RochesterConservative.com

By Peter Ferrara
The American Spectator

As we close out a disastrous 2008, a year in which Western
Civilization essentially suffered a nervous breakdown,
conservatives now must turn to two fundamental goals. First, we
must stop the destructive policy initiatives of the Obama
Administration and the liberal left now ruling in Washington
(first prediction for 2009: the loony, far left Congress will
consistently make the ultraliberal Obama Administration look
moderate by comparison). Secondly, we must lay the foundation for
our political comeback. Here is what we must do to achieve these
goals:

Return to the Grassroots

First and most important is to build up mighty, grassroots
networks across the country. This is something that
conservatives must do, not Republicans, who need to work
on their own grassroots party network. Conservatives have become
too good lately in lecturing Republicans on what they must do. We
need to lead by building a powerful political movement, and the
Republicans will then naturally follow.

The radical, liberal-left agenda is tailor made for generating
grassroots firestorms in opposition. Included in that agenda is
national legislation to remove all state restrictions on
abortion, all parental notification, waiting periods, informed
consent, and partial birth abortion restrictions. Instead we are
slated for taxpayer funding for abortion on demand. Another beaut
is national legislation to remove all state protections of gun
rights, such as conceal and carry permits. Then there is the
federal takeover of health care, the federal shutdown of proven,
reliable energy production, global warming regulation to shut
down what is left of the economy, the “fairness” doctrine to shut
down talk radio, and national legislation to take away workers’
rights to a secret ballot election to determine whether they will
be forced into a union in their workplace. That last item also
includes forcing union contracts on businesses, small, medium and
large, in place of the current system of free negotiation.

And we haven’t even gotten to tax increases yet. Nor the trillion
dollar deficit Obama will propose in his first budget, which will
increase federal spending to the highest levels in peacetime in
U.S. history, by far.

Conservatives don’t need to wait for national leadership. Just
start an activist grassroots network in your own locality. This
consists most fundamentally in gathering lists of names, phone
numbers, and emails of those in your area who will take political
action to fight on one or more of the above issues, and others
that will arise (Senator Patrick Leahy’s court packing plan, for
example). Political action means first and foremost
communicating, to neighbors, family and friends,
privately and publicly. Public communication is pursued through
media outlets (letters to the editor, press releases,
commentaries for local papers, complaints to the media by phone
or in writing, induced media coverage), public forums and
meetings (showing up with signs, loud protests, and speaking
where that is allowed), contacts with elected officials (by
phone, email, or in person), and public protests by the activist
group itself.

The group’s leadership would communicate with members through
newsletters and action alerts, informing them about the issues,
and about what is going on in Washington. This would be enhanced
by meetings primarily involving attractive social gatherings at
least once a month, which will build the spirit and cohesiveness
of the network. An informative speaker at such events would help.

During campaign season, such groups would grow into fundraising
networks, sources of campaign volunteers, and get out the vote
drives, for candidates that support the group’s views. Don’t be
shy about participating in politics. That is your right which
many have fought and died for. The Left is not shy.

Most people are politically inactive except for showing up to
vote, or maybe providing campaign contributions. So even a group
of 20 active members is a political force. You can form such
groups out of your existing social network, including friends
from your church or even your union. But don’t try to formally
affiliate with your church or union, or ask them for permission
to form your own group by contacting people you know. Also, don’t
pick a name for the group that suggests radical, inflammatory,
revolution. The style should be moderate, informational,
competent, professional. The substance should be vintage Reagan.

Conservative leaders must organize state, regional, and even
national networks of such local groups, reaching into every
congressional district in the country. State, regional or
national conferences would add to the punch. This grassroots
organizing should be in addition to existing organizations
dedicated to pro-life, gun rights, and taxpayer issues, which are
all to the good, but more is needed.

Conservative politics and issues will not revive until we return
to the people and build a mighty grassroots force.

