Peggy Noonan: Truth

One reason to eschew voting for guys like Teddy Kennedy is because his answer for everything is more money thrown at problems--just as long as it's your money not his. So GW gets in office and promptly holds hands with said Senator and throws money at a problem--my money not his.

Yuck. Here's the list of what makes a conservative, just as a reminder to my state reps like Kay Bailey Hutchison and yes, Tom DeLay:

• Small government
• Strong military
• Constructionist judiciary nominations
• Moral fortitude
  

Small government means getting rid of ticky-tack laws that make it nearly impossible to comply legally no matter how hard you try: Can you say HIPPA? Can you say OSHA? Can you say the Americans with Disabilities Act? Can you say Title Nine? Can you say No Child Left Behind? Can you say the whole IRS code?

How about government intrusion? Eminant Domain still has me riled. And this opinion was written by liberal justices who are supposed to champion the "little guy"? Unbelievable. More and more, corporate interests seem to supercede the individuals. And forget the government's interest--theirs matters most.

It is impossible to be a truly law-abiding citizen if you make enough laws, isn't it? Do we really want to live in a world where the only reason we're not in jail is because our crimes don't rise above "normal". Meanwhile, truly vile criminals seem to enjoy extraordinary rights in comparison, because before the law, we are all now falling short. CRAZY!

This might seem contradictory to have a strong military. But no it isn't. To me, a nation ceases to be a nation when it no longer has a territory. We need our territory protected. A strong, technologically advanced military is necessary for this. With Iran, China, North Korea, Russia and her footstools and wacko Terrorists skipping around the remote corners of the earth ready to do who knows what, America cannot, nor could she ever, afford to sit around singing "Give peace a chance". A hammer. That is what some countries respect. Strength is the language they understand. We must always be willing to speak that language when needed.

And what of moral fortitude? Am I for invading a person's bedroom? Well, yes, if a person get's murdered or abused in there. What a stupid argument. The government makes all kinds of laws, including ones that can put a damper on your sex life, if you're so deviant. Can we stop this canard?

What I mean, though, by moral fortitude is that a conservative should put principle over politics even if it means losing votes at times. Not the guys out there now. So worried about losing power, the Republicans seem to forget why they came to power to begin with. It wasn't to do deals with Teddy Kennedy, I can assure you. In fact, I don't give a rat's ass if Teddy HATES every conservative in Congress. The fact that the conservatives care boggles my mind.

With the Republicans acting so weasily, I've wondered if many of them have sins that they have been blackmailed into fearful silence about. The Abramoff thing doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, it seems to be putting pieces of the crazy Washington puzzle together. From the beginning, the Republicans have seemed to run scared even though they won! Why?

Peggy Noonan thinks it's because they fell in love with the "steamroller" and the steamroller called Big Government, who is noone's friend, is rolling them now. Maybe. I think that's optimistic. I think that moral weakness is rolling the Republicans right now. Doing wrong things with the wrong people for the wrong reasons even with the right motives like "this law is important, I need to do ANYTHING to get it passed" is WRONG. Big Government my hiney, big egos and wacked out Washington D.C. moral compases more likely.