The Conservative Edge

This past Thursday marked the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CAPC). Apparently, the conference was not a typical meeting dominated by Republican themes. Rather, many previously small and insignificant groups became more vocal and influential during the day’s proceedings.

The backlash against the big-government machine being piloted by the Obama administration has given voice to smaller, grass-roots organizations that are less concerned with typical moral issues like abortion, and more focused on runaway government spending and tax increases. This is probably beneficial to the conservative movement as a whole, and should be part of the Republican Party’s overall vision. The idea of a smaller, efficient government that primarily concerns itself with protecting the country, the country’s currency, the American economy, and the rights of individuals should be embraced by the GOP.

But somehow, the Republicans have forgotten how to emphasize the goodness of those principles, and have chosen instead to hack away at certain pieces of Democratic legislation, or at certain members of the Democratic Party. They have presented themselves to the public as being just as partisan and dogmatic as their opponents.

Hopefully, the voices of the various organizations that participated in Thursday’s conference can help refocus the sight of the Republican Party. Ned Ryun, founder of an organization called American Majority, observed that “The conservative movement has been stuck for so long in this idea that good ideas will win out. But good ideas won’t implement themselves without effective organization. Bad ideas with good organization will always win out over good ideas with bad organization.”

This is the major failing of the Republican Party. They have many of the right ideas, but can’t communicate them to the American people. Ronald Reagan was the last great Republican speaker; he was able to associate himself, his ideas, and his party with the things we envisioned as good about America. That is what the Republicans need right now; someone that can eloquently present the virtue of their form of governing, not just some adolescent attack on a Democratic straw man. Maybe the CPAC gathering can be a new beginning for the Grand Old Party.