Got a letter in the mail from the RNC yesterday. Here's a paragraph I found interesting:
"Your commitment to our core principles of lower taxes, a strong national defense, limited government and individual freedom is the driving force behind our achievements today and our goals for tomorrow."
The remainder of the letter focuses on the danger of a President Hillary Clinton, Sen. Maj. Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi repealing the Bush tax cuts.
Now, I think tax cuts for the rich and everyone else stimulate the economy; I believe, in some sense, in a 'strong national defense' and certainly in 'limited government'; and I may believe in individual freedom, depending on what that might mean in a given case.
But note what is missing: nothing about the importance of the traditional family or the culture of life, the chief reason many of us bother to vote Republican at all.
I'll continue to vote Republican, simply because Republicans in office means social conservatives in more positions of power in government bureacracies, more conservative judges, and so forth. Conservatives can only operate in government when Republicans are in power. That said, it troubles me (although it doesn't necessarily surprise me) to see the RNC focusing on these above-mentioned issues and not others. The letter might as well have come from a Libertarian party.
The RNC writes
Friday May 25, 2007
From a reader:
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Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Cleveland: Rod, I can't tell you how good that sounds. I really was starting to think that you were laying the groundwork for supporting a Pat Buchanan-type candidate in 08, thus splitting the Republican vote again. Alas, Cleveland, read the item again. That's not me writing that; it's my reader, the recipient of the RNC mailing. Me, I don't expect to vote in the presidential election next year, though it is a long time off, and anything could happen.
Claude and Trotsky make good points I hadn't thought of. Perhaps it is a matter of 'direct marketing'...
"Conservatives can only operate in government when Republicans are in power." I question this assumption. Certainly it's not true in the case of judges, and I would argue it's also false in numerous bureaucratic positions (the Federal Reserve, the Pentagon, the FBI, the NSA, etc). Maybe in some bureaucracies it's true, but I'd like to see some examples. How many conservatives were fired under Clinton for their political beliefs?
Sometimes it seems to me that conservatives assume everyone is as partisan as the Bush administration. In my experience, it's not true.
Kit, Thanks for that observation. Let me clarify my poorly worded observation: When we select a President, we're empowering him or her to select his or her administration -- dozens and hundreds and thousands of people who are going to wield a lot of power. In Clinton's case, although he himself could be described as 'moderate', there were a lot of hard-core liberals that got access to the levers of power because he was in office. With Bush in office, although not nearly as conservative as I would like (or, perhaps better, not conservative in the *way* I would like), hard-core conservatives operate in government. Similar situation in regards to the House and Senate. The balance of power affects committee chairpersonships, the legislative process, etc. I guess "can only operate" was too strong, and what I'm saying is that we'll generally have a more conservative government and judiciary when GOPers are in power, as loathsome as the GOP at a given point may or may not be.
But note what is missing Umnnnhhh...how about "smaller Gummint"? For that matter, "individual freedom" is kinda going away, too--see, e.g., the Patriot Act.
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