Communications Networks

Successful politics is all about communicating the message.
Because most of the media has now turned to the left, and is
controlled by the Democrat party, this is a special challenge for
conservatives. The numerous conservative think tanks,
publications, and talk radio shows are the foundation for
success, and the main reason we are not about to go into a long
period of left-wing, Democrat dominance like the New Deal. But
more is needed.

The grassroots networks discussed above would help greatly with
the communications challenge. Conservative think tanks should
look to communicate in part through these networks. Conservative
intellectuals should look to tour the country speaking to such
groups.

But there needs to be an additional, special focus. There are
about 80 congressional swing districts now mostly represented by
Democrats, especially Democrats who campaigned as conservatives
to defeat incumbent Republicans. A special communications network
needs to be set up for these districts. Local newspapers, radio
stations, TV news people, local talk show hosts need to be
identified for each such district. They then need to be targeted
for commentary submissions, interviews with conservative policy
experts, local speaking engagements by such experts, etc. These
districts should also be a special focus for grassroots
organizing.

Facts and analysis on the key contested issues in Washington
should be poured into these districts. But most important would
be how the supposedly conservative local congressional
representative is voting in Washington, what bills he or she is
sponsoring, what he or she is saying in Washington and elsewhere
out of the district.

Any conservative organization can take the lead in identifying
the local media contacts in these districts, and then making that
network available to other conservative organizations. In fact,
any think tank or other conservative organization can set up its
own op-ed columnist syndicate to compete with the Copley News
Service, Knight-Ridder, and other columnist distributors.
Ideally, the organization would develop relationships with op-ed
page editors across the country, including at the local papers in
the key congressional districts, as well as at major newspapers
nationwide. A well-known, big name conservative affiliated with
the organization could tour these newspapers to help establish
and solidify such contacts.

The Tax Opportunity

The central promise of the Obama campaign was to cut taxes for
the bottom 95% of income earners. Obama stated in one of the
debates that if you were in the bottom 95%, “your taxes will go
down, not up.” Conservatives must now enforce that campaign
promise.

The minute Obama or anyone else in Congress proposes to raise
taxes on anyone in the bottom 95%, conservatives must explode,
calling on Obama’s own campaign promise in opposition. This is
key to stopping massive expansions of big government, because the
government is not going to get much additional revenue trying to
tax the top 5% even more. It is also the key for a conservative
comeback.

Undoubtedly, some on the left will argue that everyone breaks
their campaign promises. Conservatives would be foolish to let
them get away with this. Such an argument would effectively take
our democracy away from us, for how can we tell who to vote for
except through what the candidates say and promise during their
campaigns? How can we vote for the policies we want if candidates
can just dismiss what they said once elected? George Bush Sr. was
voted out of office because he broke his pledge not to raise
taxes. Conservatives must now try to do the same to Obama, and
the liberal-left congressional majorities.

And we do not need to be shy about what constitutes a tax
increase. An individual mandate requiring workers to buy health
insurance, which Obama explicitly opposed during the election, is
a tax increase on the bottom 95%. So is a carbon tax or cap and
trade global warming regulation that would directly raise the
price of energy and its use, including electricity, gas, and
maybe cars. In fact, global warming regulation is another factor
that will be powerful in bringing down the Obama Administration
and the liberal-left majorities, with its high costs and
disastrous economic effects. Conservatives need to be alert to
pounce on this as well.

What we need to avoid on taxes, and other issues across the
board, is the strategy of the smart surrender, giving in to
policies we oppose in order to make them less bad. Too many
conservatives are arguing now for adoption of a carbon tax to
fight global warming, and to shift our economy from oil, gas and
coal use, with the new tax revenues to be offset by tax cuts
elsewhere. This ultraliberal Congress is not going to offset any
new tax with other tax cuts. Wave a dollar in front of the noses
of this band of pirates and thieves, and they will immediately
spend two. We need to fight and win, not lose by falling for less
bad defeats. Indeed, the more brilliant we are in achieving these
less bad defeats, the longer the liberals will dominate in
office.

