Amen!
Hold your horses, Mama. My bad for painting with too broad a brush, so that you have taken offense.
I imagine you are talking about Rudy Giuliani when you wrote your response. I’m not defending Giuliani at all, nor advocating his ascension to the White House. Nor even hinting that i wouild like to see it. Personally, I’m still holding out for Gingrich.
What I am talking about is someone who is fundamentally in accord with the following prinicples:
a. that individuals have rights and that it is the job of governmet to protect them; not expand upon them according to to the whims of the elected, not to warp them out of shape to mollify a small but vocal minority, not fold-spindle-or-mutilate them, and certainly not to selectively enforce the laws in the name of political expediency or to buy the favor of selected groups and voting blocs.
b. that every right has a corresponding responsibilty, whether that right is afforded under the Constitution to the government or to the citizens.
c. that the Constitution means what it says, and that should the day come when some part of the Constitution requires revisiting (as will almost certainy happen from time to time) that the established procudure for amendment be followed. This means that manipulating the courts or making an effort at engineering the electoral process should be verboten, if those methods run roughshod over said Constitution.
d. that there is a separation of church and state for a reason, and never the twain shall meet.
e. that the purpose of an elected representative and an elected government is to see to the needs of the citizens and NOT to the needs of the CEO, the Industry, the Lobbyist or the Media Mogul. The entity does not take precedence over the citizenry, no matter how large the check is.
f. that the next time we elect a president, the prime motivating factor should not be “this guy called Jesus his favorite political philosopher” or “this guy is an idiot”, it should be “this individual is the most qualified for the job”. Perhaps if ‘real’ conservatives like GWB and John McCain had followed ‘conservative’ principles and NOT passed Campaign Finance Reform (three lies for the price of one) things might be otherwise.
Now, having laid out my core beliefs; I have an R after my name. Would you support me? Or is that not ‘conservative’ or ‘republican’ enough for you?