Social Conservatives and Economic Conservatives Need Each Other

As the Republicans found in the last election, you can’t be corrupt and you can’t spend like a liberal and expect the American people to support your political party. It was a combination of corrupt politicians and free spending Republicans that cost Republicans the election.

The Reagan coalition was born out of two distinct paradigms coming together to build a powerful political coalition that for a time gave Republicans the Congress and Whitehouse. One paradigm was the social conservatives that believed God and morality were the fabric that held a society together. The birth of the Moral Majority brought social conservatives together from both political parties under the tent of the Republican Party. Ronald Reagan embraced the social conservatives and their agenda and he was swept into power as a result.

The other paradigm was the economic conservatives that believed in limited government, fiscal responsibility and a free economy. These were the Wall Street types that understood how a healthy economy should run. Reagan embraced the economic conservatives and the Reagan’s tax cuts and economic policies resulted in the economy to flourish. What both sides had in common is the belief in a strong military and national defense. The coalition of social conservatives and economic conservatives binding together as one ushered in the Reagan era.

As time passed each paradigm began to think that it was their side that was solely responsible for the Reagan years and the coalition fractured. Social conservatives began to treat the coffers of the US Treasury like the church house. In their compassion to help people they broke the bank with new entitlements like the prescription drug benefit and out of control spending. Instead of controlling spending they compromised economic conservative principles and created massive deficits and the people spoke back at the ballot box.

On the other side the economic conservatives concerned more about money than morality abandoned the moral principals and concerns of those that understand that a prosperous nation without a moral compass will fall into immorality which will destroy a nation and its people. The social ills that exist in the country have everything to do with morality and nothing to do with money. The economic ill that our country is experiencing is a result of economic policies and over-spending.

This year’s crop of Republican Presidential candidates illustrates the rift that exists between these two groups. You have several candidates that are strong economic conservatives, but are either social liberals or only pay social conservatives lip service. You have one true social conservative ( Huckabee) that embraces social conservatives but whose economic conservatism is in question. Which ever candidate that figures out that they need both social conservatives and economic conservatives to win, will have the best chance to the nomination and Presidency.

If they don’t figure it out, the Democrats will win the White House and the Congress. If they do figure it out that social conservatism and economic conservatism once again united is a powerful political force to recon with and more importantly is best for our country.

Christopher Hitchens Attacks Huckabee and His Supporters

Every time I hear Christopher Hitchens speak I think of the Bible verse, the fool has said in his heart no God.” I recently read an article in which Hitchens attacks the media for not going after Mike Huckabee because Huckabee said it was up to the people of South Carolina to decide their flag debate not his. In his article Hitchens said of Huckabee, “Gov. Huckabee is the self-anointed candidate of the simple and traditional Christian folk who hate smart-ass, educated, big-city types, and if you dare to attack him for his vulgarity and stupidity and bigotry, he will accuse you of prejudice in return. What he hopes is that his neo-Confederate sickness will become subsumed into easy chatter about his recipes for fried squirrel and his other folksy populist themes. (By the way, you owe it to yourselves to watch the exciting revelations about his squirrel-grilling past; and do examine his family Christmas card while you're at it.) But this drivel, it turns out, is all a slick cover for racist incitement, and it ought not to be given a free pass”. He concludes his article in part by saying Huckabee, “appeals to the uneducated racists and losers and to the fools who believe that Adam and Eve were real (and recent) people”.

While I am confident that racism, bigotry and prejudice exists in the small minds and hearts of a minority of people in this country, trying to castigate a whole state of people as racist over their support of the historical meaning of the confederate flag having everything to do with state rights and nothing to do with support of slavery demonstrates the ignorance of Hitchens. Support of owning slaves has long since passed and it is where it belongs, in the trash heap of American history. To be clear, owning slaves was never right, it was always wrong and to give Hitchens a little history refresher, it was the “simple and traditional Christian folk” as he refers to Christians as, that helped end slavery. It was that Martin Luther King Jr., a Christian that advanced civil rights in this country.

What Christians hate is not intellectual, educated, big-city types, but the proud and arrogant ramblings of someone that claims to be an intellectual but if fact is nothing but a mean-spirited and hateful man that neither understands the Christian faith or the people that practice its faith. For Christopher Hitchens to speak to what he thinks is the hearts of Christians is what galls people. When you know your heart and its motivations and have people like Hitchens paint you as a dumb, ignorant racist, bigot makes Christians blood boil. Christopher is so consumed by his hatred and personal bigotry that he in reality is the living example of the people he claims to loath.

Mike Huckabee is not a racist, he was not catering to racist and he rightly did not fall into the South Carolina flag trap. Some blacks see the confederate flag as a banner for slavery. The majority of people see the SC flag as a symbol of state rights and southern heritage. Outside of the handful of racist loons, the vast majority of people want to see the black community prosper and enjoy the great opportunities that America has to offer. The confederate flag debate is for the people of SC to decide, not a Presidential candidate.

Fred Thompson Should Bow Out

Fred Thompson is a consistent conservative who picked the wrong time to run for President. He was late getting into the campaign and America's conservatives had already began to move toward Mike Huckabee. I like Thompson and thought he did well in the South Carolina debate until I heard the next day who he had supported for President during the Reagan years.

It was a little disingenuous for Thompson to go after Huckabee for not being a true Reagan conservative when Thompson in fact supported Gerald Ford in 1976 and Howard Baker in 1980 and not Ronald Reagan. I think Huckabee only has to point that fact out at every turn in South Carolina to counter-act Thompson's attacks. Had Thompson joined the race early on, he would have been no doubt one of the conservative front runners, but sometimes in politics timing is everything.

