Leadership and Crisis (35 page)

Finally, the beauty of America is not our military superiority.

We live in a dangerous world, and America needs to be strong. U.S. Senator Phil Gramm used to say that if the lion and the lamb are going to lie down together, I’d just as soon that America be the lion. That’s a good point—and I’d add that the lion and the lamb are not likely to lie down together in this lifetime.

We must remain not just strong, but the strongest power in the world, and we should make no apologies when we must use our military strength from time to time. But this is not where our true strength lies. Military might is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
A strong military in the hands of a corrupt, wicked, or oppressive regime does not make that regime great.

Both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were effective and successful leaders because they held core values that kept them focused on right and wrong and also kept them humble. Both of them proclaimed various days of thanksgiving and fasting. The goal was, in the words of Lincoln, to create “a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnities.” Both leaders accepted their accountability to God and showed the humility that flows from it.

Having military superiority is great—but it has to be tethered to a culture that promotes goodness, freedom, and justice. Without that, we would be no better than the old Soviet Union.

To sum up, American capitalism is great, American democracy is great, and American military power is great. Put me down as being for all three. But the success of America does not rely on these things alone.

The success of America and the realization of the American Dream rely on our common sense of culture, a culture that admits some things are right and some things are wrong, a culture that respects and honors the dignity of the individual, a culture that defends the defenseless, values human life, and remains true to our Judeo-Christian ethic.

My parents came from a country that is quite similar to our own—India embraces free enterprise, it is a democracy, and it possesses substantial military strength. Certainly India is a great country and a good American ally. I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents there—but I’m only interested in visiting. My parents didn’t move to America for nothing. They were attracted to American culture, to our unique sense of unbridled freedom and opportunity.

There’s a quote, sometimes attributed to de Tocqueville, that says, “America is great because it is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” This is something we have to come to grips with as a people. The free enterprise system and democratic governance are gifts to mankind, but their goodness can always be undone by men behaving badly.

Simply put, our culture is crucial to our success as a nation. It’s not merely a luxury item that we can dispense with when our society becomes rich enough that we think we no longer need it.

You may also have heard another line attributed to de Tocqueville: “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.” This of course is an unfashionable sentiment in today’s society. We like to believe that free enterprise and democracy will lead to success regardless of the status of the cultural underpinnings. Not true.

Good or harm will come to our country depending on what we value and what we reject. A robust economy, a brilliant political system, or unrivaled military strength can’t protect us from ourselves if we make bad moral choices.

CONCLUSION

NOW WHAT?

So you say, “Nice book Bobby. Now what?” I’ll tell you what—now go out there and take your government back. Or take it over. Take up whatever rallying cry you like. Just don’t take it for granted.

Conservatives are at a political disadvantage today. We tend to build our lives around chasing the American Dream, which to most of us means starting our own business, launching our careers, or raising our families. For most of us, it does not include running for office or working for the federal government. And there is a reason for that. We believe in citizen government. We believe in the old-fashioned notion that the government which governs best governs least. We think the Republic is most secure when the Legislature is out of session and the president is on vacation. We believe local government allows us to govern ourselves more efficiently than the federal government.

We think the greatness of America is found in the freedom to do whatever we want and in creating our own destiny. Our goal is to become the best rocket scientist or doctor or plumber or restaurant manager or musician or parent or teacher or soldier that we can possibly be. As conservatives we think of creating something with our
own hands, or working our way up in the private sector. We think of creating wealth, not living off the wealth of others. For conservatives, it is the private sector that grows our economy, creates opportunity and jobs, generates wealth, and is responsible for America’s strength and vitality.

To put it in a more personal context, very few conservatives think of chasing the American Dream by going to work at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, the University of Louisiana System, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Congress, and the Louisiana governor’s office.

The view from the Left, however, is radically different. For most young liberals there is scarcely a higher calling than pushing your ideological agenda via government service. It’s right at the top of the queue, rivaled only by a career in journalism or higher education. (Before I get into trouble here, I will note that I know many reporters, or some, or a few anyway, who are not liberals.)

For most liberal ideologues the prospect of burrowing into the government and pushing their agenda is a dream come true. Government is doing more than ever, it is growing bigger than ever, it is costing more than ever, and it is spending more than ever. It has an insatiable appetite that will not diminish by itself. Government will never volunteer to be “The Biggest Loser.”

