PrintFebruary 17, 2010
A conservative manifesto
The Conservative Action Project will release to the public on Wednesday afternoon a conservative manifesto called The Mount Vernon Statement. Over eighty top conservative leaders will convene in Alexandria, Virginia at the old site of George Washington's River Farm to offer a first step towards unifying the bubbling cauldron of conservatives.
Yet, this document may still be serving the political elite in the conservative movement. On the surface, the descriptions of the intentions of the manifesto sound traditional enough. From cnsnews.com (parent organization is Media Research Center headed by Brent Bozell, one of the leaders of the coalition):
It is designed to signal that a united and resurgent conservative movement is declaring philosophical war against the big government and moral relativism advanced by the nation's liberal cultural, academic and political establishments.
The only part of that statement I have trouble with is "liberal...establishments." There also exists a conservative establishment today that seeks to impose its will on that of the people. They rail against the liberals while they continue to be myopic in their vision for America.
A detractor from the status quo conservatives, Richard Viguerie told the Washington Times:
"This is embarrassing," activist and longtime direct-mail advertiser Richard Viguerie told The Washington Times. "If the people in the leadership of the conservative movement are going to put out pablum like this, the tea party people are going to make them seem irrelevant. And the tea party people are going to march to the forefront."
In the same Washington Times article, Solomon Yue, a co-founder of the RNC conservative caucus, supported the manifesto:
"This statement should encourage todays tea party as it transforms from a populist protest into a constitutional conservatism movement for freedom," said Mr. Yue, an RNC member from Oregon.
Thanks, Mr. Yue, for your insight, but you still don't get it. The Tea Party conservatives are a true coalition representing all the people; it is not and never has been a simple ‘populist protest'.
The question remains: Will the same old conservative elites continue to try and run the whole shebang, or will they step aside, and offer the floor to the everyday Americans who took time off from their busy lives to 'show up' to the rallies, townhalls, and phone banks; who gave of their time by making those millions of calls to Congress to voice their grievances; who spent their hard earned dollars to donate to campaigns in other states?
For another understanding of the term "conservative", go to Steven J. Allen's description here.