My hope is to see Thompson drop out and his votes go to Huckabee. I believe Huckabee is the most Regeanist conservative we have in the field and would have the best chance to win in November. McCain and Romney are out on the stump talking conservatism but seem to me to be way late in the game championing conservative principals. Rudy Giuliani is currently nowhere to be found. Ron Paul got more votes than Rudy in Michigan.

I will say that any of the Republicans that ultimately win the nomination would be far superior to any of the Democrats but this is the time far Republicans to pick their horse in the race and support then until the nomination is decided. After that you will see Republicans rally around the Republican nominee in order to defeat any of the democrats.

Huckabee's Fair Tax Plan

Mike Huckabee's Fair Tax Plan is the most innovative and forward thinking tax plan that has come out since the Reagan era. Huckabee's tax plan replaces a complex taxation system that places the burden of taxes on individual productivity with a tax system that places the burden on taxes at the point of spending.

Huckabee's Fair Tax says, earn all you want and pay taxes when you spend. The Fair Tax also provides a built in rebate system for low earning and poor individuals by rebating them for the taxes on groceries, medications ect. Since states already have a mechanism for collecting state sales taxes, the feds can easily have the states collect the national sales tax and sent it on to Washington DC.

The proposed tax would be 23%. You spent $100.00 and you will pay $23.00 in a national sales tax. If your salary is $1,000 then you will receive a paycheck for $1,000. You pay taxes only when you spend. If you think 23% is too high or too low, then the beauty of Huckabee's plan is that is the only tax that we Americans can squabble about on the federal level. We no longer will see all these hidden taxes taken from our paychecks and it will be up to elected officials to divvy up the revenue for whatever programs they deem necessary from the 23%.

Politicians for too long have tickered with the tax code for political gain. Huckabee's plan is the right eway forward and as more and more people examine it honestly, the more and more it makes great fiscal sense. It puts taxation back where it belongs and that is in the hands of the people.

Rush Limbaugh is Wrong About Huckabee

Rush Limbaugh is a great conservative. He has done more to advance the conservative ideology than virtually anyone on the planet. It is not often I disagree with Rush, but when it comes to saying that Mike Huckabee is not a conservative he is simply wrong.

It is true that gas taxes were raised in Arkansas by three cents a gallon which Huckabee and 80% of the public supported. As a conservative American, there some things that the government should do with my tax dollars. One is to protect its citizens from both foreign and domestic enemies. This includes defending our citizens against criminals and foreign powers. Another legitimate role of government is to ensure that we have a solid infrastructure of good roads, highways, bridges, sewer and water systems. As a benevolent society having a limited safety net for those who can not survive without help is a compassionate thing to do. Collectively supporting the concept that our society is better off if all its citizens have the opportunity to a quality education are are all conservative principals.

Conservatives believe in a limited role of government, strong national defense, low taxes, restrained spending, promotion of traditional family and moral values. Mike Huckabee believes in all those principals. For Rush to say he's not a conservative because he does not apply those principals in the same way Rush would is unfair. Saying that Mike Huckabee is not a conservative is like saying Rush is not a conservative because Limbaugh has been divorced several times and been hooked on pain pills for a time in his life. What would be fair is for Limbaugh to say Huckabee is a moderate to slight of center economic conservative, but to say he is a liberal is simply not true.

Rush Limbaugh is a great American and he does a great job of defending and articulating conservatism, but in the case about Mike Huckabee this is one time is simply wrong. Mike Huckabee is a conservative. He may may not be as right some would like him to be on some issues, but he is by definition a true conservative.

Mike Huckabee has something else going for him that the others candidates either do not have or have to a lesser degree. He has the ability to take his brand of conservatism and inspire people. We often mention Ronald Reagan. What made Ronald Reagan so effective is that he inspired Americans with his ability to reach people at their souls and then solidified that passion with his conservative values. Mike Huckabee does the same thing for many people.

I think after years of being told by Democrats that America is bad and the source of the world's problems, Huckabee's appeal is that he as the ability to make Americans feel good to be Americans again. As Reagan Mike Huckabee brings with him a conservatism that is inspiring.

I wish Rush would re-evaluate and realize that Huckabee is one of us. True conservatives.

Could It Be Huckabee and Obama?

Hillary is in a free fall and Democrats by the score are enthusiastically jumping off the Hillary train to support Obama. Hillary is having a melt down and may not survive past super Tuesday.
Democrats are asking themselves why support Hillary when they can support a guy who holds to the same policies as Hillary but doesn't come with all the baggage the Clinton's will bring to the general campaign.

Obama is likable, full of fire in his belly and he inspires his base. Hillary is non of the above and when given a clear choice, Obama seems to be their guy. Obama is a honest liberal. Hillary talks out of both sides of her mouth and people are sick of it. What worked for Bill isn't working for Hillary because Hillary is no Bill Clinton.

On the other side there is the come from nowhere guy Mike Huckabee that is doing for the Republican base what Obama is doing for the Democrat base. Huckabee is likable, has fire in the belly and inspires his supporters. Huckabee's appeal swings between social conservatives, moderates and independents. As with Obama, he says he is the agent of change.

Both men are men of integrity and would rather inspire people to vote for them instead of attacking the other person. Both the Republicans and Democrats are starting to embrace these positive strategies and time will tell if it works.

If Huckabee and Obama win their party nomination it will shape up as a classic contest between classic liberals and traditional conservative political philosophies. Americans may have the opportunity to examine the philosophies of each party without the personal character attacks. This would be good for America. I believe if this is the case, then Mike Huckabee will be the next President.

Although Obama is a good guy, his policies would be disastrous for our country. My hope is that America has such a debate and these are two guys whose appeal crosses party lines that can make their cases for their respective points of view. This race is getting exciting.