Chance Litton

The voters have spoken and Senator Obama is going to be our next president.  The debate over what the Republicans need to do in order to be competitive in two years is already raging.  The big question is: should the Republicans abandon free-market capitalism, individual liberty and limited government or return to those core conservative ideals?

Those that blame economic freedom and deregulation for the economic crisis and the Republican loss are the same people who have driven the party into the ground.  The neo-con movement that has focused all of their policies on military adventurism and “conservative” social engineering will try to stay in power within the party by pointing the finger at true conservative values - those held by the founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution.  They will interpret the loss as a call from the American people for bigger government and more socialist policies.

The fact is Americans are no more socialist than they were eight years ago.  The problem is that the Republican leadership failed to live up to their rhetoric.  They had the power to reduce federal spending and limit the scope of government, but instead they expanded it and made the cowardly decision to sacrifice liberty for temporary security.

True conservatives are beginning to awaken after eight years of following the emotional and reactive policies of the departing administration.   They must refute the policies of interventionism in both foreign affairs and domestic.  They must insist that the federal government return to sane fiscal policy.  They must look to leaders like Congressman Ron Paul, who tried to show the way forward in the primaries and was shut out by the media.  Most importantly, the Republican party must admit to themselves and to independants that they went astray.  Otherwise, any promises they make will ring as empty as the promises that were discarded by the last administration.

The decision on the future of the Republican party will lay with the mainstream base of the party.  The new president and his significant majorities in both houses of Congress will quickly enact new statist policies.  Just today, Senator Schumer stated:

“The very same people who don’t want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air. I am for that… But you can’t say government hands off in one area to a commercial enterprise but you are allowed to intervene in another. That’s not consistent.”

I have not heard a more ringing endorsement for the cause of liberty.  Everyday Republicans have to understand that their leaders’ attempts at social engineering and concentrating power in the hands of the president are now going to backfire.  The new party in the White House will use these new powers to force their own worldview on the rest of us.

The next few years are going to hurt, but all is not lost.  Let us return to a platform of limiting the power of government, of celebrating individualism and freedom, and let us repudiate our faith in the political elite to effectively intervene on our behalf at home and abroad.  If we do this, we can become a real alternative to socialist Democrats and we can unite under the banner of liberty.