A New Way for Conservatism – A Progressive Conservatism

Conservative parties, notably the Republican Party in the United States, have a serious messaging issue. It is pretty self-evident, but leaders of the party still play the blame game or are in denial about it. One side will blame the mail-in voting/ballot harvesting used by the Democrats – the other side will blame Donald Trump and his boisterous rhetoric. However, none will look in the mirror and accept the fact that in the past three elections (2018, 2020, 2022) you got absolutely boat-raced by Democrats, all things considered. None was more embarrassing than the projected “red wave” that was on the horizon, only to be stifled by an overturning of Roe v. Wade (Yes, this hurt you in 2022), causing you to learn nothing from this and predict the same massive red wave in 2024 with no changes in policy.

I will get into the Roe v. Wade stuff later, but it is interesting to look back on elections to see where the Republicans went wrong, and I think it needs to be looked at with deeper scrutiny, rather than just blaming one thing or another. Perhaps, some of the blame rests on topics that are uncomfortable for conservatives to discuss, but deep down, know they have to discuss them. Let this be an exorcism to expel the demons of the Republican Party to forge a new Republican Party, one that is focused on success.

I have always said that I see no difference between someone like Mitch McConnell (R) and Chuck Schumer (D), as they are virtually the same politician. Just like I see no difference between Barack Obama and John McCain, or George W. Bush and Al Gore. All you have to do is look at their voting records before they became president/candidates for president in previous elected positions. For example, Obama and McCain both voted for bills opposing or condemning the Kyoto Protocol – in favor of U.S. energy, while both were advocates in the fight against climate change. Full disclosure, I agree with them, this is just an example in partisan hypocrisy. Famously, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John McCain, Rick Santorum, and Chuck Schumer were of the 77 yea votes in the Senate for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that killed almost 1 million Iraqis and set the precedent for the never-ending war in Afghanistan (finally ended in August of 2021). Going back one year, virtually all senators and all house members (except Ron Paul, notably) voted for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 – commonly referred to as the PATRIOT Act – which set the precedence for the power of the national security state, leading to the detainment and ostracization of people like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

The military spending at the behest of American citizens is perhaps the most bipartisan subject in Washington D.C. A close second is trade policy; notably, the outsourcing of jobs from America to Mexico and China. Republicans as a majority favored the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Voting records show that John McCain and Mitch McConnell both voted for the promotion authority of the TPP to ship manufacturing to China. In addition, Democrats Biden and Kerry – paired with Republicans John McCain and Mitch McConnell – voted for NAFTA which sent manufacturing to Mexico for cheap labor.

The quicker people realize a lot of the machinations in Washington are not Republican vs. Democrat, rather inside the elite circle vs. outside the elite circle (as Tucker Carlson would say) the quicker you realize that this same old Republican Party is not a party you would want to run the country. Neither is the Democrat party – starting with the presidency of Bill Clinton, the Democrats have been the party of neoliberalism or neocosmopolitan globalism. The corporate Democrat Party is the Democrat Party, and they use social rhetoric to enrich themselves. For example, read about the Trans Industrial Complex here.

This is not just an American problem. Neoliberalism and neocosmopolitanism are pushing the Liberal Party of Canada closer to the Conservative Party of Canada as they agree on funding the oligarchic vassal state of Ukraine. The Labor Party and the Conservatives in the United Kingdom are closer as they will happily vote to enrich pharmaceutical companies and Ukraine as well. What is clear is that no matter what major party you subscribe to, your tax-payer money is going out of your country toward military investment in other nations, and the middle class will be gutted in favor of corporate greed exporting jobs overseas.

Now, as someone vehemently opposed to socialism and Marxism, you might think “Hey guy, you sound kind of Marxist.” I guess it would be “Marxist” if only Marx did not have failed utopic fantasies, misunderstood tax policy that was copied and misread from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and a focus on political religiosity – reflecting Marxism as a gnostic religion rather than a policy discussion. Unfortunately, I cannot re-write history, history has shown what the outcome of true Marxism is, and it is a deadly one. So, where does that leave us? Everyone hates this new-age, neoliberal crony capitalism, and everyone hates this Fabian Society socialism, or this champagne Marxist society. What is a new way forward?

Jeffersonianism: A system that promotes equal opportunity, honesty, and prioritizes the common man through forms of classical liberalism, republicanism, freedom of religion, and opposition to artificial tyranny.

I wrote a blog some time back discussing Jeffersonianism as a path out of our political turmoil. Jeffersonianism is the common belief in equal political opportunity in a system that prioritizes the populous that is held in honesty and character virtues. Furthermore, it carries the philosophy of classical liberalism, anti-clericalism, social contract republicanism, and opposition to the artificial aristocracy. I concluded that Jeffersonianism would bridge the political divide by expanding on freedom, merit, authenticity, diversity of opinion, and questioning. This is the direction I feel the Republican Party – and to a greater extent, global conservatism – needs to go toward for any chance of electoral success. Here are five areas they need to acknowledge.

1. Anti-Clericalism

Republicans, admit it, abortion lost you control in 2022 and your religion is getting in the way of your success at the polls. I see myself as someone who would vote Republican, and I am for abortion in the first trimester. I’ll even come closer to your side toward a shorter time frame, so long as contraception is readily available. But many conservative commentators cannot even accept contraception as a viable method for health care in society. I’ll just come out and say it, the year is 2023, women have sex out of marriage with men, and Christian orthodoxy against this is silly considering your whole religion started with a woman who got pregnant out of wedlock and took it way overboard.

Anti-clericalism means we support your right to practice the Christian faith, so long as you support the right of other people to practice their own beliefs – yes, that includes atheism and agnosticism. Your abortion stance is rooted in your religious stance, and the sooner you let that go, the sooner you can accept a semblance of common ground with abortion and contraception. You will be amazed how many voters will come to your side when this is not that big of an issue.

