"Let us be true to our traditions." This was the last sentence in a recent editorial by Zbigniew Brzezi5fski, national security advisor to Jimmy Carter. Conservatism is in a sorry condition when a Republican president must be admonished to respect America's traditions. Under the leadership of President Bush, the Republican Party has transformed conservatism into something bizarre and unrecognizable.
Many rational conservatives have retreated, hoping that a second coming of Ronald Reagan will revive the party. This wishful thinking will get us nowhere. In order for conservatism to redeem itself, reform must come from within. We must actively fight within the party.
Conservatives must rollback the egregious errors of the Republicans currently in power. To accomplish this, some, such as the "It's My Party Too" PAC, have argued for a more moderate tone and bipartisanship. While I do not discourage bipartisanship, it is definitely not the cure for our current woes. Bush teamed up with Sen Ted Kennedy to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, which has been an unmitigated disaster. No Child Left Behind is a one-size-fits-all solution that emphasizes testing, not learning. It straightjackets teachers into preparing kids for exams, forcing the teachers away from experimentation in the curriculum.
Conservative solutions should emphasize individual innovation, not increased bureaucracy. We need to decentralize power, not concentrate it further.
The problems of the 21st century are too big and too complex for the government to continually extend its reach. A real conservative will start a business instead of joining an advocacy group like HEAT. The solution to global climate disruption (a real problem) is more innovation, not more regulation.
Some people call for a carbon tax, but we should first remove the perverse subsidies given to oil companies that keep the price of oil artificially low and prevent new energy products from competing on a level playing field. We should also remove the tariffs on ethanol. Conservatism should embrace the 21st century embodiment of the frontier spirit: the entrepreneurial spirit. Yet for the Republicans now in power, there is no space in which the federal government ought not intervene -- not in our state's private affairs, or even in our bedrooms.
Therein lies the problem affecting the Bush Administration and its ideological sympathizers. They are statists, and incompetent ones at that. In every instance, they have aggrandized the role of federal government. For example, in the case of Terri Schiavo, Congress illegitimately interfered with the sovereignty of a state. The current crop of Republicans would not recognize federalism if it hit them in the face. Even Bill Clinton reformed welfare to give states more control, and with relative success.
Besides this radical statism, the Bush Administration has dabbled in outright tyranny. Instead of working with the international institutions that fought Saddam in the first Gulf War and effectively (but not perfectly) contained him for years, Bush instituted a new upside-down foreign policy in which the US serves as the world's judge, jury and executioner. To so callously toss aside international law spits on the graves of those who worked so hard for peace in the wake of World War II. Neoconservatism is so profound a departure from traditional American values that it cannot conceivably deserve the moniker of conservatism.
Furthermore, Congress has begun to undermine basic civil liberties such as habeas corpus, which dates back to the 12th century. Suddenly, this is conservative? America requires the security of our venerable institutions of justice.
In the face of such an insidious threat to tradition, campus conservatives cannot afford to retreat to the halls of academia. Nor can we hold hands with the ACLU and forget about partisan politics. Instead we must more vehemently become partisans. The goal of campus conservatism must be to fight the extremists and hacks that have poisoned our party and are poised to relegate us to minority status for a generation. We need to organize a faction of liberty within the party.
The dissidents are many, but we are scattered. Recently Secretary of Defense Robert Gates went before Congress and asked them to find a way to close down Guant87namo Bay. Are the torture-apologists going to tar him as a white-flagger as they have done to others? We are the real conservatives, horrified by the increase in governmental power.
Throughout the nation, various groups have sought to establish their particular brand of hackery and radicalism as the new conservatism. They find their own candidates to run in the primaries. They are organized and strong, and they will only get stronger if nothing is done. If we want to recover our brand of conservatism, we will have to organize and combat the statists. It is time to fight. Vive le counterrevolution.
Shawn McDonald is a sophomore from Union City, Calif. He is the president of the College Republicans.
