Celebrating a conservative leader
January 24, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward
25 years ago last Friday, Ronald Reagan was sworn into office as America’s 40th President. He brought with him some important—and at the time, controversial—ideas. He believed that government was not a salve for our economic and social problems. In fact, he believed that government had the nasty habit of making these problems worse. He believed in freedom—in free enterprise, in freedom from Soviet tyranny and oppression. He believed in a strong national defense to safeguard these principles. And, most importantly, he believed in America and the American people.
The Heritage Foundation hosted a celebration of President Reagan’s inauguration on Friday in the Allison Auditorium. The program included a video of his powerful inaugural address where he notably proclaimed that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem” and that “no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”
A reporter from The Chicago Tribune attended the event, and wrote about it on the newspaper’s politics weblog:
The eyes of one woman in the audience at Heritage glistened as Reagan spoke, and when Reagan had finished, there was applause. And one thing was clear: To Heritage, one of Reagan’s strong supporters, the conservative movement he launched is still alive, although increasingly under threat because there aren’t as many true-believing Republicans as they once were.
“Oh, how we miss him,” intoned [Edwin] Feulner, Heritage’s president and the moderator. He criticized Republicans who “give lip service to the Gipper” and his legacy. Though Reagan helped the GOP win control of the White House and Congress, he said, Congress has boosted spending dramatically-something Reagan would have never done. “Frankly, I’m baffled at Congress,” he said.
Ed is absolutely right to be baffled at Congress. Eleven years of Republican leadership have seen a progressive abandonment of the principles of the Republican Revolution as the government expands. We can only hope that the leadership race now underway will recommit the party to conservative values and ideals.
Smaller is better
Congress today is composed of two parties, Patrick Chisholm writes in The Christian Science Monitor: the party of big spending and the party of bigger spending. And this is a victory for the redistributionist left—those who want the government to rob from Peter to pay Paul in the name of “social justice.”
By 2050, according to recent Heritage projections, the federal government will spend almost 20 percent of America’s gross domestic product on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security alone. That’s an astonishing figure, especially since the federal government today spends the same proportion of GDP on all its programs. Congress isn’t helping, either. Our representatives voted to waste up to $80 billion in just the next two years when they added a new entitlement program for prescription drugs. And then they refused to act on Social Security reform—which would have saved taxpayers trillions of dollars in the coming decades.
All of this big government runs counter to the important message in President Reagan’s first inaugural address: “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Conservatives must take this message to heart or the key principles of Ronald Reagan’s administration will be abandoned forever.
Waking up to the problem
Congress, unfortunately, will not take action on its own. Many in Congress, with some exceptions, are unfortunately more than content to maintain the status quo, where a big-spending government attracts special interests eager for a slice of the pie.
In the wake of the recent lobbying scandals, Congress is sure to attempt some sort of “reform” measure that will restrain freedom and ultimately do nothing to get at the root of the problem: lobbyists’ desire for funds. The solution they develop, if early signs are any indication, will be misguided to the extreme. In all likelihood, they will seek to keep lobbyists away from Congressmen, imposing more restrictions on our Constitutional right to petition.
Of course, there will be loopholes, and the special interests will keep coming. This is because special interests consider lobbying a sort of investment, where they make a relatively small payment to a lobbyist and make a huge return in federal funds from Congressmen who are only too happy to throw around taxpayer money. As long as Congress provides, special interests will ask. So the proper solution would be for Congress to adopt spending restraint and stop providing. Turn off the federal spigot and the special interest lobbyists will stop interfering with the government.
How you can help real reform
Let’s not let our leaders get away with superficial reforms yet again. Let’s push them for a real, long-term solution to our problem and finally get spending in check. We’d kill two birds with one stone: end the influence of special interests and ensure fiscal responsibility.
While Heritage has been remarkably effective at getting the message out in the media and on Capitol Hill, we still need your help. So use our Activist Toolkit and get the word out, or chip in and help Heritage spread the word for you.
Terrorizing the terrorists
Last Friday, terrorist leader Osama bin Laden surfaced after remaining silent for more than a year. In a tape sent from his secret hiding place in Pakistan or Afghanistan just days after several of his top lieutenants were killed in a US air strike, bin Laden says the terrorists are winning the war on terrorism and that they’re willing to consider a truce—for our benefit, of course. The Bush administration naturally rejected the “offer.”
But while the tape’s message may seem like more of the same, it’s important that we not forget that we are engaged against a deadly enemy. We still have yet to apply many of the important lessons of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Heritage’s James Carafano lays out some of the most important reforms yet to be undertaken:
- Establish an Undersecretary for Policy within the Department of Homeland Security to conduct program analysis, perform long-range strategic planning, and undertake net assessments
- Reform the way Homeland Security grants are allocated, so that areas most at risk receive the most funding
- Increase Coast Guard modernization funding so dangerous cargoes need not arrive on our shores before being discovered
- Enact comprehensive immigration and border security reform to keep out would-be illegal entrants and prevent terrorists from entering
- Create regional outreach offices under the Department of Homeland Security—as required by the act creating the department
In other news
- The Senate Judiciary Committee is voting as I write this on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The committee is expected to support him on a party-line vote. The full Senate will vote later this week to confirm him. There, too, he is expected to pass along narrowly partisan lines as liberals seek any excuse to oppose him.
- Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, addressed The Heritage Foundation yesterday about his country’s importance in fighting the war on terrorism. He spoke of his country’s need to balance its fight against radical Islamists with the ongoing transition to democracy, which will culminate next year in national elections. Read all about it on MyHeritage.org.
- Canada’s Conservatives won yesterday’s elections and will now form a new government. The new leader, Stephen Harper, is expected to strengthen ties with the United States and revisit his country’s adoption of the Kyoto environmental treaty.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
