We all know what the agenda is of the Left, the Liberals, the Progressives or whatever is their nome de jour. They generally do not talk out loud about their agenda; bit it is evident to anyone who is paying attention. Their agenda is to transform America into a socialist-fascist state where the Federal government is all-powerful and will control every aspect of our lives. There will be a number of mega-corporations in partnership with the government. You see it happening now, don’t you?
Does the Right have a clear agenda? We all have issues that are important to each of us. The social conservatives have their issues. The neo-conservatives have their key concerns. The Libertarians among us have their issues. In general we want the Federal Government to stop spending more than they take-in, to stop mortgaging future generations with debt they can never pay, to stop their unconstitutional intrusion into our lives. We want a smaller Federal Government that doesn’t smother the life out of the productive sector bu over regulating. We want less taxes and we want to create an environment where the free market can flourish and all Americans have more opportunities to pursue our individual American dream.
The one thing that all on the Right have in common is a reverence for the constitution. It is my contention that the CONSTITUTION should be our agenda. Our long-term goal is to reform the Federal Government to that described in our constitution; a Federal Government restrained by the enumerated powers laid out in the constitution. With the constitution as our guide, our goal is to return the real power to the states as was the in tion of our Founders. When we achieve this goal we will have solved most of our laundry list of issues. Those issues not solved we will have to take up with our states governments.
Unlike the Left, we will want to be very vocal about our agenda. We must find ways to communicate our agenda to those that are disengaged, who our ignorant of the ways our government works against the interest of all citizens. We must in effect teach them that government, at any level, is the enemy of freedom. The greatest enemy is a far removed federal government. No one knew that better than our Founders, which is why they included a list of enumerated powers for the Federal Government and everything else to the states and the people.
I repeat, our Federal Government is our worst enemy. The people who run the government, the bureaucrats, are our enemy. The people who are supposed to run our government, our elected officials, are our enemies, Even our federal judges, including our Supreme Court justices, have proven to be our enemies. We have over two centuries of proof that all these people are our enemies. They all took oaths to uphold and protect our constitution but they haven’t lived up to that oath.
The progressives/socialist began their take-over of the Democrat Party at the beginning of the twentieth century. They made their first major impact during the Wilson administration. They progressed their agenda dramatically in the administrations of FDR and LBJ and under the Clinton Administration. And, now we have a true left-wing radical as our president and he is hell-bent on finishing the job that his predecessors started. So, where have the Republicans been all this time. What have they done to stop the progressive¡s trnsformation of America into a socialist-facist state? The answer is that the Republicans have not kept their oath any better than the Democrats.
Publius-Huldah in a recent post took the Republicans to task. It will be worth your time to read her brilliant essay, Why Republicans Sell Us Out. The part that I liked is where she relates the story of how a congressman answered this question: “was he elected to exercise his judgment as to what is the best thing to do, or was he elected … to carry out what the voters want”. Some well known talking-heads in the media addressed the same question. She points out correctly that they all got the answer wrong. The desires of the constituents (that’s you and I) do not supercede the constitution. What any elected official or appointed judge may think is best for the country, does not supercede the constitution. The constitution should always be the guide and the compass that these people should follow.
Our first priority in achieving our agenda is to get Obama and his people out of our government. Four more years of his dictatorial actions are not acceptable. He will ignore Congress as he has throughout his first term. He doesn’t even listen to Congressman an Senators in his own Party. He has told them they will get no help from hid campaign fund raising. They are on their own. He doesn’t care if they get reelected or not. this campaign is all about him getting reelected.
Although the Republicans have demonstrated that they don’t follow the constitution either, this is where most conservatives reside. By supporting Tea Party vetted candidates we will, over time, make the Republican Party the party of the constitution. We have a long road to travel and now is the time to start the journey with the first step. I don’t expect to live to see our dream come true. My most fervent hope is that my grandchildren will see the dream come true.
