Somebody say I told you so

Or I thought about titling this post " I don't want to be right"

The talk for 2016 has started, you see news stories in the political sections talking about what will the conservatives do in 2016 or is Hilary going to run.

The key is to keep 2014 out of the hands of the extremists. If we want to put in place a conservative agenda, we need conservative leadership who will stand up and capture a much larger audience. The liberals are driving an agenda that is just detrimental to the long term health of this country. And right now they have the ears of the general populace.

There are three fronts conservatives are losing.

One is the audience. Young people don't get the danger of run away spending. And they don't pay attention to financial matters. Congress has lost credibility with much of the country and conservatives are being blamed. It is all of Congress, but right now conservatives are taking a much larger hit with the people. I have said this in previous posts, but we have to recruit middle class minorities with a strong message that gets through to them that they are going to lose what they have gained if ultra liberal polices continue. The message needs to show the long term advantage of conservative fiscal policy, reduced spending and by doing that we can lower taxes. Too long Republicans have said we need lower taxes. Just saying it nowadays is not a message. We need to show how it works. And the spending has to be reduced. We need that to happen to start balancing the budget. And everyone wants a fair, but understandable tax code.

The second is social agenda. This is pro life, this is pro family, and this seems to be anything in general that supports Judeo Christian beliefs. Kids today are being taught in all forms of media (music, press, movies, TV etc) that you don't need a value system. I try to teach the kids you don't condemn the sinner, you condemn the sin, but nowadays sin seems to be glorified. It is like no one gets life is a gift and we should cherish it. You don't have to be perfect. That isn't expected, what is expected that you respect what has been given and find your purpose. And the social agenda is where we can capture the middle class minorities. They still believe in strong family values. Most come from strong families that laid a foundation for them to become successful. We spend too much effort trying to change laws, when really we should be trying to change hearts. If we educate to values, we won't need to legislate.

The third is defining conservatism. Extremists on the right are driving an agenda that has conservative verbiage, but takes away the ability to accomplish anything. Politics is always going to have some give and take. We have to move the agenda to more practical matters in government, but if people think all conservatives are obstinate, then they won't want to work with us. Most Americans still are moderately conservative. Right now though they feel conservatives don't represent them. And this is because liberals are acting like the more practical group. Conservative politicians really should be the more practical group, but with extremists defining the agenda and Republican leadership kowtowing to them the majority of this country is under represented.

Americans by and large are still a driven people. They want success. They want to feel their voice is heard. They want a responsive government. Conservatives need to show that a responsive government is not a super large government, one that isn't in their life 24/7. People want security, but we have to lead the charge that security does not mean we give up our rights. Conservatives need to push the agenda that the federal government is not the way to solve all problems. We need to offer alternatives and right now this is one of the conservative's weakest points. There is absolutely no creative juices running through conservative politics. The times are changing and we need to adapt our means to accomplish our goals. This means new ways to solve problems. Again people want responsive government, they want government to solve problems because they are being taught that through decades of growing government intrusion in our lives. We need to show that problems can be solved bottom up or through individual initiative. And again this means being creative.

So please tell me I am wrong, that we can muddle through with what we have been doing for the last few years and everything will be all right. Or if I am right and we don't change we can kiss conservatism and our country good bye.

So if the Republicans don't want to do it, bring back the Progressive Conservative party, more commonly known as the Bull Moose party. I am telling you, it is uncanny what that philosophy would mean now.