So, evidently my invitation to sit on the Fox panel tomorrow night as a moderator asking the “the chosen” Presidential candidates hard hitting, serious questions got lost in the mail.
More’s the pity.
I don’t know about other movement conservatives – as opposed to faux conservatives – but I’m as sick of 30 second sound bite answers from both our candidates and our supposed leaders, as I am sick of these so-called “commentators” steerage of the process.
This gets back to a longstanding belief that genuine conservatives have completely lost the definition battle since Reagan, and now we have “squatter conservatives” that are camped out on certain catch-phrases that they know appeal to the vast majority of the Republican Party that self-identify as conservative. They know they will rarely have to defend them.
Many of these politicians start out lying to us about who they are, so if they get elected they have had plenty of practice. My personal favorite is, I’m a small government conservative.”
During the 2014 election cycle herds of congressional and senatorial candidates used that phrase saying they’d defund Obamacare, stop Amnesty, control the wild spending – blah, blah, blah. How’s that working out for us?
Losing the “definition war” has consequences; we had Romney calling himself a “serious conservative.” Dubya called himself a “compassionate conservative.” McCain was a “real conservative.” Dole was a “common sense conservative.”
These pretend conservatives do it, of course, because they know they can get away with it. The “commentators,” most of whom make a living talking about these folks, let them slide for the most part, because it’s their business–not a passion to see traditional or constitutional polices and values prevail.
Here are the top six questions and follow-ups I prepared in advance for tomorrow just in case that invitation shows up late:
- Will you support U.S. sovereignty by enforcing existing law that already requires improved border security and barriers to stop illegal immigrants coming across the southern border? Can you support a moratorium on legal immigration for a period of time that will allow a serious reevaluation and public debate on the immigration selection process itself, assimilation of existing immigrants into our culture, and creating a functioning “real time” system that tracks visa entrants? Will you support curtailing H1B “work permits” being used as a “business model” to reduce labor costs by replacing existing American workers?
- Will you support either a Flat Tax or Fair Tax system that dramatically reduces the complex, inefficient and counterproductive tax code once and for all; and will you support a massive reduction of the bureaucratic “footprint” of the IRS and insure that it cannot punish political organizations or churches? Will you support a dramatically reduced corporate tax rate, currently the highest in the industrialized world, so that U.S. domiciled corporations can compete. Can you support a tax holiday that will allow the repatriation of several trillion dollars of foreign earnings by U.S. companies sitting off-shore, because they would be “double-taxed” if brought into the U.S.?
- As a “limited government” conservative, what cuts in actual spending will you support, over and beyond “cuts in future growth” or baseline spending? What specific federal agencies are you willing to reduce or eliminate; Energy, Education, Commerce? Are you willing to cut the budgets of the EPA and other agencies that have implemented extra-constitutional programs that directly affect the average citizen? Will you support the Congress in using the power of the federal purse to control the Administrative State, and rogue departments, agencies and courts that are working at odds to the will and consent of the governed? Are you willing to work for a return of historically normal budgeting process for federal spending, and ending the process of omnibus spending bills that allow politicians to avoid accountability?
- Will you support a re-evaluation of existing trade agreements enacted since NAFTA, determining whether there is reciprocal treatment of each nation’s tax laws and entrance into the trading partner’s economy, and that there are not hidden tariffs, such as consumption taxes or value added taxes that disadvantage American companies?
- Will you support a substantial expansion and modernization of military hardware and defense preparedness; while demanding that the Department of Defense begin a process of reform in its own regulations that have become increasingly adversarial to traditional American values, and end the persecution of faithful Chaplains?
- Will you defend the Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment, and pursue policies that support and defend traditional families and the right to life of every human? Will you support the traditional and historical role of faith in our national life, and the defense of the Judeo-Christian ethic in the American marketplace, as one of the most important requirements in promoting and maintaining a virtuous and civil society?
I’m thinking that in case that invitation doesn’t show up I better be ready with some popcorn and a glass of wine Thursday night.
