A return to conservative principles

The following is a speech recently given by Tom McClintock, a Congressman from California. He ran for governor against Arnold S. a few years ago when the voters tossed Gray Davis out. In hindsight we should have elected Tom, a real conservative. Check out what he says:



What a difference two years makes!

During the debacle two years ago, the generic Republican Congressional candidate trailed the Democrat by 6 points among likely voters in the Gallup poll. Today, Gallup reports that the generic Republican leads the Democrat by 17 points among likely voters. . . .

This year's mid-term election may not be unprecedented – but it could well be something far different than anything we have experienced in our lifetimes.

In fact, when Frank Luntz came to lecture House Republicans about "The Language of Health Care" a full year ago, he began by saying, "Before I talk about the subject today, I need to tell you guys something. I have spent the last three months looking at polling data from Congressional districts across the country. You guys are going to be in the majority next year. This time, for God's sake don't screw it up again."

And that really is the fine point of it all. . .


[When in charge last time, Republicans] increased spending at twice the rate of Bill Clinton. They turned four years of budget surpluses into eight years of budget deficits. They presided over unprecedented government intervention in the housing market that created a catastrophic bubble. They left America's borders wide open and yawned as millions of foreign nationals illegally crossed our borders.

Is it any wonder that the American people threw Republicans out of office? The American people didn't abandon Republican principles. They looked at Republicans and decided that Republicans had abandoned Republican principles.

They looked at John McCain and saw – quite accurately– George W. Bush's third term.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that the American people are now discovering that they got something a lot worse than George W. Bush's third term – they got Jimmy Carter's second term.

Now we are about to be given a precious legacy by the American people, perhaps even more valuable than the others. We're about to be given a second chance. This time, we've got to be worthy of that legacy. . .

During almost all of the 22 years I served in the California legislature, I fought Republican leaders who thought their job was to help the Democrats enact their agenda.

I used to lecture them that, "Sorry, we don't get to govern. That's what the election was all about. Only the majority gets to govern. But we have an equally important task. Our job is to develop a better vision of governance, take that vision to the people and earn their charter to govern." For 22 years, with only a couple of exceptions, that lecture fell on deaf ears.

You can imagine my joy in sitting down at my first House Republican Conference meeting and hearing that very same lecture delivered by the Republican leaders to the rank-and-file.

It was the decision by the House Leadership to rediscover and revive our Republican principles of individual freedom and limited government, that has galvanized House Republicans, united them as a determined voice of opposition to the left, and rallied the American people.

There's a reason there was unanimous Republican opposition to so-called stimulus spending and near-unanimous opposition to Obamacare and Cap-and-Trade. Republicans rediscovered why they were Republicans, and Republican leaders rediscovered Reagan's advice to paint our positions in bold colors and not hide them in pale pastels. . .

People ask, why should we trust Republicans after what they did during the Bush years? I can at least offer this observation: most of the Republicans-in-name-only who produced that debacle were turned out of office in 2006 and 2008 and 2010 – and were replaced by Republicans fiercely determined to restore Republican principles as the foundation of our public policy.

I believe that the debate in the next 18 days and in the next several elections will determine whether the United States of America will fade into history as just another failed socialist state, or whether this generation will rediscover its legacy and resume America's historic rise as the beacon of freedom to all mankind.

The next 18 days – as important as they are – pale in comparison to the challenge of the next two years – to demonstrate Republican principles in action at a moment in history when they are so desperately needed.

That's where Western Conservatives have our work cut out for us. We need to put our time, energy and resources into those candidates who actually share our principles and to reject those – regardless of party – who have proclaimed, through word or deed – their hostility to those principles.

The Democrats accuse us of being the party of "no." When somebody is driving you off a cliff, "no" is a pretty handy word to have in your vocabulary. . .

But that is not the only word in our vocabulary --- not by a long shot. During the last two years, House Republicans have laid out detailed plans to restore the finances of our government and the prosperity of our economy, to return freedom of choice and affordability to health care, to restore the integrity of our borders, and to return to our states their rightful powers and prerogatives.

I know that some conservatives have criticized the Republican Pledge to America for being too long on principles and too short on specific policies.

I would remind them that great parties are built on great principles, and they are judged by their devotion to those principles.

It is principles that drive policies, and the Pledge to America clearly restores and revives those uniquely American principles of individual freedom and limited government that once produced the most prosperous and successful Republic in the history of the world.

Ronald Reagan was right – the history of the last four centuries tells us plainly that Providence had a purpose in placing this continent where it is, to receive what Lincoln called "the last best hope" of mankind – the American Republic.

I believe, starting in 18 days, it is those principles set forth for mankind in the Declaration of Independence and reaffirmed for this generation in the Pledge to America that will guide our nation into its next great era of expansion, prosperity and influence.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're a decade late, but I believe America has finally arrived at the threshold of her greatest Century.