Why should I care? by: Greg Beck
With the pre and post election confusion lately it's good to remind ourselves of our core Republican beliefs. We hold a wide spectrum of beliefs but we are generally social and fiscal conservatives, and believe it or not, economic liberals. But what do those core beliefs mean?
Social conservatives believe government has a role in encouraging or enforcing traditional values or behaviors based on the belief that these are what keep people civilized and decent. We recognize that America was founded as "one nation under God" with Judeo-Christian principles and acknowledge the Creator and Divine authority while allowing for differing religious beliefs.
While "traditional values" can have many different meanings, within social conservatism there are a number of principles to which at least a majority of Republicans generally adhere. We
--promote public morality and traditional family values (but oppose secularism of religious belief);
--promote traditional marriage and the nuclear family model as society's foundational unit (but oppose aberrant sexual behavior, including homosexuality, and classifying those relationships as marriages);
--support the prohibition of drugs, prostituiton, gambling, and euthanasia;
--support the censorship of pornography, obscenity, and indecency;
--support Partriotism and a deep respect and love of country;
--favor the pro-life position in the abortion controversy as well as defending the weakest among us: the elderly, the handicapped, etc.;
--favor adult stem cell research (but oppose morally problematic and unproven embryonic (abortion-based) stem cell research).
Republicans believe in individual liberty and the choices we can make as individuals. But with freedom comes individual responsibility and consequences for our actions. We believe we are constrained in our liberty by a higher authority originating from God and shouldn't purposely overturn healthy, proven societal norms.
Similar to social responsibility, we believe individuals should be economically responsible for their own actions and decisions. That's the basis of a capitalistic, free market system. It relies on good corporate and personal decision making to foster economic prosperity. With all the talk of bailouts and government takeovers these days, that may not be apparent. But sometimes allowing businesses (and individuals) to fail from their bad decisions is exactly what should and needs to happen. That's hard to accept when people are hurting and losing jobs but freedom means that you have the freedom to fail as well as succeed-thats how it's supposed to work. The dirty little secret is that the current crisis was caused by government interference and over-regulation, not from a failure of capitalism or "Wall Street" greed. Capitalism was never allowed to work.
Republicans know that private enterprise is a lot more efficient than government, and seek policies that support business and individuals rather than burden it with costly government restrictions and regulations. Fiscal conservatives advocate significant reductions in government spending and government size. They support free trade, lowering the federal budget, paying down debt, and acquiring a balanced budget. Economic liberalism advocates minimal interference by government. Unlike communist and socialist political systems, Republicans believe that an individual's economic actions are largely based on self-interest. By allowing them to act without burdensome restrictions or being controlled by the state, they will produce a more equal and prosperous outcome for themselves and for society.
The party's long-term advocacy of tax cuts, a major Republican theme since the 1920s, refects this core belief. Taxes, particularly the income tax, targets those who create jobs and wealth. It then targets their hard-earned property (usually dollars) for redistribution to those that didn't earn it.
Republicans vary in degree of how socially and fiscally conservative we are, but we all have more in common than we don't. We've been punished the last two elections because we didn't always live our core beliefs. We talked the talk but didn't always walk the walk. Consider us reminded.
