Conserving the Progressive movement vs. Progressing the Conservative Movement

A full decade into the 21st century we find ourselves still embroiled in the same discussions that made headline news in 1992, 1980 and 1936. They include but are not limited too: Health Care, War, Taxation, Immigration and the fundamental questions of State Vs. Federal Vs. The People.

I have to tell you that of the ones listed, War is the easiest to figure out. You win or you lose, the war ends. It is the "When to go to War", the "How to go to War", "What kind of War to Wage" and for some odd reason today we have added "How do you know you have won", "What does Victory look like" and "How do we bring them home" that I cannot fathom. The reasons why these are in question a long with the other host of questions listed and even those that are not come down to just two questions in the end, "Which plan will we carry forward with in the future?", and, "When will we make up our minds?"

We Americans need to make a decision this year and we need to make it firmly. Are we going to decide to Conserve the Progressive Movement or Progress the Conservative Movement? And though I know it may seem a clever play on words, it is a fundamental question of epic import.

Since the election of Woodrow Wilson America has been dominated by the Progressive Movement (more commonly called the Liberal Movement) and while I will not condemn out of hand their impact for some positive social change in this country it was all done under threat of penalty and not done as the natural evolution of the country as a whole. Forced Busing, Forced EOE, Forced Taxation, Forced Higher Wages (read minimum wage), Forced Retirement Accounts (read Social Security), Forced Housing Equality (read Fannie May and Freddie Mac) Forced Healthy Foods (read trans-fat bans growing in number around the country) and Forced just about everything else. The funniest thing about the social issue is that it was the Conservative Movement that started most of these and somewhere along the line lost control of the conversation. Lincoln, I will remind you, was a conservative.

These all have been implemented poorly by the Progressive Movement. And while a few of them may have helped to change our mentality on certain subjects, they have not succeeded in making the country any more prosperous. Prosperity should be defined for this paper as the bottom line. In fact, they have succeeded in only making us weaker as a nation due to the enormous debt we now carry in order to Conserve the Progressive Movements Utopian Ideals. Guess what Progressives, we knew slavery was wrong before you did and we waged a Civil War to bring you alone.

Now this is not to say that the Conservative Movement has not had its brief moments in the sun. We freed the slaves and made some major contributions as we brought the lessor represented into the system. We enjoyed some one sided prosperity under Eisenhower, Reagan and under the Conservative control of Congress during the Clinton administration. In other words, we had jobs and we had incomes. That was one side of it, but the other side of it was increased debt, even while the GOP was in control of Congress.

But a decade into this century we still don't seem able to figure out which ideas work and which ones don't. Well America, the time has come to decide.

The GOP does not embody the perfection of Conservative thought, nor does the Democratic Party embody the perfection of Progressive thought. Both are rather lacking in the execution of either plan. The Tea Party people seem to have a much clearer focus on Conservative values and they seem most dedicated to making the hard decision that need to be made in order to bring real prosperity back to the nation. To fully envision the Progressive dream one only needs to listen to the words coming out of the current President's mouth. He intends to "Force" more of his Hope and Change on the people.

I believe the time has come to Progress the Conservative Movement. We have a clear vision of what more of the same is going to bring us. Change to be sure, but under the pressure of more rights lost. By Progressing the Conservative Movement I do not mean, and want to be clear here, I do not mean Liberalizing it. I simply mean embracing it to its fullest potential.

True Conservative thought includes the following ideals: The Federal government has a role to play in society and it is clearly spelled out in the Constitution. The many States have a role to play in society and their role too is clearly spelled out in the same document. And most importantly We the People have a role to play in society and our role is also clearly defined. To bring these into sharper focus let us consider (and don't read party into this as we have already discussed that neither major party fully represents either ideal) what Conservatives are supposed to stand for:

1. Limited Government

2. Low Taxes

3. Preserving the Liberty of the people

Just an aside here, if you talk to a Progressive they will tell you that these are identical to what the Progressive Movement stands for. I find it odd that Progressive Liberty is created through government policy and Forced on the people while Conservative Liberty is assumed to simply "be" and that any government pressure actually hinders that Liberty.

