Too Late for Conservatism

In the strictest sense of the word “conservative” connotes that which tends to conserve or preserve a present state or condition. If it is or was the intent of political conservatives in the United States to preserve our federal government as limited in scope and held within any semblance of the boundaries established by our Constitution, then we – and those who have gone before us – have failed at that aim. We live, today, in a post-conservative nation. The question is no longer, “How may we preserve our nation as the founding fathers entrusted it to us?”

The question has become, “Have we any hope of returning and restoring our nation to something akin to its original greatness, and once again setting boundaries on a federal government that has far transgressed its intended Constitutional limits?”

Until a few weeks ago, I would have said, “There is little hope.” The so-called Economic Stimulus Packaged passed in a flurry of political activity, obscurity and haste on Friday, 13 February 2009 (perhaps Friday the 13^th being prophetic in this instance). The haste was purposeful as it was the specific intent of the Democrat-controlled Congress to keep the general public from closely inspecting the contents of legislation. (Indeed, we have since learned that even the Democrats had no idea all that was in the legislation.) The Democrats sought to hide from public scrutiny all of the matters being thrust upon the U.S. citizenry by those who dare yet to call themselves “public servants.” This attitude alone ought to stir public sentiment against such conspirators; for if they were doing well, what fear have they from public knowledge of their deeds?

However, my hope is been – at least to some degree – resurrected by having come upon the book Renaissance – The Rebirth of Liberty in the Heart of Europe (Václav Klaus, Washington, DC – Cato Institute, 1997). It seems almost surreal that the U.S., having been a “city set on a hill” for so many over the last more than 200 years, should in these last days take lessons in liberty from a formerly communist nation – the Czech Republic. Renaissance, however, is a compilation of speeches and other writings of Václav Klaus, the first prime minister and now the second president of the Czech Republic. In this book is the telling of how the former Czechoslovakia successfully made the transition from communism (socialism) to a democratic free market state without bloodshed – the so-called “Velvet Revolution.”