Hoping locals can get it right

The News Virginian
Published: May 8, 2008

Banished to the ideological wilderness, conservatives want to know who sent them and why. Republicans have occupied the White House for two-thirds of the last 40 years, driven by voters’ conviction that the world’s largest economy, budget and military are safer in the hands of those who call for limited government, controlled spending and restrained but decisive use of force. Thus the mystery vanishes.
Having disdained these principles in favor of government expansion, extravagant spending and preemptive military intervention, demonstrating in the process a power lust they once derided in their opponents, conservatives cast themselves to the hinterlands. Republican presidential candidate John McCain, an irascible conservative scold, is the product of that philosophical devolution. Can’t conservatives do better? Well, no, not if the GOP’s initial presidential field and recent history are barometers.
Superficially, the problem of Republicans is that they prefer the role of snarling dog on a leash to that of majority. State Sen. Emmett Hanger during a recent visit to The News Virginian delineated, unwittingly, the metamorphosis that apparent conservatives undergo once placed in charge. Adhering to a belief in the benefit of small government, he explained, becomes more difficult once the power of a majority is secured.
Oh.
Exhibit A is the response of conservative lawmakers to the Republican Revolution of 1994, when they swept into control of the House for the first time in 40 years. In short order, the actual President Clinton — as opposed to the aspiring one — had GOP leaders such as House Speaker Newt Gingerich lapping out of his hand while he seized their values as his own. The dog was tamed.
The deeper problems, those that drive the transformation of so-called conservatives, are twofold and more disturbing.
First, many conservatives are more inclined to heed the left’s criticisms than their professed ideology’s principles. Those criticisms sometimes emanate from philosophical clashes, in which case they should not matter. In other cases, the criticisms are simply unjust. An example is the depiction of conservatives as resistant to progress. In fact, some of America’s greatest innovations spring from conservative minds.
Second, too many so-called conservative leaders construe popularity among pundits as a means of retaining power. So they placate and prevaricate when pressed about their own positions rather than stand firm.
Perhaps our own new conservative majority can show us a better way.
Frank Lucente — who might well emerge as Waynesboro’s next mayor — Tim Williams and newcomer Bruce Allen form a conservative City Council bloc propelled to power by a fierce tide of support. More than 61 percent of voters backed those three in Tuesday’s election. On this, voters were abundantly clear: They want no new taxes.
We second the sentiment. But the task of the majority extends beyond keeping taxes level. They must push the city forward, not by way of heavy spending in the envisioned fashion of some of their campaign opponents, but by demonstrating resourcefulness in luring businesses here and reinvigorating downtown. So-called progressives would have us believe only they are capable of such activity and that it necessitates an outflow of taxpayers’ cash. We look for Lucente’s bloc to prove otherwise.
Conservatism is subject to convenient labeling. Belief in the falsehoods that surround the term has blocked the light from the eyes of opponents. But the impact on those who wear conservatism as an identity while failing to adhere to its true meaning is worse: they are rendered irrelevant.
Faith in principles, not appeasement, is the lantern that illumines the path out of the wilderness and into the promised land. We urge conservatives here and beyond to take heed.