A Boston Tea Party …(Holding Them Accountable)

A few key quotes from George Will’s most recent “Newsweek” article:

“For a few conservatives, the accumulation of discontents may have begun building toward today’s critical mass in December 2001 with the No Child Left Behind Law, which intruded the federal government deeply into the state and local responsibility of education, grades K through 12. That intrusion has been accompanied by a 51 percent increase in the budget of the Education Department that conservatives once aspired to abolish.

“… browbeat enough conservatives to pass the largest expansion of the welfare state since LBJ- an entitlement with an unfunded liability larger than that of Social Security. The President’s only believable veto threat in nearly five years was made to deter an attempt to cut spending by trimming the drug entitlement.”

“Agriculture subsidies increased 40 percent while farm income was doubling.”

“The transportation bill’s cost, honestly calculated, exceeded the threshold that the president has said would trigger his first veto. The total cost of the bill - $286 billion – is more, in inflation-adjusted dollars, that the combined costs of the Marshall Plan and the interstate highway system.”

“The indictments of DeLay – although certainly political in terms of the prosecutor’s motive and probably unjust as a matter of law – are, considered solely in terms of their consequences, helpful to conservatives. DeLay, who neither knows nor cares any more about limited government than a camel knows or cares about calculus.”

“DeLay is exhibit A for the proposition that many Republicans have gone native in Washington.”

“Conservative members of the Republican Study Committee, charges that some Republicans think big government is good government if it’s our government.”

“Conservatives are not supposed to be cuddly, or even particularly nice. They are, however, supposed to be competent. And to know that scarcity – of money, virtue, wisdom, competence, everything – forces choices. Furthermore, they are supposed to have an unsentimental commitment to meritocracy and excellence.”

For those of you who think the Harriet Miers nomination was the first time President Bush and the Republican leadership had let down conservatives the answer is no. It was the watershed moment that opened the floodgates of criticism.

In this conservative’s eye it is surprising the uproar has taken so long. It takes more than lowering taxes to govern as a conservative. The voices of Will, Limbaugh, Kristol, and the like have spoken for many of us. The Republican leadership, Bush included, have long ago decided politics came before the cause. Their actions reflect what they believe is necessary for reelection in contrast to believing enough in their conservative principles to carry them to victory.

Real conservatives are demanding a return to the ideology they value. They no longer will be silenced due to loyalty. Loyalty has set the conservative agenda back years. To summarize George Will conservatives aren’t supposed to be nice, are able to make hard choices, and demand excellence. Bush and the leadership’s lack of legislating as expected has caused nervousness with the Miers nomination and justifiably so. I am thrilled the voices of conservatism are now holding them accountable. I just wish it hadn’t taken so long. Some of us have been doing it for a while.