Bailing Out – Part 2 – Conservative Revival

In my last post I discussed leaving the Republican party. How we can regain a viable conservative party? I would like to propose the following premise:

A majority of Americans are conservative and hungry for true conservative representation. Look at the Reagan revolution and support he received. Listen to the talk show and blogosphere chatter. Consider the outrage over the Harriet Miers nomination. Look at McCain’s rating trends when he moves to the right. My pulse on the country is that people are eager to support true conservatives.

Point #2: Faced with no seemingly viable conservative choice, American’s support the lesser evil. George Bush and John McCain are a case-in-point. Candidates such as Ron Paul generate some excitement, but in the end very few votes.

What are the challenges in play, the roadblocks to electing true limited government conservatives?

• Neo-conservatives
• Fear of the media
• The corrupting nature of power
• Gaining inertia behind the right candidates and overcoming the fear of a wasted vote

What alternatives do we have to the current status?

• Third party
• Retake the Republican Party

Third Party? I like the Libertarian Party. I’m a card carrying member, I’ll be voting Libertarian. I encourage everyone to listen to the Cato Institute Daily Podcast and read up on Libertarian philosophy. I think breaking the two party system would be great for America. But there are significant challenges. Bad connotations to the party. Much energy/money is expended simply getting candidates on ballots. We need systemic change to allow easier ballot access. We need to get the media on board to gain access to the debates. We need grassroots movements to gain Congressional representation.

Retake the Republican party? This is an intriguing new idea brought to my attention. The battle may be too large for the third party route and people are not ready. But if the neo-cons took over, why can’t we take the party back? Ron Paul gained much more visibility as a Republican candidate rather than a Libertarian one. Figureheads such as Rush Limbaugh will never jump ship to a third party, but would clearly support a Conservative revival. What if we recruit Libertarian and staunch Conservative candidates to run on the Republican ticket? There are a lot of smart, solid people out there who we could potentially recruit to run for office.

A Plan of Action

I have many questions in my mind, but I want to pursue the above options. I’m considering starting an organization to revive conservatism. Or perhaps something already exists, I would be interested to hear. I’m considering a website for people to discuss the problems and perhaps form small “committees” to hash out potential solutions and plans of action. Perhaps this goes nowhere, but I’m interested to hear thoughts.