July 10, 2007 | By Nathaniel Ward

How conservatives can prevail

To make the case for limiting government and defending the nation, conservatives in Congress should recommit to their core principles, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said today at The Heritage Foundation.

Government, he said, should secure the nation’s borders, rein in government spending, ensure that individuals and not bureaucrats run health care, enact a sound energy policy and “trust the American people with decisions on how to spend their money.”

Speaking in Heritage’s Lehrman Auditorium, the House Minority Whip explained that conservatives must make the intellectual case for these reforms. “Winning the argument based on the strength of our ideas has become increasingly important.”

“Too often [when conservatives were] in the majority, the need to govern became more important than the results of our work,” he continued. This meant that conservative ideas often fell by the wayside in favor of more political concerns. Important projects like entitlement reform became increasingly difficult, especially compared with the bipartisan consensus that formed in the late 1990s for welfare reform.

Blunt stressed the importance of defending the country—and he insisted that “securing the border is part of defending the country.” In addition, America must enact policies to defend itself from terrorist threats both at home and overseas—including in Iraq, where “the front lines of the struggle can be found.”

On domestic matters, he attacked the ever-increasing size and intrusiveness of the federal government. Government today interferes in its citizens’ lives from before they’re born until after they die, he said, citing a litany of programs.

“Most of those things aren’t the job of the government at all,” Rep. Blunt said, “and if they are the job of the government they’re certainly not the job of the federal government.” Worse still, government limits individual freedom. On everything from education to health care, “when government pays the bills, government makes the rules.”

But turning the tide on these issues in Congress will take a return to conservative ideas. “It’s easy to oppose big government in the abstract,” he said, but when it comes time to act, special interests have been effective in blocking essential reforms.

Fortunately, members of Congress may be getting the right idea. “Conservatives in the House are renewing their commitment to their principles,” Blunt said to conclude his remarks.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.