Editor's Note: This is part one of a two-part series.
Republicans and conservatives are in a predicament. Donald Trump is no longer the president. Democrats now control two of the three branches of government. Executive orders to fundamentally make America into Cuba are flying out of the Oval Office at warp speed. Depression and disappointment have spread through our community. Are we now finished as a political party? Will the Democrats forever change America so that it will never again be that “shining city on a hill” of Ronald Reagan?
By no means!
It is going to get ugly for conservatives during the next two to four years. We will no doubt see huge power-grabs by the Democrats, including their attempts to gain statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, which will bring four more Democrat senators to Congress, along with however many more Democrat representatives.
Thanks in great part to President Trump, we should keep in mind that constitutional conservatives still control the Supreme Court and many circuit courts. While that can change during this administration, what we should do, until it does, is vigorously and aggressively litigate any unconstitutional acts by the government. We will undoubtedly see an attempt to pack the Supreme Court and lower courts to counter the conservative and Constitution-following judges.
We must never forget that the Left’s need for absolute power is insatiable; however, we have been here before. Anyone remember 2009?
All is not lost. We now have an opportunity to reconstitute our party. We must be steadfast in our defense of the Constitution and stand firm on our First Principles.
So, what can we do to prevent this administration from fundamentally changing America? To be able to effect change, the first thing we need to do is define who we are and what we stand for. We need to do that in every generation.
The Republican Party was formed in 1854 to prevent slavery from spreading to other states, ultimately becoming an abolitionist party to oppose the slave-owning Democrats in the South. The Republican Party’s purpose today is to support constitutional-conservative candidates grounded in the ideals of individual liberty, the rule of law, and free enterprise.
The American modern conservative movement was founded some 70 years ago as an intellectual movement based on the ideas of F. A. Hayek, Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley, Jr, and on ideas drawn from American history, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and the Constitution. The basis of modern American conservatism is the support of tradition and values that have always made America great.
Liberty is the grand overarching theme of the conservative movement, the Republican Party, and the country. Equality of opportunity, natural rights, religious liberty, private property, and the consent of the governed are the foundational principles of America and modern conservatism. They are the First Principles. The rule of law and limited constitutional government flow from these principles, as does the moral sense of governing ourselves.
That is what we stand for. Many Democrats do, also, but they don’t realize it. We also have the challenge that the perception of Republicans is not good right now. Democrats and the media are creating a false picture of Republicans by using some of the fringe elements of the Party as representing who we are.
We are the minority party now, so what is our source of power?
Our strength is the power of our ideas. It will not be easy because we live in a society that has been propagandized to and indoctrinated by the Left. People, especially on the Left, are not open to listening to what those who have differing political opinions have to say if it does not fit in with what they believe. There is no room for diversity of thought among the Left. They will do their best to shut down any speech with which they disagree. However, conservatives always have the best solutions to the problems of America. When there are times of doubt, anger, fear, and crisis in the country, conservative values are needed. When there is a need for transcendent faith, prudence, custom, tradition, we bring that.
The American culture, e.g., the media, the educational system, and the entertainment industry, were all taken over by the Left some time ago, and are now generally opposed to traditional American values and capitalism.
Objective journalism, by and large, no longer exists. The press sees itself as being the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party. First and Second Amendment rights are under assault. Conservative speech is ‘canceled.’ Equal protection under the law no longer exists. We must fix that.
What are the solutions? What specific actions can we take that will make the difference?
That will be the topic of my next article.
Gary Aminoff is the founder of the San Fernando Valley Republican Club. He was an officer of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County for the past 18 years, recently retiring from that position when he moved to South Carolina. He blogs at beartotheright.com and can be reached at gary@beartotheright.com.
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