Submitted by Christopher W. Arledge
 
The Republican Party seems destined to suffer its second consecutive crushing defeat.  Democrats will likely have a charismatic young president and huge majorities in both houses of Congress.  The Left rejoices, arguing that the American people are about to take their side in a resounding referendum against conservatism.  And commentators of all political persuasions believe this may prove to be a nation-defining election, that Barack Obama may, like a latter-day FDR, re-shape this country in dramatic and lasting fashion.  It may be time to ask: Is there still hope for conservatives in America?

Conservatives, of course, take pride in realism.  Unlike liberals, we are skeptical of any (worldly) schemes to perfect man or achieve an earthly utopia.  We seek only to protect -- to conserve -- those institutions and ideas best proven to secure order and guarantee liberty.  Thus, for a conservative, there is no point in pining for a world that does not exist.  If America is about to lurch to the left, following in the footsteps of its western European cousins, we conservatives have little choice but to preserve what we can from the powerful forces of liberalism, which champion amorphous change over caution and good intentions over the lessons of history.  If nothing else, we must, in the words of the father of modern American conservatism, "stand[] athwart history, yelling Stop."

But I suspect there is much we can still accomplish.  We must start, of course, by recognizing the importance of fighting for conservative principles.  This probably sounds obvious; but judging from the GOP's recent history, it must not be.  President Bush, though undoubtedly conservative in his personal life and not without some conservative political instincts, ran on a platform of "compassionate conservatism" -- apparently to distinguish his philosophy from the cold-hearted, unforgiving conservatism favored by the rest of us.  In reality, however, compassionate conservatism was little more than squishy conservatism striving for popularity: by watering down conservative principles to make them more palatable for a public thirsting for goodies such as prescription drugs, we get substantial growth in the federal government, but we also establish a permanent Republican majority.  Well, we got one out of two.    

And now conservatives turn to Senator McCain, a man with a remarkable biography and love of country ... and one who has spent the better part of his political life self-righteously poking conservatives in the eye on the major issues of the day.  Senator McCain is undoubtedly more conservative than Senator Obama -- talk about grading on a curve! -- but he has failed to articulate any consistent conservative message over the course of his campaign.  It was probably too much to expect the self-proclaimed "maverick" -- defined as unreliable to conservative causes and inherently unpredictable -- to be an effective champion of conservative ideals.  But if 2008 really is to be a referendum on conservatism, it would be nice if we at least had a conservative spokesperson to make our case.  Instead, our champion seems to believe that the fundamental prerequisite for the next president is the ability to "reach across the aisle" - that is, work with Democrats in Congress.  But if this election is a referendum on a candidate's ability to work closely with Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer, we might forgive the American people for thinking that Barack Obama is a more logical choice.

Conservatives must also recognize that while this is still a center-right country, most voters are pragmatic with their politics.  Unless a majority of voters understands that liberalism undermines the foundations of this country and threatens what makes it special, the "free" goodies of liberalism will always be a sweet temptation.  
Because the current election is dominated by economics, we should begin there.  Democratic governments always run the risk of degenerating into a system of plundering the wealthy to enrich the masses.  There is certainly a taste of such class warfare in the current election, with the Democratic candidates lambasting as pro-wealthy a system in which the top 5% of wage earners pay 60% of the tax burden and where about 40% of the people pay no federal income taxes at all.  And, indeed, many people are attracted to the promise of government benefits, especially when they are struggling, and most especially when the promisor makes clear that only other people will foot the bill.

But America is different than most other countries in a way that should give conservatives hope.  Never having had a rigid class system, this country has always been a place where hard-working people can go as far as their talents will take them.  This optimistic belief in upward mobility is so widespread that it spawned its own slogan: the American dream.  Most Americans don't want to punish the rich; they want to join them.  And most Americans truly believe that they -- or at least their children -- can do just that.  That is why we should not be intimidated by the liberals' economic demagoguery.  The American people are nervous, and they are attracted to federal-government goodies; but they do not buy into the pictures painted by liberal politicians, who speak as if the slums of a Dickens novel came to life eight years ago and took over our country.  As conservatives, we must make clear that liberalism's redistributionist tendencies result in bad outcomes for the middle and lower classes by reducing economic growth and job opportunities.  We must also make clear that punishing success threatens the American Dream itself, because a drift toward socialism and reliance on government support means that voters and their children can never achieve the upward mobility and financial success for which they work so hard.

Conservatives must also teach the American people that liberalism is, at its core, a philosophy dedicated to undermining the traditional social institutions that support our country.  Liberals deny the importance of social issues, trying to minimize their biggest electoral weakness by calling it a distraction, and writing books to figure out why the knuckleheads in Kansas continue to vote against their (alleged) economic self-interest.  But the fact remains that liberals are on the attack against traditional religion, family structures, and even the idea of America itself, and the
American people are rightly troubled by that fact.  

