President Obama won the election using the theme of “change.” Looking at definitions of “conservatism,” the common thread among them are the words “opposing radical change” (wordnetweb.princeton.edu). At the end of the Bush presidency, many people on both sides of party lines were advocating change of various types. So, I suppose it isn’t really surprising that Obama is now president.
Conservatism involves many ideals such as maintaining support for strategies that work and protecting freedoms that we enjoy as Americans. It is much more than just “opposing change.” Now that we have a liberal administration, what can we conservatives do to renew conservatism?
We need to reach out to the group of first-time voters. This includes young adults and new legal immigrants who had the opportunity to vote for the first time in 2008. Both of these groups caught my attention as being particularly vocal in their support of Obama. Quite possibly, it was these two groups of voters who tipped the election in Obama’s direction. Was it “change” that caught their attention and attracted them to Obama? Was it the lure of a young, technically savvy, trend-setting, African-American who was breaking through old barriers? Thinking of young adults just starting out in life and new immigrants just starting out in American life, perhaps they have more in common with Obama. Perhaps they did not pay as much attention to Obama’s substance as they did to his style and passion.
So, how do we reach out to this subset of new voters? I believe we need to have young conservative leaders who can point out the errors of liberalism without being disagreeable. More importantly, these young conservative leaders need to point out what is “right” about conservative views and do this in a positive manner. They should use various forms of technology to advertise these views.
I remember being a young adult, and I was one of those UNC-Chapel Hill students that Jesse Helms wanted to keep fenced in. At that time, I thought conservatives were old, mean, intolerant people who didn’t want to help others. Then, as I became self-supporting, I became more thoughtful and sought-out information about liberals and conservatives. As I became more informed, I became more conservative.
I think we need to make sure conservative philosophies are positively modeled and made accessible through various technologies to help those who are trying to solidify their own political beliefs. We need to publicize what is right with conservatism. We need to be seen reaching out and helping our neighbors in need. We do not need to be seen as outdated, intolerant people. Most importantly, we need to show how conservatism is relevant and meaningful. We should work at the grass roots level to inspire conservative passion in today’s society through our words and deeds.
Rhonda Warren
Greensboro, NC
Dear Conservative community,
Conservatives have a forgotten ace card.
Let us revisit a quote by President Ronald Reagan. On February 2, 1983 at the annual Washington conference of the American Legion, he said, “Developing countries need to be encouraged to experiment with the growing variety of arrangements of profit-sharing and expanded capital ownership that can bring economic betterment to their people…My fellow legionnaires, the American dream lives, not only in the hearts and minds of our own countrymen, but in the hearts and minds of millions of the world’s people in both free and oppressed societies who look to us for leadership.”
There it is in black and white. We need to be a leader in enhanced profitsharing as a means of expanding capital ownership, and thereby be a leader for the rest of the world.
Unfortunately conservatives (and liberals) dropped the ball. This was totally ignored and as a result, the U.S. detoured down the road to a neglected middle class.
Our current profit-sharing system is a pathetic, deferred “savings” program, left withering on the vine offering little or no inspiration to either employer or employee.
The question remaing to be answered is “how can a profitsharing system be designed to be a supply-side stimulus?” And how can it be advantageous for the business owner instead of just another expense?
I would like to propose the profit-sharing tax credit. This allows a business to plow up to 20% of net profits back to employees and get a 60% tax credit for that return.
It puts money in the pockets of working Americans before the business, the government, or banks can abuse it. And it is a win-win for the business owner, who is using money that would in the past go to Uncle Sam, and re-investing it into his own people.
This is not a profit-sharing “savings” plan, nor is it a mere tax credit.
It is a regular (monthly or quarterly), cash-back dividend for success, productivity, and cooperation. It is a built-in stimulus to the people who actually create the wealth -workers.
Please read the 60 page treatise, PAYBACK, free of charge, on the website http://www.profitsharinguprising.com, and note the “forward” in the book. It is written by John Huddleston, former Chief of the Budget and Planning Division at the International Monetary Fund. He says, “it (the profit-sharing tax credit) may be the most practical way to get Congress engaged.”
This is a politically neutral solution that is compatible with both liberal and conservative ideals. It is the missing link of conservative supply-side theory as well as the missing link of liberal economic demmocracy. Both parties claim they want more money in the pockets of working Americans. This is something that both can agree on.
Profit-sharing is a PROVEN management strategy to improve morale and productivity.
What are the multidimensional and macroeconomic consequences of profit-sharing?
It will increase household income substantially. Especially if there are 2 working adults.
It will make healthcare premiums and mortgages easier to manage.
It is both business friendly and beneficial to the worker.
It will increase national productivity as well as local productivity. It will create a built-in, regular economic stimulus; more income increases supply & demand.
As demand increases, new jobs will sprout up.
It will maximize employment because low-paying positions will become well-paid jobs.
It will mobilize the unrecorded unemployed, and older workers.
It will create a wider tax base and more federal revenue, independent of tax increases.
It will replenish the Social Security and Medicare coffers, via more paycheck withholdings instead of raising taxes.
It makes achieving economic self-sufficiency easier to achieve “ on-the-street”, therefore
It will ease the strain on our safety net programs.
It will compete with the “drugs and guns” underground economy; reducing crime.
It will create a new more egalitarian model, and restore moral leadership to America.
It will refine capitalism to a model of precision that our forefathers would be proud of.
It will restore the dollar to a stronger position, and could very well save the national and global economy.
It stimulates as well as stabilizes the economy.
It will lean the government, as it is a significant investment, but it will quickly pay for itself from higer productivity and a wider tax base.
New green jobs will not be enough to change things. If a supply-side balance is not restored, we will remain a stagnate economy.
So, conservatives do not need to be antagonistic. The balance of private and public enterprise is like two gears turning in opposite directions creating a mighty work.
Warm regards,
Dr. Darian L. Smith backsmith2@netscape.net
Please call me at 336-996-2488 for comments.
My book calls for a trial run at the state level such as N.C.
Why not do this?
I personally feel this is the economic equivalent of cold fusion!
All it needs is for a few enlightened and influential people to “get it” and run with it.
The logic is clear and the solution is right in front of us!
You may publish this article in the Civitas Magazine if you find it worthy.