The buck has arrived and it must stop here. My generation and the generation of my sons must pay the price of the generations past. We must find the messages and the way to deliver those messages to the ignorant and to the apathetic that we must accept the pain of undoing what generations of Democrat progressives and statist Republicans have done to us. They need to know that big government is their enemy. They need to know that a politician that tells them they can make things better and never mentions anything about pain, they are lying. We need converts, my friends. We need a lot of converts. As I said in a recent post, we must bring about a revolution in the American mind-set. What we do in the coming months and years will determine if our grandchildren will live in freedom or serfdom. The situation is that serious.
That path back to freedom will be long and difficult. Our battle for hearts and minds of the American people will be resisted by the Democrats, the Main Stream Media and, by Hollywood. The path to serfdom is very short. The progressives have almost completed their plan to transform America into their idea of utopia where the Federal Government and their mega-corporate partners will control every aspect of our lives.
Our choice for our grandchildren is Freedom or Serfdom. Which will it be?
Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
silverfiddle
March 12, 2012
I agree that the constitution should be our agenda, but that would circumscribe the behavior of too may GOP pols, therefor it is a nonstarter
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
A nonstarter? As a RWR, I say we go around them, over them, or through them.And, every chance we get we replace them.
Publius/Huldah
March 12, 2012
Thank you, Jim!
Silverfiddle: We must win converts as Jim says; and we must replace the Republicans who sell us out. The Republicans we sent to the House last time have failed us. We need to replace them with new People who will be guided by the Principles of the Constitution, and who will NOT elect John Boehner as speaker. But first, WE need to learn the Principles so that We can determine whether the Candidates we support have learned them.
I’m working on a shorthand explanation where people can master the basic concepts easily.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
You are very welcome, PH. So many of our electorate have no idea how close to perfect our constitution is or how every time our government usurps the constitution, we lose little bit more of our freedoms. When your shorthand version is ready I will be pleased to post here.
Tony M. Fernández
March 12, 2012
By this definition of Constitutionalism as indicative of conservatives, then I contend that neo-conservatives are not conservatives. Their war views obviously do not agree with the constitution, nor do their views on social issues, especially with regards to the war on drugs. In this sense, it seems that only libertarians are actual conservatives. Neo-conservatives are Progressives; there is no way around that in my opinion.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
Hi Tony! It is good to hear from you. I have the utmost respect for the libertarian view on the use of aggression. Although I am no neocon but, I am not quite in agreement with the libertarians either. Conditions can occur where I would support preemptive action and we need to be prepared to react to those situations. I believe our security requires that we have a presences in certain strategic parts of the world. I also believe that Japan, South Korea and Europe should do much more to provide for their own security or pay the major part of our cost to do it for them.
Tony M. Fernández
March 12, 2012
Preemptive strikes are fine if and only if you are absolutely sure that what you claim to be true is true, and if the enemy is openly and truly belligerent. I don’t believe that any war in recent memory has qualified. Having a strong defense is fine, but Iran would not qualify and Iraq, Vietnam, and Korea did not qualify for that definition. Our wars have not made us more safe, and I wish that we could have an open dialogue about this subject without pundits calling non-interventionists America haters.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
I agree with you 100%, Tony.
LD Jackson
March 12, 2012
I think you hit upon a very important piece of the puzzle we are facing. We need to focus on returning our government to the foundation of the Constitution. Doing so will eliminate a lot of confusion and allow us to focus our efforts.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
Well said, Larry. It would resolve a lot of the confusion that currently exist.
bunkerville
March 12, 2012
I tend to agree with Tony on some points. If we had McCain in office, we could easily be involved in WW III. Having said that, we no longer have the option of living in isolation as we might have done last century. Too many dangerous weapon systems, too many mad men who would love to see the 12th Iman at my expense. As i read more about Afghanistan, we must come to recognize that much of the world does not share our values. We assume that, and that is our mistake. It is hard to conceive that there are those who would prefer to live other than ourselves, and they feel the same way about us.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
I agree with you, Bunker. We have to quit trying to impose our culture on others.
Tony M. Fernández
March 12, 2012
Michael Scheuer might be palatable to your views. He’s not a libertarian, but he was head of the Obama unit of the FBI and knows his stuff. He’s a non-interventionist, and I think explains very well the rationale for his positions and why the national government’s aggressive foreign policy is making us less safe.
