A Revolution is an Offensive Thing
Written by PeacockWatch on November 7, 2010.
Through some unknown means, Progressives have an institutional memory and a long term plan which they have been steadily working at for the past one hundred years. They have had grand achievements along the way: a progressive income tax, Social Security, Welfare, Aid for Dependent Children, Medicare and Medicaid, and their latest achievement, government run healthcare. Yet, for the most part, it has been the constant stream of little things that has paved the way for the big things. Similar to the constant drip, drip, drip of water upon rock, great canyons can be formed over long periods of time.
Conservatives, on the other hand, by definition, really have no forward looking goals. They are stuck with a life role of perpetual defense, defending the Constitution and the thinking of our Founding Fathers, defending the status quo. They have no real plan other than defending the line of scrimmage. Independents, and many in their own party, push for more accommodation, more “reaching across the isle”, so they give up a yard here and a yard there, and oops, the other team has scored a touchdown. They have no plan, only the dogged task of trying to defend. They ARE the Party of NO.
This lopsided game, played over a hundred years, has yielded a country and government that would not be recognized by our Founding Fathers. It has taken us to the precipice of socialism and a failing, if not failed country. It has placed us on the path taken by so many countries before us, and all have ended up in the same miserable place. Misery surely loves company, so Europe has welcomed President Obama with open arms.
The Republicans have now taken back the House and picked up six seats in the Senate, a tidal wave by historic standards. The voters have said that they want a reduction in spending and in the size of government, but they did not vote so much for Republicans as much as they did against the Obama agenda of European style socialism. Yet, Americans are an inpatient lot, and the Republicans will fail without a radical change in their playbook.
It took a hundred years to get here, and our country will not be restored overnight. Further, it will not be restored using the same defensive strategies that Conservatives have employed for the past one hundred years. In short, the historic roles must be reversed. The Republicans must become the Progressive party and go on the offense. Such a move would force the Democrats into the role of conservatives, i.e., attempting to preserve the gains they have made and thereby blunting their offense.
The Republican Party must unite and articulate what they stand for, and what their objectives are. At the same time, they must inculcate in the party the same institutional memory and long term game plan that the Progressives have been so good at over the last century. As sure as the sun rises, they will be thrown again out of the majority, but in power or out, they must keep working at their plan, being ready to strike when opportunity presents itself. As the Progressives are fond of saying, they must “keep their eyes on the prize”. There are no short term fixes to the problems we have created over a long period of time.
What might these objectives look like? Here, in no particular order, are Peacock’s top ten priorities.
I. Tax Reform
II. Social Security Reform
III. Healthcare Repeal and Reform
IV. Shrink the actual size of the Federal Government
V. Reclamation of power by the states
VI. Election Reform
VII. Elimination of government unions and collective bargaining
VIII. Foreign Policy coherence and consistency
IX. Immigration Reform and secure borders
X. Statuary limits upon spending
Peacock will be exploring each of these objectives in depth in future articles.