2. The NeoCon Party of Ronald Reagan is Dead

Reaganomics, the War on Drugs, and aggressive foreign policy is dead. There are some good points to Reagan’s presidency such as low taxes and the cutting of government pork which benefits the populous. But the neocon war games, and Washington power pipeline is dead – and you need to come to terms with that. YOU NEED YOUNG VOTERS, predominantly millennials and Gen Z, and it was the Reagan-Clinton-Bush-Obama economic policies that killed these generations in 2008 and have carried on to this day.

To the Reaganites, populism is a bad word. But populism is also a bipartisan word, as populists on the left and the right are coming together against the D.C. corporatocracy. This makes the Reaganites nervous as they want to show themselves as martyrs fighting against the corporatocracy, but cannot go head-first into popular reforms for a populist change. If they do, they contradict their original neocon stances. I’ll keep it short, this has to end and constituents need to be vocal about this.

3. If They Want to Play Cricket – Don’t Play Baseball

Mail-in voting, ballot harvesting, and early voting are passed by law and are a reality in many states. Instead of complaining about it, use it to your advantage. Oh, are you too moral? Well, you can be moral in your minority while you get nothing done and watch Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer joke around about the Senate majority.

Again, YOU NEED YOUNG VOTERS, so you need to cater to their needs and wants, at least in this realm accommodating their voting tendencies. Getting on the ground and aggressive in minority neighborhoods, pushing mail-in voting at college campuses, admitting fault, and changing your stances in front of advocacy groups for young people and students are ways that will benefit you and play the right political game. Furthermore, taking the fight to the corporate Democrats by supporting higher wages for small-business workers, support for private and public sector unions that do good for individuals, and being the party of the middle-class young voter, rather than against it will guarantee electoral success. Learn the rules of cricket, don’t play baseball, you will lose.

4. You Can Be Free-Market without Being a Neoliberal Capitalist

Amazing, isn’t it? You can be a supporter of a free and strong economy, without being a globalist/neoliberal capitalist. Jefferson challenges what he calls the artificial aristocracy, evocative of the bureaucratic terror in Franz Kafka’s novels. In correspondence with John Adams, Jefferson describes the artificial aristocracy as a “mischievous” group different from natural aristocrats who made their wealth through “virtue and talents” as opposed to the artificial aristocracy who made their “wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents”. Being for fair competition in the marketplace to lower prices for consumers, supporting wage hikes for talented employees in all areas of the economy, and American (or Canadian, or British) first companies that produce and sell products builds a free-market natural aristocracy. Cronyism, tax breaks for multi-national corporations outside of national interest, and stagnant wages with ever-increasing taxes enhance the neoliberal artificial aristocracy.

Another way to be a free-market supporter is to embrace innovation, especially in our energy sector. Enhance the competitive output by supporting energy independence with alternatives like LNG, carbon capture, thorium, and nuclear. Allow federal grants on American land to drill and manufacture in a new-age energy race; in addition, show the harms of the “globalist left-wing green lobby” such as modern-day slavery with cobalt mining in the Congo, China’s human rights abuses with solar panels, and the chemical pools of Chile for electric cars.

We should be taxing and tariffing multinational companies who choose to not have production in the United States until they bring strong, unionized jobs back to our countries. Conservatives in Canada have been at the forefront of this, growing and winning seats in union hotbeds, especially in the private sector, using the populist message of supporting blue-collar workers and fighting to keep jobs in the country. Now as a conservative-leaning voter, I have my problems with unions, notably high-salaried public sector unions, but the change happens with our private sector unions in automobiles, trucking, bus drivers, and mining. In addition, public sector unions such as police, fire, ambulance, and nursing.

I think conservatives are afraid to support these measures, lest they be called a socialist. But think for one moment using the definitions of the natural and artificial aristocracy. What best represents conservative values, as in, conserving the values of a strong nation and its people. If you’re a professor, for example, is it the globalist vision that is in your best interest? Or is it the American exceptionalist vision of keeping a strong working class in America, so that eventually they can send their kids to the school you teach at? Is it keeping a strong national economy with job protection for all workers, or the precarious gig/part-time work at a place with thousands of locations around the world, where you are seen as a number and not a person? Don’t be afraid conservatives, be against the artificial aristocracy.

5. Be the RePAULblican Party

I have mentioned him a few times relating to his voting record, and that was intentional because Ron Paul was one of the greatest politicians ever to grace this Earth. Even to this day in his retirement, he is the best political mind out there. One of my favorite moments came from the 2012 Republican Primary where Chris Wallace asked a false dilemma question, and Congressman Paul answered it beautifully.

Ron Paul is perhaps the closest politician we have seen comparable to the ideals of Thomas Jefferson in some time. The defense of liberty, not just for some, but for all is a blueprint we need to return to. It is staggering to hear his warnings about government control. Wanting to control our lives through the food we eat, what we drink, and perhaps, what we inject into our bodies (just as a familiar example). Both the neoliberal Democrats and the neocon Republicans think that Americans are stupid and can’t think for themselves, and by voting for these neolib/neocons, you are proving them right. If the Republican Party – and conservatives in general – have any chance of winning in the future, they have to become the Ron Paul Republican Party which means removing cronyism from the party, strict military isolationism, American exceptionalism with the economy, and a precedent of liberty at every level.

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Einstein said, in one of his most famous quotes: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. That is the Republican Party holding on to this concept of governance that is long gone, the Democrats are also using this same governance, but they play dirty to get the wins. The Republican Party must embrace populism if they have any chance of winning elections in the future, and play the game better than the Democrats – lest you be on Twitter complaining about being a minority party forever.