As we look at these "Republican" candidates, the topics of discussion, and proposed solutions to the problems facing our country in this election, let's take a look at what a true conservative, a true leader, and a man who has conviction, belief, direction, and a true understanding of what it means to be a conservative may have said:

-On Freedom:

"I'm convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority. Very simply, they want to be left alone in peace and safety to take care of the family by earning an honest dollar and putting away some savings. This may not sound too exciting, but there is something magnificent about it. On the farm, on the street corner, in the factory and in the kitchen, millions of us ask nothing more, but certainly nothing less than to live our own lives according to our values — at peace with ourselves, our neighbors and the world"

"If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves."

-on Abortion:

"Abortion is only advocated by persons who have them themselves been born"

"With regard to the freedom of the individual for choice with regard to abortion, there's one individual who's not being considered at all. That's the one who is being aborted. And I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born."

-on the Economy:

"The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

-on government programs:

"No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!"

"We should measure welfare's success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added"

"Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence"

-On Republicans and Democrats:

"Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15"

-On taxation:

"The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much"

-On the 2nd Amendment (put as brilliantly and succinctly as I have ever heard the topic discussed):

"There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism — government. Lord Acton said power corrupts. Surely then, if this is true, the more power we give the government the more corrupt it will become. And if we give it the power to confiscate our arms we also give up the ultimate means to combat that corrupt power. In doing so we can only assure that we will eventually be totally subject to it. When dictators come to power, the first thing they do is take away the people's weapons. It makes it so much easier for the secret police to operate, it makes it so much easier to force the will of the ruler upon the ruled.

-On the American way of life and the prospects for future generations of citizens of the United States (hope and belief in the strength of this great nation and its people? you'll never hear it on MSNBC!):

"They tell us we must learn to live with less, and teach our children that their lives will be less full and prosperous than ours have been; that the America of the coming years will be a place where — because of our past excesses — it will be impossible to dream and make those dreams come true. I don't believe that. And, I don't believe you do either... I cannot and will not stand by and see this great country destroy itself. Our leaders attempt to blame their failures on circumstances beyond their control, on false estimates by unknown, unidentifiable experts who rewrite modern history in an attempt to convince us our high standard of living, the result of thrift and hard work, is somehow selfish extravagance which we must renounce as we join in sharing scarcity. I don't agree that our nation must resign itself to inevitable decline, yielding its proud position to other hands. I am totally unwilling to see this country fail in its obligation to itself and to the other free peoples of the world."

-Or he could just use this response to any crisis, as true today as the day he spoke them proudly on the steps of congress Jan 20, 1981:

"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem"


Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America.

I highly recommend reading Reagan's first inaugural address in its entirety. And I just wish it would be what we would hear on Jan. 20 2009. Heres a link - http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/first.asp

Conservatism will rise again!

( dedicated to my dad, who raised me as a proud Republican, and a miserable Browns fan!)

G