Edwards’ Tome Proposes Rebirth of Principle Following Bush Debacle
By Nathan R. Shrader
Just as Paul Revere rode through the Massachusetts towns of Arlington, Somerville, and Medford in April 1775 sounding the alarm of the British advance towards Lexington, former Congressman Mickey Edwards (R-OK) has issued a powerful, succinct warning about the mounting troubles within our nation’s system of governance. Edwards has also constructed a reasoned, legitimate prescription for how to restore the soul of the conservative movement which once stood guard to defend American liberty, privacy, and freedom.
Published in March 2008 by Oxford University Press, Edwards’ Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost—and How It Can Find Its Way Back first crossed my desk shortly before Thanksgiving, just as pundits and experts were still critiquing the reasons for the continued thrashing of Republicans ranging from the 2006 midterm elections to the defeat of McCain-Palin-style big government internationalism. The timing of my discovery couldn’t have been better.
Dissecting the crisis within the American conservative movement and the Republican Party, Edwards reminds readers that American conservatism is the natural continuation of European liberalism of the likes of John Locke and John Stuart Mill and a rejection of what is known as European conservatism that sought to safeguard the power of the crown. Edwards contends that American conservatives once stood for several basic principles: a focus on individual rights, resisting concentrated power, ensuring that power is not used to advance favored interests, prudence, and most importantly, is a freedom-centered value system.
These principles, contends Edwards, have been lost during the years between Newt Gingrich’s rise to power in Congress and today, replaced with a commitment to blindly advance the goals of the Republican Party rather than holding true to the philosophical goals of freedom, peace, individualism, community, rule of law, justice, restraint, and limited power. In essence, Edwards proposes returning to the key principles championed by the Founding Fathers who sought a clean break from the European style conservatism of old and its ethnic nationalism, powerful executive or monarch, religious fundamentalism, and minimal focus on the individual.
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Political Grind Updates
Hi All,
Just wanted to let all of you know of a recent update to the PoliticalGrind.com site. Most of the updates are back-end updates which will improve usability and speed for our readers and authors. We will have a new design/layout after the new year!
For all our readers - Our comment system was converted back to the Intense Debate system. While we had been a beta tester when the system was initially being developed, it is now much faster and easier to use.
Post any comments/questions in the comments below.
Enjoy!
Remembering Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll
Catherine Baker Knoll’s election as Pennsylvania’s 30th Lieutenant Governor marked the election of the first female executive in state history. Lieutenant Governor Knoll’s sudden passing on November 12 marked the end of a political era in the state and presents the opportunity to look back on a remarkable career of public and political service.
Despite the best efforts of many excellent political writers to recap Knoll’s career in the days since her passing, there is a glaring and noticeable aspect of her life absent in the news coverage: Catherine Baker Knoll did not succeed as a candidate or elected leader simply because of luck. Her success was a result of decades of complex, difficult work that was marked by two crushing primary defeats in 1976 and 1984. This ultimately led to the establishment one of the most powerful, lasting electoral coalitions in state history.
Shortly after her term as State Treasurer expired, an editorial was written in the Tribune Review chastising Knoll’s tenure in that position. A high school student at the time, I did some basic research to prove the editorial wrong and wrote a letter stating the facts. After the letter’s publication, I received a personal phone call from Knoll—whom I had never met before in my life—thanking me for sticking up for her. That simple phone call began a lengthy friendship that led to many hours discussing strategies to get young people to participate in the political process.
In 2000 when she decided to challenge Barbara Hafer for Treasurer, I was part of her campaign team, representing her political and community events in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Crawford, and Mercer Counties. Knoll ultimately lost to Hafer by less than 100,000 votes statewide, demonstrating that her coalition was still very much alive and well.
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Act of God, Not Act of Government Needed to Save Big Three
Several weeks ago, Congress passed an infamous, pork-laden $830 billion welfare handout to Wall Street gurus and banking big wigs to allegedly reduce the burden on the economy. Congress rushed to the “rescue” by passing a plan which granted bold, non-negotiable powers to the Department of Treasury and handed blank checks to bankers. As of press time we are yet to see any measurable, positive results.
This column warned at the time that “Congress will act so hastily that the only winners will be the fat cats on Wall Street and the government powerbrokers who see the opportunity to consolidate their authority at the expense of hardworking Americans who do not fit into either of the above categories.” As predicted, Congress acted without hesitation, rushed to pass a bill that made Hank Paulsen the most powerful financial kingpin in the world, and threw away almost a trillion dollars in the process.
Conservatives and some reasonable moderates who opposed the original, outrageous bailout were accused of allowing the country to go to ruin, similar to the way New Deal flacks in the mid 1930s assailed Supreme Court Justices Van Devanter, McReynolds, Sutherland, and Butler as the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” for opposing the constitutionality of FDR’s specious programs.
Since that time, a $25 billion package has been proposed for the beleaguered American auto industry that is apparently on the brink of collapse. Late on Wednesday, Nov. 19, it was reported that Senate leaders had decided to temporarily hold off on this issue, perhaps buying time until Barack Obama is sworn in this January. While Congress temporarily places this bailout on hold, it is a fine time to ask a few important questions of our policy makers and ourselves.
First, Congress was able to hurry along a near-trillion dollar package to help the tycoons who ran wild on Wall Street and in the banking arena, but have balked at the “cheaper” $25 billion bailout package for the “Big Three” auto manufacturers; Chrysler, GM, and Ford. Why have the feds gleefully allowed a no-strings rescue of the white collar variety while looking the other way when it comes to the hard hats and blue collar workers trying to hang on to their jobs and livelihoods in Detroit?
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