Conservatives Must Return to Their Roots

Despite the recent results of the November 3rd election, the Republican Party remains as fractured as it ever was. The victory of conservative candidates, and the rejection of socialist-democratic values, aren't so much the results of a change in the GOP as they are a stunning disatisfaction of President Obama's agenda and what is felt as a betrayal of moderates and old school conservatives by the Democratic Party.

If the Republican Party desires to return to it's pre-eminence, it must first return to it's foundation and rebuild itself using paleo-conservative, or Old School Right values.

Although it claims otherwise, the Republican Party is not a true conservative organization. It's embracement of right wing extremism, militarism, and disregard of the Constitution is what drove out many of the real conservatives from the party. They left because the Republican Party embraced values which did not fall in line with the old school definition of conservatism.

It is my opinion that the victories last Tuesday will only be short lived unless the GOP comes up with real alternatives to the Democratic Party's platform. They cannot rely solely on the use of rhetoric heard so often on the airwaves from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. To truly be triumphant, the Republican Party must re-embrace paleo-conservatism.

According to Thomas Fleming, the basic position of paleo-conservatism has

has always been twofold: 1) a recognition that man is a social and political animal who cannot be treated as an "individual" without doing damage to human nature. In this sense libertarian theory is as wrong and as potentially harmful as communism. The commonwealth is therefore a natural and necessary expression of human nature that provides for the fulfillment of human needs, and 2) the modern state is a cancerous form of polity that has metastasized and poisoned the natural institutions from which the state derives all legitimacy—family, church, corporation (in the broadest sense), and neighborhood. Thus, it is almost always a mistake to try to use the modern state to accomplish moral or social ends

Russell Kirk, one of the most widely read, modern paleo-conservatives,

argued that most government tasks should be performed at the local or state level. This is intended to ward off centralization and protect community sentiment by putting the decision-making power closer to the populace. He rooted this in the Christian notion of original sin; since humanity is flawed, society should not put too much power in a few hands. Gerald J. Russello concluded that this involved “a different way of thinking about government, one based on an understanding of political society as beginning in place and sentiment, which in turn supports written laws.”

The belief that the government should not be centralized can be found in many anti-federalist writings of the 18th Century. Anti-Federalism is, of course, at the core of paleo-conservative beliefs extending from government to culture as well

In general, this means that different regional groups should be able to maintain their own distinct identity. For example, Thomas Fleming and Michael Hill argue that the American South and every other region have the right to “preserve their authentic cultural traditions and demand the same respect from others.” In their Southern context they call on citizens to “take control of their own governments, their own institutions, their own culture, their own communities and their own lives” and “wean themselves from dependence on federal largesse.” They say that a concern for states' rights, local self-government and regional identity used to be taken for granted everywhere in America. But the United States is no longer, as it once was, a federal union of diverse states and regions. National uniformity is being imposed by the political class that runs Washington, the economic class that owns Wall Street and the cultural class in charge of Hollywood and the Ivy League.

The public, with the exception of a very small, but loud and well financed, minority, doesn't want handouts given to them as much as they want opportunity. They want jobs that will help them put away money which will only aid their families. As for family, Americans don't want a radical restructuring of the family unit, as Democrats do, as much as they want economic stability to traditionally raise their family in. This is what Americans want but it's not what they are getting. Instead of opportunity they are being given given false hope and promises which will never be kept. The Democratic Party is nothing more than a snake oil salesman. As much as the election last Tuesday hinted at a growing dissatisfaction of the Democratic Party's agenda, it also showed that the GOP still has ways to go before it can truly consider itself a threat to the leftist Dems.

What the GOP is doing is just throwing kindling on an already raging fire. They aren't adding anything to the platform they had in 2000 or even 2004 and 2008. People are getting tired of hearing the same re-tread again and again. The only way the GOP can truly ressuciate itself is by returning to it's roots, otherwise, the Party is nothing more than a tree, poorly planted, which will only wither and die