Matt
March 12, 2012
The Constitution is a great place to start, but as others have said, NeoCons won’t like that a bit, hence the establishment GOP would fight such an agenda.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
In that case, Matt, we will get the government that they deserve.
azleader
March 12, 2012
My experience is conservatives are clearer and more committed to their beliefs than progressives/liberals.
I’ve talked to many progressives and have yet, when I ask, have one of them succinctly tell me what they believe in. They can’t.
I can’t even find one that knows the difference between liberalism and progressivism. I had to research that myself.
But just about any conservative I speak to can tell me what they believe in…
Less government, lower taxes and less government infringements on individual liberties. They believe in self-reliance, capitalism, free markets, taking responsibility for their own actions and paying their bills.
Try asking any liberal or progressive what they believe in and you’ll get mostly stuttering.
Btw… I carry around a pocket Constitution in a leather coat. I use it when writing articles and stuff. I picked it up at the county DEMOCRATIC PARTY headquarters.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
I hear what your saying, AZ, but those liberals at the top of the heap do indeed have an agenda. We conservatives have a list of issues but we don’t have a clearly defined agenda.
azleader
March 14, 2012
Your right… there is a difference between having beliefs and having an agenda.
You can have a crafted agenda without any clearly defined beliefs whatsoever… like democrats, for example.
Steve Dennis
March 12, 2012
Wonderful post Jim! It is time that conservatives held all our elected officials feet to the fire because for far too long the Republicans have let us down as well. We must begin the process of putting the government back into the hands of the people this year or it will be too late.
Conservatives on Fire
March 12, 2012
Exactly, Steve. If our constitution doesn’t mean anything any more, then America doesn’t mean anything any more.
Country Thinker
March 12, 2012
I disagree with you only on strategy. I do not think the GOP is capable of being transformed into anything respectable or acceptable. You’re in Venezueala, and I’m in Ohio and I can assure you the Ohio GOP is staying awake late at night devising ways to thwart any “radical” Tea Party takeover. And spare me any talk about the SB5 collective bargaining debacle. Governor Kasich is more hated by state Republicans than Democrats. He’s not a bad Governor, but his party set him up for a huge PR nightmare so they can take him out in the next primary with a “moderate” Republican. Read: Big spending liberal.
Conservatives on Fire
March 13, 2012
Ted, if the Republicans are not salvageble, what would it take to bring the conservatives and the libertarians together. We need each other.
John Carey
March 12, 2012
Great post Jim and I’m completely on board. The constitution and getting back to it is key. This is why I started to write my elected officials. I wanted them to know I was watching and there were people out here that still believed the constitution is still the law of the land. A couple of articles ago I proposed that conservative bloggers needed to start shaping the narrative of the national debate.
Basically we need to rally around a singular issue and advance it. What better issue to advance than our elected officials not following the constitution and reestablishing it as the law of the land. This includes holding judges accountable for acting beyond their constitutional authority and meddling in the affairs of the states. They too can be impeached. We are what stand between their unconstitutional acts and a free republic. If we can shape the narrative and get all the conservative talk shows talking about this narrative it will not only unite conservatives, it will become the fire liberals fear the most…the fire of truth. We have the power, we have social media, and we have our desire to see the constitution reestablished in America. If not us, who? If not now, when?
Conservatives on Fire
March 13, 2012
I’m wondering how we get the libertarians to join us. We need each other, John.
Thanks for the great comment.
John Carey
March 13, 2012
Why not simply float the idea on Libertarian sites? I agree we need to be united. We need to keep the message basic and simple, reestablish the constitution as the law of the land and hold those accountable who vote in favor of unconstitutional laws.