Let's start with the term "Limited Government". It is thought that Conservative have no use for government at all. This is false. Conservatives believe Government is very important and that their role is specified in the Constitution to be kept within certain criteria. Chief among these is Defense of the nation as a whole, followed by ensuring Domestic Tranquility. In the Conservative mind this second one is done with little fan fare. Life, Liberty and the personal Pursuit of Happiness, the freedom to earn a living, own land (a home) and be secure in your belongings usually defines a tranquil state of mind for most Americans. So any laws that infringe on that for any American is not in staying with the original intent of the Constitution.

It really is a simple statement, Limited Government. It just means don't do the things that you are not mandated to do. More to the point, remember that you are not allowed to do anything that you are not mandated to do. Those other things, regardless of what they are, are reserved for the States and the People respectively.

So let's rid ourselves of the Departments of Education and Energy, both have done little save for increasing the cost associated with both. We have no national energy policy regardless of the fact the department has been around for 30 plus years. Test scores have not improved in schools over that same time period in fact both segments of our society have gotten worse. Rolling brown outs, low student graduation rates etc, clearly indicate that there were reasons theses were reserved as state issues.

Low Taxation is another thing Conservatives stand for. So lets just do it. Lets cut taxes so that the people have more money in their pockets, businesses can expand and hire more people and the economy (not the Federal Government) can grow. At the same time we must reduce our spending to the level of the income actually confiscated by the government. It isn't rocket science, some programs, some entire departments will need to be returned to the states. That does not mean that the states will be forced to maintain them either. If a state sees no need for a Labor Relations Department, can it. If the state believes it can manage its forests with 200 people instead of the 500 the Feds have assigned in that state, cut the fat lose. Retaining and returning to the states the responsibilities prescribed in the Constitution does not mean the Feds are shifting the cost along with it. With responsibility comes the ability to be responsible. That might seem crazy, but it's the truth. We all know that there are too many state and Federal employees in most of these departments and bureaus so let's do the logical thing for once. Cutting spending does not have to come first, nor the other way around. It should just be common sense not to spend more than you have Uncle Sam. Just do it.And States, you can reduce your over all expenses as well by not having to answer to all these alphabet soup agencies.

Preserving the Blessings of Liberty of the people, well that is the easiest one of all to ensure. Do the stuff mentioned above and the last one just happens on its own.

Look folks, I am a real honest guy when I say I am an American first, last and always. I am a Conservative American as are most of you. Even if you say you are not, your are just kidding yourself. You don't want Uncle Sam to tell you what to do any more than I do. Where we differ is that you might want Uncle Sam to tell me what to do while still leaving you alone. So don't bother telling me all the good things Progressives have accomplished because most of it is hogwash. We are one people now, sure we may still have our differences but at the end of the day it took Conservative votes to pass equal rights, so don't go all self righteous on me.

You have had control for the better part of 80 years and we are now 13 plus trillion dollars in debt with another 100 plus trillion yet to be accounted for. The easiest and most common sense approach is usually the right one. Eliminating the programs that are bankrupting us ensures we never have to ante up on those debts. People are smart, they will prepare for their retirement if you tell them they are going to need to do so. Insurance carriers will reduce prices if they can be freed from needless regulations and stupid rules that apply to no other industry in the country. I can make a record or a book and sell it in all 50 states, so why can't insurance companies do the same with their products and services? How does that make sense? Power companies need to be publicly traded not publicly regulated as they are now, with thousands of forms to fill out for this and that inspecting agency. Let the states handle it. And if California, Nevada and Arizona decide to work together to build a bigger grid, let them. Don't shut them down because they might have to put a road in to get to new power lines that go past an Indian Burial ground. They aren't interested in digging up the remains.

These are examples of what can't happen right now because of your Progressive legislation. It is stopping us from fully maturing as a nation. We the People are smarter than you think. If we have a bad seed, we will locate them and use the legal system to deal with it. The states are pretty good about that.

But America, we have to decide. Going forward we currently have momentum enough to move the Congress back to our side, the right side, and we can continue to Progress the Conservative Movement.

But what would I know; I'm just an Average American.