say sorry. For those who will not vote for GWB on some self-perceived principle, I ask you reconsider. For those who find this “essay” valuable, I will only say…it was my pleasure.

Lando

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