Scott Rasmussen is one of the nation’s top survey experts and the range of his work is steadily expanding. What I like most about Rasmussen’s work is he has a knack for asking questions that are on the minds of conservatives (This may have something to do with the fact former Washington Times managing editor Fran Coombs works with Rasmussen).
For instance, Rasmussen asked respondents about one of the key lines from Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address and found a solid majority agreeing with the former president. The response is especially important, considering the current and possible future state of the Republican party.
And Rasmussen also asked how many respondents would replace the whole bunch in Congress and found the same 59 percent majority agreeing – throw all of them out.
I refuse to accept the notion that the fundamental conservative message about individual freedom, limited government, a strong national defense and a recognition of the special role of America as the shining city on a hill is no longer relevant. To the contrary, I believe it is even more relevant and important to political success than ever. All it needs is a party that is faithful to its principles and unfailingly tenacious in their application.
By the way, Rasmussen provides the entire quote from Reagan, who, it is important to recall, delivered it in a time of economic distress that in some respects was more severe than our present crisis:
“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people.
“Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”
The emphasized sentence is the fundamental conservative principle – we will each either be governed by ourselves or we will be ruled by others by force, which is the essence of government. My liberal friends have immense faith in the capacity of government to do good works and their patience is growing short with those of us who continually remind them that sooner or later, government always sacrifices individual freedom for “the greater good.”
UPDATE:
Thanks to readers for edits on “tenants” and “innaugural.” I know better, but missed.
