The election’s upside for conservatives
November 9, 2006| By Nathaniel Ward
Liberals and their allies in the media have been quick to describe Tuesday’s election as a defeat for conservatives and a rejection of conservative policies on both domestic and international issues. They’re wrong.
“Tuesday’s election results, though undoubtedly humiliating to partisan Republicans, did nothing to repudiate the core principles of modern conservatism,” Heritage vice president Mike Franc writes in today’s Baltimore Sun. “In fact, most conservatives view the shift in power on Capitol Hill as a golden opportunity to reassert the timeless conservative principles that so many Republicans seem to have forgotten: limited government, low taxes, a judicial branch that strictly interprets the Constitution, and a strong national defense.”
In many ways, the election was a vindication of conservative ideas and a rejection of those who talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk. The electorate, upset by huge increases in government spending and a perception that many so-called conservatives sought only to remain in power, booted out those who betrayed their principles.
- Among those in Congress who lost their seats were many conservatives who lost their way and turned towards big government. Reps. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Clay Shaw (R-FL), who helped author the awful Medicare prescription drug entitlement, were among the “moderates” who were evicted by the electorate.
- Many nominally conservative Republicans who lost their seats focused their campaigns not on their conservative principles but on bragging about the pork they brought home. Their arguments were not persuasive.
- Conservative voters were the deciding factor in many races as they turned to Democrats after finding Republicans no longer represented their values. Franc notes that in the Senate races there were more conservative voters who supported right-leaning Democrats than there were liberal voters who backed conservatives who abandoned principle to take the “middle ground.”
There are already signs that the Republicans are drawing the right lesson from their defeat. Many party leaders are talking about getting back to basics and returning to the conservative principles that have guided them for so long. This is where Heritage comes in: it’s our job to remind them what those principles are and to help translate conservative principles into conservative policy proposals.
With the announcement that Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) will not seek to be minority leader, a new crop of conservative leaders in the House of Representatives is aiming to return the party to its conservative roots. Mike Pence (R-IN), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, has announced his challenge to John Boehner (R-OH) for the top leadership post, and conservatives John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) have announced for minority whip.
Franc advises conservatives on Capitol Hill not to be “afraid to stand firm for an agenda of limited government, low taxes and a strong national defense. The American people will be strongly behind you.”
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.