Conservatism ... true conservatism, is rooted in the American Revolution and declared in the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution. The belief that rights are inalienable (not granted), and that the federal government must remain limited to what is enumerated in the Constitution.
This battle, this battle over our God-given rights from the chains of monarchy did not end with the Revolution. It's a battle that carries on today. We our it to our forebears, who sacrificed so much. And we owe it to ourselves, our children and grandchildren ... It's time to rebuild the Republican Party.
During the 1960's, the hippies may have become hooked on the knuckle-headed belief of "freedom through coercion," bringing us today's Big Government and it's inevitable, unsustainable budget. But there was something else going on politically too ...
It was Barry Goldwater, along with his book, "The Conscience of a Conservative." Published in 1960, it went on the become the best-selling political manifesto of the 20th century! He reaffirmed the Jeffersonian conviction that a government which governs best, is a government that governs least, and he declared collectivism (communism) to be a dangerous evil. Articulating the views of our Founder's and the nature rights, he stated in the book's introduction:
The root difference between the Conservatives and the Liberals of today is that Conservatives take account of the whole man, while the Liberals tend to look only at the material side of man's nature. The Conservative believes that man is, in part, an economic, an animal creature; but that he is also a spiritual creature with spiritual needs and spiritual desires. What is more, these needs and desires reflect the superior side of man's nature, and thus take precedence over his economic wants. Conservatism therefore looks upon the enhancement of man's spiritual nature as the primary concern of political philosophy.... Man's most sacred possession is his individual soul.
Goldwater didn't win the White House, but he won back the spirit of America. And it wasn't long after, that his general platform found it's way to the White House. Because, in 1980, Ronald Reagan - the Gipper" was elected President of the United States in a landslide victory. Finally, true conservatism was back! Or so we thought ...
