A Humble Proposal

Okay, Barack Obama is now president-elect. We are looking at a Democrat-dominated House and Senate. The age of Republican dominance is officially ended. But let's not look on this as an entirely negative development. Every revolution eventually becomes the entrenched bureaucracy - and thus requires a revolution of its own to correct its flaws. The beauty of he American system is that these "revolutions" can occur thru elections and an orderly transition of power.

The Republicans lost for mostly one reason: Americans no longer understand what it means to be a "Republican" or "Conservative." Conservatives came to power preaching small government, low taxes, a strong defense, and strong commitment to Life. They ost power when their President brought about the largest government in history, stopped talking about Life, and over-extended our defensive forces in two wars. As of now, the only ideal that voters associate with Republicans is "low taxes". How can one trust that one ideal to build a government around?

Let me propose 5 points around which to center a rebuilding of the Republican Party. And yes, I am arguing for keeping the Republican Party as a Conservative Party. The order of these points is NOT by priority, but simply by what order they came to my mind.

1. Taxation drives the economy. High taxes will always slow it, low taxes will always stimulate it.

Please note, this is NOT a one-note "Always lower taxes" mantra. It is a statement about how the system works. This allows the raising of taxes in time of War or crisis, with the understanding that the economy will be slowed. But it also points out that when we can lower taxes, we should because it will create jobs and wealth.

2. Human life is precious. From conception to expiration, life should only be taken after due process of law.

This covers being anti-abortion (though allowing for rape, incest, life-of-mother cases, potentially, given due process and analysis), being careful about application of the Death Penalty, and being careful about sending our soldiers to war without a true casus belli and endorsement by the branches of government.

3. In America, political power is distributed between State and Federal hands and given fundamentally by the People. Each should have their own sphere of influence, and stay out of the spheres of influence of the others.

This means a rollback of so many Federal mandates over non-Federal issues. It reinforces that all Rights lie fundamentally with individuals, and that the Nation has no inherent right to take any right away. It is all by social compact. Let the States run education, morality laws, etc. Let the Federal government run defense, manage interstate business, etc. Let the people live their lives. Stop trying to solve all problems with whatever office your party happens to own at that moment.

4. The primary role of the Federal Government is to provide for a common defense and ensure domestic tranquility.

Maintain a strong army, which does not merely mean a large army. Take care of our soldiers. Do not expend American lives in discretionary wars (i.e. no preemptive wars). Be slow to join battle, but once joined the battle must be fully-funded and supported.

Focus also on rebuilding and strengthening such shops as FEMA and the Treasury Department. These are critical to getting thru crises and for maintaining an even keel for the country.

All other priorities for the Federal government should be secondary to these two. That includes such hot-button issues as Social Security, Health Care, Education, etc.

5. Checks and balances are essentially to the operation of our government. We should look to strengthen these checks, not weaken them, at all times.

Forget the insanity about invoking Executive Privilege to avoid Congressional inquiries and invoking Congressional Privelege to avoid Judicial inquiries, Mr. Vice President. States should be actively checking Federal power. Congress should be actively checking Executive power. The Courts should be actively checking Congressional power. The Press should be actively checking ALL power. The People should be actively checking the Press and its own representatives. We are a nation OF the People, and should never let any one man/woman/office become the be-all, end-all. We should consider such moves as more term limits and not allowing any office-holder to vote on their own compensation as ways to keep these checks and balances working.

There is my list. What do Mod-Bloggers think? Did I go too far? Did I miss anything? How would you rebuild the Republican party?