Unlike most nations, Americans are not joined together by a common culture or ethnicity.  Instead, we are joined by an idea.  In Lincoln's words, this nation is an experiment in self-government.  Liberalism threatens the experiment in two ways.  First, liberalism seeks to sacrifice the shared values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence on the alter of multiculturalism, a belief that the traditional American way of life is not special, and that the only worthy philosophy is that of "tolerance."  Hence liberals scoff at conservative warnings that unlimited immigration without assimilation is a threat to the American way of life.  But in a country where the people lack a common heritage, language, or philosophy, what allows us to avoid a Balkanization of the nation into warring interest groups that simply share geographic territory?  Liberals sidestep the question and scream "Xenophobia!", but they have no historical examples for their assertion that disparate peoples united by nothing can live in harmony.  And with the American way of life at risk, faith in liberals' unproven vision is a risky proposition.    

Second, by undermining and attacking Americans' faith in our founding and historic creeds, liberalism threatens to destroy our best hope for true equality and progress.  The greatest of the liberals, thinkers like Dr. King, pointed to America's founding and the principles enshrined in our founding documents as checks to waiting to be cashed.  They saw America as a nation of great promise that had not yet lived up to its ideals.  Yet too many modern liberals reject America completely.  Jeremiah Wright's anti-American tirades are a glimpse into modern American liberalism.  Supporters of Senator Obama called any discussion of Wright a distraction from the real issues.  It was anything but.  Once we reject America as that shining city upon a hill, as the last best hope for mankind, we have nothing left but a fight over the spoils between the races and classes.  This is precisely what Jeremiah Wright promotes.  Conservatives must fight to oppose it.   

Likewise, in seeking to free people from what they see as the stifling influences of traditional religion and morality, liberals threaten to undermine the social institutions and norms that made this nation prosperous and free in the first place.  We can already see the effects of liberalism in our broken families and astronomical illegitimacy rates.  Undeterred, liberals continue the assault on religion in the public square, re-writing the constitution to convince Americans that it must be strictly separated from the state, and in their attacks on traditional family arrangements.  The breakdown of the family has had and will continue to have dire consequences for our nation.  Yet liberals insist on attacking the traditional family in the name of "equality," all for the benefit of a small segment of the population that is already free -- without any additional legislation from representatives or the bench -- to live in their own preferred arrangements without interference.

Finally, conservatives must continue to persuade the American people that liberalism is a threat to America's security.  For many decades now, liberals have been unreliable supporters of American strength and willing enablers of dictators and terrorists worldwide.  And of course they would be.  If you see America as a nation founded in racism and sexism, one which hypocritically proclaims ideals to which it never has and likely never will live up, then it is no wonder that you mistrust American military power.  It is also no wonder that you find moral equivalence between America and its leaders and all the other nations on earth, no matter how odious.  The natural consequence of liberals' tarnishing of America is an inability to see the American way of life as worthy of defense.  Those who scream "God damn America" from the pulpit or cheer such declarations from the pew are not likely to stand up and defend America, especially when so-called allies refuse to support us.  Instead, liberals look to world opinion to offer validation that a racist, imperialistic America needs.  

Liberals' lack of faith in America probably explains their remarkably, seemingly unlimited faith in diplomacy.  Because America's own failures cause many of the world's problems - and certainly cause most of the anti-Americanism and anti-American policies we encounter - liberals seem to believe that we can reform the world and end its divisions simply by talking nice to our enemies.  Or maybe by electing a president who spent time in southeast Asia.  If only this were true.  But conservatives understand that war is not necessarily the consequence of a failure to sit around a conference room.  Armed conflict has been the norm, not the exception, for all of human history, and it is unlikely to go away anytime soon.  If we rest our security on the naïve belief that the whole world yearns for peace, that every world actor is a rational decision-maker sharing our satisfaction with the current international borders, our desire to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, and our support for human rights, we should get ready for disappointment.  Simply put, there are states and powerful non-state actors that do not share our values; and some of them want to strike and hurt us.  

Liberals have not taken such challenges seriously, not since the party of Truman became the party of Carter.  Conservatives must continue to explain to the American people that the world is a dangerous place, and we must have the resources and the will to protect ourselves.  This means we must not give in to liberals' unending calls for drastic cuts in military spending.  For many years, the greatest force for peace and freedom in this world has been the American military.  A world where the American military is led by liberals who mistrust American power and are skeptical of America's intentions and goodness is a world where ruthless aggressors have the freedom to enact their evil machinations, to the detriment of liberty-lovers everywhere.


Mr. Arledge is a partner of the law firm Turner Green Afrasiabi & Arledge LLP. His e-mail address is carledge@turnergreen.com.