Shifting The Shade Under The Tent

I had the privilege last Sunday evening of attending the Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner here in St. Croix County. I have not always attended in the past but this years guest speaker was Jason Lewis. I, like many of the Borderline contributers have been critical of many, well most, no, really all; all the opinions and actions of the state’s and local politicians who have views that have fallen from the conservative Reagan principals of limited government. I think we can all agree that the environmental fanatics, disguising anti-capitalism with the global warming frenzy, can be easily refuted. But what of the offspring of that phenomena, ethanol and other alternative energy sources?

While I do agree that other alternative energy sources other that petroleum should be explored, I don’t want to bet the proverbial farm on them. We have solar power, wind power, alternative fuels, recycling, and a host of others being bandied about. There has yet to be one of these alternatives that has ever been cheaper than what we have in place, petroleum based gasoline, or even nuclear power. Though these current energy sources have the most restrictive and prohibitive measures and laws in place in the history of American industry, they still remain the cheapest. On top of that there has not even been one nuclear power plant or new refinery built in over 25 years.

So it looks like ethanol is labeled the savior by many, including politicians of both strips. One thing though, is that the existing science does not prove ethanol as a fiscally responsible alternative, unless your a farmer growing corn, or a politician promising subsidies for that crop. We have government intrusion into market arenas where it ought not be. When unsubsidized alternative energy costs less than gasoline, I’ll be sold. Let’s build some nuclear power plants and drill in Alaska.

Jason did not touch on that matter exactly, but he did touch on on limited government and free markets. However, I did notice there were some politicians in the audience that were somewhat squeamish and nervous.

I also heard from Jason, that the Republican Party need not whore itself to create such a large tent. Our politicians love lipstick you know. A pig is a pig no matter what shade of lipstick they are wearing. What happens is that the tent gets so large that it starts to include the left. In all races at the congressional and senate level where there was a clear distinction between the Democrat and Republican party in issues that have always been conservative, they were easy wins. When voters have had to decide on gay marriage in state referendums, it has in all but one occasion, been decided that the definition of marriage is that between a man and women. When candidates ran as strict and strong conservatives, even in liberal states, they won. Jason explained that the Republicans that did lose, did not delineate themselves from their candidates of the other party. Their tents were much to large!

We all know that eventually most politicians end up being whores to their constituency. After all, isn’t that the definition of a politician. So, what is the conservative minded person to do? We are reminded that third party alternatives really, never get into positions to help change things. That leaves us with one alternative. Get involved. If you don’t like your current incumbents and candidates, find new ones, or run yourself. Once you are passionately involved, if based on sound policy, others will follow. It is possible to to replace candidates the next few election cycles. The tent can contract as well as grow. If it is meant to grow it will be with strict free market idealists, limited government intervention, strong national defense, and moral conviction. But if the tent expands to much out of that realm, I do believe the party will have abandoned me.

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