Posted by
JayPeriod on Friday, October 05, 2007 2:05:50 PM
As the primary season kicks into high gear, we, as conservatives, need to gauge candidates on their commitment to conservative principals. There are several that should be key, so I'll start a series on one that many feel is the most important; limited government.
For several years, the idea of limited government has been one of the main defining issues for conservatives. True conservatives will hold to the idea that the size and scope of government should be limited, thereby limiting their interference into our lives and personal freedoms. Our founding fathers fought for this idea, and wrote it into the Constitution.
Liberals (read: socialists) have been fighting for years to expand entitlement programs, attaching strings to the money for these programs. In placing these strings, they are taking control away from the very people who could best administer the programs: local governments. When the federal government gives money to a local school board, they place demands on how that money is spent, whether it truly benefits the community or not.
In this, communities in small communities are made to accept rules which work better for urban areas, and vice versa. One state's ability to govern its people is restricted and decided by someone who has no idea what is necessary for that particular area. So that, I, living in Tennessee, have someone in New York making decisions on what is best for my children when they have no idea what my children need or their situation.
In breaking away from England, our founding fathers were determined not to get into the same situation they had just left. Limited government was a major part of that. A large government is one which removes freedoms and drains the people of their financial freedom. Our problem is not government which is too small, it is that our government has become too large.
In this election, candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are trying to convince us that we need more government, that we need the government to control more of our every day lives. They want government control of our medical system, education system, tv and radio, etc. The idea is equality, equity and fairness. Warning; life is not fair. Life is not equal. It is not government's responsibility to ensure that it is.
In all actuality, in the pursuit of "equality," our true rights are dissolved. We are guaranteed the pursuit of happiness, not equality. We are guaranteed the right to try, not to succeed. To attempt to guarantee success for everyone is to guarantee success for no one.
As the Republican candidates debate the future and direction of our nation, I hope they will keep in mind that the majority of the base is firm in its belief of limited government. If they are going to try to pander to the other side of the aisle by promising more and more programs, just as their opponents in the other party are doing, there is nothing to separate them from one another. They would then be "Democrat Lights," not Republicans.
I firmly believe that the American people en mass believe in limited government. They are frustrated, but they don't want government control of their lives. They are listening for another "Great Communicator" to bring the message of limiting government and giving freedom to pursue dreams to all Americans. If our current crop fails to fill this position, we are headed for another debacle, such as what we experienced just one year ago.