Why Move To The Left Now?

A lot of Conservatives, myself included, have been unhappy with Bush’s “democrat-lite” domestic policies. Bush has abandoned all fiscal restraint, created a gargantuan new homeland security department, is adding a budget busting prescription drug benefit, has supported steel tariffs, doesn’t want to repeal the assault weapons ban, supported the unconstitutional campaign finance reform, wants illegal alien amnesty, and has even been wishy washy about Affirmative Action. In short, other than his tax cuts and the limited standards he slipped into the bloated education bill, Bush’s domestic policy has been mediocre. So mediocre, that if it were not for his staunch prosecution of the war on terrorism and his dedication to tax cuts, I’d prefer to see him lose in 2004 rather than have a country club Republican in the White House who for the most part doesn’t represent my views. Of course, I can’t in good conscience go that far since I believe that putting a Democrat in the White House would quite possibly lead to hundreds of thousands of American deaths down the road because the Dems total inability to do what it takes to defend our country in the war on terrorism.

But you know what really kills me about all of this? I honestly believe that Bush is significantly more conservative than his policies would lead you to believe and that he’s taking all these left-leaning positions that are bad for our country simply because of triangulation, because he believes thats what he needs to do to win.

To me, that’s the most ridiculous thing of all. Just think about it. In 1980, Ronald Reagan (who was MUCH more Conservative than Bush) won in a landslide against Carter. Then he followed that up by destroying Mondale in 1984. In 1988, Bush Sr. crushed Dukakis by claiming that he was continuing Reagan’s legacy. Then in 1992, with Perot sucking off his base and after breaking his “no new taxes pledge” & proving to be much more moderate than people expected, Bush Sr. went down to Clinton.

But in 1994, the GOP took the House largely because of the Contract With America. Some of you may have forgotten how unabashedly Conservative that document actually was. It promised votes on term limits, getting rid of the baseline budget, loser pays laws, no US troops under UN command anywhere in the world, a repeal of the marriage tax, welfare reform, & a three-fifths majority to raise taxes.

Unfortunately, when that agenda wasn’t carried out as it should have been, the GOP lost some seats in the house, but again we had proof that a conservative agenda could win and win big on a national level.

Now fast forward to today. The GOP controls the House, Senate, Supreme Court, & has a majority of governorships and state legislatures. While the left still controls the newspapers, network news, & 2 of the 3 Cable News channels, talk radio, Fox, & the net have helped Conservatives get their message out in a way Ronald Reagan could have only dreamed of. Moreover, the country has continued to move to the right and 9/11 only speeded-up the process.

Given all that, why move to the left now???? I know the answer to that. They’d say, “It’s triangulation. If we do that, we have a slightly better chance to win elections”. Excuse me, but shouldn’t Republicans be trying to get elected so they can implement a conservative agenda that makes America a better place to live? When we have politicians, like George Bush, like Bill Clinton, who view getting elected as an end unto itself, and who act like “republicrats”, then how can we blame people for being cynical & not voting? Not only do conservatives deserve better than what George Bush has been doing domestically, America deserves better. Bush needs to start showing the same sort of guts and courage on the domestic front that he has in the war on terrorism if he truly wants to be a great President.

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