Global warming and the carbon tax are perfect examples of the
biggest problem with the strategy of the smart surrender. The
intellectual and political tides are already turning against the
big lie of global warming. Even the lefty European public is
showing now that it is not willing to bear any significant cost
for this fairy tale. That will be so much more true for the
American public, even more so with the weak economy. But if we
spend our resources focusing on smart surrenders on this issue,
we will get the surrender just when victory is at hand.

Socialized Medicine

The biggest threat conservatives face from the now ruling liberal
left is a new, massive, overwhelming entitlement in the form of
national health insurance. Once such a giveaway is adopted, it
will be very difficult to reverse, more so than the rest of the
Obama liberal-left agenda. This will mean not only massively
higher taxes and spending. It will mean also the destruction of
our health care system, as investment in both human and physical
capital, meaning the best in doctors and surgeons, as well as new
high tech medicine, medical equipment, and drug therapies, is
driven away by big government control squeezing out profits and
opportunities for economic gain in health care.

Conservatives must focus all their energies on this battle, which
is the one we are now most likely to lose. The key
vulnerabilities include taxes, given that a real, new health care
entitlement will require a massive increase in taxes on working
people, violating Obama’s campaign promises. The other big
vulnerability is precisely the disastrous effect of such a system
on health care quality. The loss ultimately of all consumer
freedom and control over health care to the government and its
rationing schemes was a powerful argument as well in stopping
Hillary’s health-care takeover.

The Positive Agenda

Of course, conservatives will need a positive agenda as well,
besides just opposing what Obama and the left want to do. But we
don’t need a lot of new ideas here. Our substantive agenda is
intellectually well developed and sound. And a lot of the
supposed new ideas for conservatives we are hearing about these
days are not good.

The fundamental theme for conservatives is freedom and
prosperity, including the freedom for those who believe in
traditional religious and moral values to live their lives in
accordance with those values. For long-term political success,
the emphasis needs to be on economic growth, because that is what
moves conservative political support from the mid-40s toward 60%,
enough for a governing majority.

The agenda includes tax cuts consistent with these themes. We
should counter the Obama tax plan based on redistributive tax
credits with a middle class tax cut based on reducing tax rates,
which is what creates real incentives for economic growth. The
middle class 25% federal income tax rate should be reduced to
15%, which would leave 90% of workers with a 15% flat tax (some
with an even lower rate).

The outdated and uncompetitive federal corporate rate of 35%
should be reduced at least to 25%, if not the 19% recently
adopted by Germany and Canada, or the highly successful 12.5%
rate adopted by Ireland. The top individual income tax rate
should be reduced to 25% as well. Capital gains tax rates should
be half these individual rates, if not reduced all the way to
zero, as capital gains involves double taxation.

Even better would be an innovative flat tax reform designed for
maximum political appeal, not revenue neutral but a net tax cut.
The long-term agenda also includes eventually phasing out the
payroll tax with the benefits now financed instead through
personal investment and insurance accounts.

We already have developed alternatives that will provide the
safety net for health care the public demands, without a
government takeover of the entire system. An intellectual and
political backlash is just beginning to sprout against the costly
global warming fairy tale, and conservatives should ride that
tidal wave, rather than cave in to the fallacy now. Conservatives
should also aggressively promote production of all forms of
energy, including drilling for oil and natural gas, and extensive
building of new nuclear power plants, to provide low cost,
reliable energy supplies. This will promote economic growth, and
benefit consumers with lower prices. On the union power grab
through national card check legislation, conservatives should
ride the backlash as well by promoting the positive ideal of all
workers being free to choose individually whether they want to
join a union or not (national right to work). I believe union
overreaching now will make this appealing and just ideal
politically popular.

Fighting with passion and insight, we can knock the Left from
their perch in two years, and return to power in four.