What I'd like to see in a Presidential Candidate
Like many conservatives, I'm not really thrilled with the present batch of Presidential candidates. I would gladly line up behind any candidate who would deliver a speech like the following (but hopefully better written):
Conservatism has unfairly received a black eye over the past few years. It's not that conservatism has been tried and found wanting, but that conservatism has been found wanting to be tried.After all, is it conservative to embark on the largest expansion of federal entitlements since the Great Society?
Is it conservative to embark on foreign nation building?
Is it conservative to oversee a huge increase in federal spending?
Is it conservative to create a massive new federal bureaucracy in the name of Homeland Security?
Is it conservative to enact the most sweeping centralization of education in our nation's history?
Is it conservative to double funding for a government arts program?
Is it conservative to reward those who are in our country illegally with our great privilege: citizenship?
Is it conservative to refuse to police our borders, especially at a time when we know there are people seeking to sneak into the country to do us harm?
Is it conservative to pass legislation restricting the rights of the people to influence elections?
In the almost twenty years since the retirement of Ronald Reagan, we've had two Republican President covering almost 12 years, and the most conservative President we've had in that time was probably Bill Clinton. After all, he reformed welfare, expanded free trade and declared the era of big government over. Our current President has brought back big government with a vengeance.
As your President, I will seek to restore government to its proper limits and focus on the true role of our national government: protecting our borders, providing for the general defense and protecting our freedom. Any other responsibilities just take our eye off what is truly important.