Cheryl Pass
March 12, 2012
Country Thinker….I hate to hear that about Ohio. I am originally from there. And I like John Kasich very much. I have a question…thinking about why the Republican Party has gotten so corrupt. It is this: The “progressives” have been very quickly co-opting business / corporations into the communist doctrine of Sustainable Development. They are doing this through government funding, PPP’s, and force of regulations. (They are also using peer / media pressure, pushing the insane nonsense about saving the planet from global warming.) The Republican Party used to be the party of business. (The Chamber of Commerce, for God’s sake, is all into this insanity. And the ever present Bill Clinton is putting on the most ridiculous Sustainability Summit in NYC in April and pulling in corporations by the boatload.) So….if business is pulling everyone left, using campaign contributions for kickbacks etc., then the Republican Party is going to fight someone like Kasich who is a Constitutionalist and a very principled fellow. Follow the money in Ohio…
Wonder if you think this applies to what you are witnessing? Maybe that is a stab in the dark…but I do see that going on. If so, this is yet another hurdle for the Tea Party to jump over if we are to recover the Republican Party at all. The work we are doing here vetting the candidates is going on all over this state…North Carolina. We aren’t throwing in the towel, to the contrary we are determined to yank the Repubs back if we can. If we can’t…then we will see what happens.
Thanks for the post, Jim…as always!!
Conservatives on Fire
March 13, 2012
You’re welcome, Cheryl.
rjjrdq
March 12, 2012
Great post Jim. I’m not going to leave a one-liner comment. So much to think about.
Right Wing Theocrat
March 13, 2012
By their nature, lefties can easily focus on their objectives. Lefties are easily herded, almost all of them are uncomfortable with individual thinking, they don’t like responsibility, they fear standing on their own two feet, they’re very lazy and most of them are just waiting for someone who appears better/clever than them to tell them what to do.
Liberalism is easy, it’s easy to get together with your fellow travelers and all whine and squawk at the government or someone else to do something for you.
Conservatism on the other hand is vastly different, we’re about individualism, taking responsibility for your actions and standing on your own two feet. It’s hard for us to unite if there is no common enemy like big government or some sort of war to fight. And if there is no enemy screwing with us, there’s no reason for us to unite, it’s part of our DNA to avoid the herd mentality.
Conservatives on Fire
March 13, 2012
Interesting analysis, MK. But, our unwillingness to unite is killing us.
Infidel de Manahatta
March 13, 2012
We need a third party – the party of the Constitution. The Republicans are too far gone to be reformed.
Conservatives on Fire
March 13, 2012
Infidel, my friend, I beginning to think the same.
republican mother
March 13, 2012
Like I say, you have to chop off the head of the snake to kill it. If we don’t properly understand where progressivism came from, we’ll be fooled by them over and over, because they aren’t above lying about who they are. Take my Sen. Lamar Alexander, who traverses TN in a lumberjack costume campaigning, but actually implemented Soviet workforce training while Dept of Ed Secretary. When one follows the money around them, things make sense, but are antithetical to what the controlled media has asserted.
Who knew the big banks funded communism, and pay their minions in Congress well to implement socialism in the US at every turn. It completely benefits them because they pay for laws that they are exempt from. This is the crux of the problem and no amount of D and R labeling and rebranding will fix that until people understand the mechanisms of control
Conservatives on Fire
March 13, 2012
There are a lot of snakes in Washington. rM.
Always On Watch
March 14, 2012
In my view, anyone who is not on the Left side of the political spectrum must unite with others of like mind. Otherwise, Obama will win in November.
I cannot imagine that a third-party candidate will be able to defeat Obama and the GOP candidate, whoever the latter turns out to be in 2012.
I doubt that the GOP will run a 2012 POTUS candidate that I can actually support. That said, I absolutely dread the very thought that another term under Obama will allow him to appoint at least two justices to SCOTUS. Such a scenario is dangerous in the extreme!
The Right has always been fractured — in part because of individualism (as mentioned above).
In sum, we’ve got a really bad situation on our hands.
Conservatives on Fire
March 14, 2012
Obama will use every dirty trick in the book to get reelected. If we don’t stand together, we will pay a horrible price. In the long term, if there is a long term. I believe conservatives will have to find a third party. Too many Republicans have no interest in down-sizing the federal government.