MEMO TO CONSERVATIVES: THE FIGHT IS JUST BEGINNING

by Richard A. Viguerie

The time has come for conservatives to move on, to shift priorities, and to work to elect conservatives at all levels now and in the years to come.

For too long, conservatives have done most of the work necessary to elect Republican candidates, but, once elected, most of those Republicans have ignored conservatives’ concerns or have opposed conservatives outright.

These Republicans have taunted us: “What are you going to do? Vote for the liberal Democrats? Calm down and grow up, and keep supporting us even while we trash you and people like you and much of what you believe in.”

However, there is a third course – neither blind loyalty to an arrogant, out-of-touch Republican Establishment nor acquiescence in the election of liberal Democrats. We can shift our priorities to electing principled conservatives, and let GOP anti-conservatives fend for themselves.

We can stop – stop! – providing any support to organizations and candidates that do not follow conservative principles. For example, no conservative should give a penny to the various Republican campaign committees at the national level. Let them rely on the country club Big Business wing of the party, whose interests they represent and whose candidates they give most of their support. (Don’t worry; they won’t starve.)

Conservatives’ resources are finite. We must stop supporting the Republican Establishment, and, instead, support the principled conservatives who need and deserve our help.

This is a long-term strategy, rooted in this reality: It is from the ranks of the lower public and party officials that most future conservative leaders will come – perhaps, someday, another conservative president in the philosophical image of Ronald Reagan.

Last week, a mainstream conservative, State Senator Andy Harris, unseated U.S. Representative Wayne Gilchrist of Maryland in the Republican primary. (Gilchrist was elected in 1992 as a mainstream candidate but had moved toward the radical left.) It wasn’t the first time Harris challenged an incumbent liberal Republican; that’s how he won his state Senate seat in the first place.

Across this country, there are outstanding conservatives like Andy Harris who are running for Congress or state senate or some other office. For example, Woody Jenkins, who narrowly lost a U.S. Senate race in 1994, is running for Congress in the March 8 special election in Louisiana.

Unfortunately, in the presidential campaign, the GOP has once again rejected the strategy that won 44 states in 1980 and 49 states in 1984: the strategy of uniting social, economic, and national-security conservatives behind a conservative presidential candidate. But that doesn’t mean that conservatives should or will sit on their hands. It just means that, in 2008, they will shift their work and their resources to conservative candidates up and down the line. And, in November, conservatives and Establishment Republicans, and pro- and anti-McCain Republicans, can come together to elect those conservatives who are running on the Republican ticket.

It is in the races and political futures of Andy Harris and Woody Jenkins and leaders like them that conservatives should invest their time and effort and money, this year and for the foreseeable future.

For conservatives to finally come to power – with conservatives in the White House and in the majority in Congress and in state legislatures and in other offices – will take a long time. Right now, we have a thin bench. We don’t have the county committee members who can run for county chairman, the county chairmen who can run for state chairman; we don’t have the city council members who can run for state representative and then state senate, the state senators who can run for Congress or for governor, the governors or senators who can run for president.

It will take six to eight years to rebuild the conservative movement, and at least that long for conservatives to hold both the White House and the leadership positions in Congress and at other levels. It is not a journey that will be completed overnight, but it is a journey we must begin today.

If you are a conservative, don’t just complain. Do something.

First, don’t assume that your representatives at various levels in party positions and public office are conservatives because they say they are, or because they use conservative rhetoric. Plenty of politicians who know how to sound conservative. There are many “sort of” conservatives who, in their hearts, believe in the conservative philosophy, but are just not willing to rock the boat. It might make them look bad; it wouldn’t be prudent. The kind of conservative leader we must raise up is someone whose record demonstrates a willingness to take on the party Establishment and make every honorable effort to beat them.

Become a delegate to your party’s county convention, state convention, or national convention, and encourage like-minded people to do the same, including family members and friends, neighbors and co-workers, and fellow members of religious or civic groups. If you can’t be a delegate – if, say, the filing deadline has passed – attend anyway if you can, or learn how the process works so you can be a delegate the next time.

Consider running for party office or public office. Don’t fail to run just because there’s an incumbent in place, or because some other person is already running. Even if you don’t win this year, you can pave the way for future victories. Who knew, when an obscure history professor named Newt Gingrich lost races for Congress in 1974 and 1976, that he would one day be the first conservative Speaker of the House?

If you do not run yourself, recruit someone else to run, or find someone already running whom you can help. Contribute financially, help raise money, and otherwise get involved as a volunteer.

Begin to build an organization – something that can be as simple as a mailing list or a telephone list of people in your area who agree with you on conservative issues. Get some political experience, and help other conservatives get experience; the greatest advantage that the Establishment has is that its members know little things like when meetings are going to be held and what opportunities for political advancement are available. (Sometimes a small effort can have a major impact. I know of one city where most Republicans are conservatives, but the Establishment makes sure that only a few people – their kind of people – know when the meetings are held to pick the candidates. A few hundred phone calls or e-mails by conservatives before each such meeting would be enough to fix that problem.)

Yes, conservatives will not have the White House for the next four years. But any one election – even a presidential election – is just one battle in a long, long war. Conservatives must follow the advice of Winston Churchill: Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.

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