There will always be someone else with a new idea for government to try, and nine times out of ten that idea will cost money. There will always be another wrong for the government to set right. There will always be another snail darter to save, another study to fund, another regulation to pass, and another tax to raise. There will always be another government building to build and to name after someone who
is very important, or who at least was very important in securing the funds to build the building.

While recessions, technological advancements, and other events sometimes reduce the size of the private workforce, there is no such downsizing pressure in the public sector. We seem to need more and more staff to collect more and more taxes to run more and more programs that spend more and more money.

So today, it takes far fewer Americans working on an assembly line to make a car, but it takes far more Americans to manage our incredible exploding government. The guy at the car plant is not thinking up ways to spend more of your money. If anything, he’s hoping to get a raise or a promotion by devising a way to make a better car. For the liberal working in the bowels of the Department of Education, it’s a different story. He’s trying to invent a new government program that will suck in more federal dollars and give him a chance to pursue some big idea. He may have the best intentions, but rest assured, the program he designs will cost money. And rest assured that you, the taxpayer, will pay for it.

Actually, that’s not quite right. You will not pay for that new federal program. You don’t have nearly enough money. We have amassed a debt so large that you will not live long enough to pay for it. But, if you have kids, and if they have kids,
they
will probably pay for it, unless of course China and the Middle Eastern countries call in the promissory notes before that. I don’t really want to think about what happens then.

This dichotomy—that liberals are drawn to public service while conservatives are repelled by it—is nothing new. But the result is that most of the bureaucracy is controlled by people who are ideologically vested in expanding the government. So the question is what to do
about it. I have two suggestions. The first conservatives will like, the second they may not.

First, we need to insist that our government functions in the way it was originally intended. We need a government, composed of part-time citizen legislators, that is not seen as the answer to every problem. Too many people today are asking the question, “How can the government solve our problems?” Here is the answer: it can’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I think competent, efficient government is essential. That’s what I strive for every day. But even the most well-functioning government cannot guarantee our nation’s success. It’s entirely possible to have a great government and a lousy country. American greatness is not defined by our government. America is an idea based on freedom. When government grows too large, it begins threatening freedom. It has always been that way, everywhere.

The folks in Congress need some outside-the-beltway thinking on our problems. In fact, if the Republican Party really wants to reconnect with the American people and regain their trust, it needs to commit itself to something I call the Grandchildren Debt Relief Package, but that you could just as well call A Promise to the American People. That promise would be that every Republican elected to Congress would work to restore America’s future with a seven-step recovery program. Here it is:

If we commit ourselves to enacting these seven reforms, it would be the greatest act of improving our children’s future since Ronald Reagan won the Cold War.

Sure there are other important reforms, many of which I have detailed in this book. But I am convinced these seven simple steps would put Congress on a radically different path than the irresponsible
course it’s on now. And since Congress has the power of the purse, once we turn Congress around, we can turn the government around.

So we should demand that our elected officials adhere to these minimum steps. Democrats really should get behind this program since it is geared toward saving America from fiscal oblivion. But since they’re leading us into the abyss, it’s doubtful they’ll get on board. Our best hope is for Republicans to reclaim the mantle of limited, competent, results-oriented government they once upheld.

Nevertheless, I have to point out that the Republican Party failed to pass these reforms when they had the chance in the 1990s. Still, they took a good shot at many of them. Most notably, Congress fell just one vote short of passing a Balanced Budget Amendment in 1995. Just think about that. The amendment passed the House with more than the necessary two-thirds margin, and the Senate fell a single vote short of a two-thirds majority. Think of how different things would be today if they had found one more vote.

On the whole, the Republican Revolution of 1994 will go down in my book as a great movement that yielded some fruit, but which ultimately fell short of its promise. That does not mean we have to fail again, however. We can learn from our mistakes, and I believe we will.

My second proposal to fight big government may not be welcomed by many conservatives. As we move our policy proposals forward, I believe conservatives should adjust an important aspect of our philosophy. As much as I lament of the growth of government, I do not believe conservatives should roundly condemn the very concept of government service, as is often the case today. We should consider the possibility that government service might in fact be a
noble
calling. It shouldn’t be viewed as a way to get rich or to make a comfortable life-long career with
great employment benefits. But there are many noble and worthwhile public service callings that some people really do enter with selfless motives. Teaching and public health are two that come to mind.

We need conservatives in government positions who are devoted to changing government without letting government change them. We need people of strong resolve who will resist the temptation to go native in Washington, D.C. You don’t have to do it as a career, but you might consider giving some time to it. Consider it missionary work.