Conservatives vs. Republican Incumbents

Peggy Noonan, oh how I wish I could write like her.

Her steamroller metaphor is a bit tame for me, and she dances a bit too much in this piece, but the message is there for all Republicans; stop being the Incumbent Party.

...This is essentially why conservatives of my generation and earlier generations don't like big government. They don't even like government. We know we have to have one, that it is necessary, that it can and must do good, that it has real responsibilities that must be met.

...But conservatives are not supposed to like big government. It's not our job. We're supposed to like freedom and the rights of the individual. (Individuals aren't virtue machines either, but they're less powerful than governments and so generally less damaging.)

...Twenty-five years ago this month the conservative movement came to Washington, and much good came of its arrival.

...Eleven years ago this month came the Gingrich revolution and the Contract With America. That contract could be boiled down to these words: Stop the Steamroller. Take away its gas, make it smaller, term-limit it.

Too many Republicans that I hear from these days have traded their Revolutionary clothes for Incumbent Party VIP passes.

It’s past time to get our Party back on message.